White House Coronavirus Task Force Briefing at NIH
Dr. Francis Collins
On June 9, 2020, I joined my fellow members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force at NIH’s Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center (VRC), part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). We gathered for a late-morning meeting to discuss some of NIH’s latest efforts to expand COVID-19 testing through the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Initiative, as well as the National Cancer Institute’s ongoing work to help evaluate the accuracy of emerging COVID-19 antibody tests. Beforehand, the task force members visiting NIH received a brief tour of the VRC. The tour included a briefing from Kizzmekia Corbett (right), a VRC research fellow, who spoke about coronavirus antibodies. Taking part in the briefing (L-R) are: John Mascola, VRC director; Deborah Birx; Task Force member and coordinator of the United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS; Jared Kushner, Task Force member and Senior Advisor to the President; Tony Fauci, Task Force member and NIAID director; Brad Smith, Task Force member and director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation; Francis Collins; and Barney Graham, VRC deputy director. Credit: NIH
