Bringing State, National, and Global Immunization Experience to IAC
I am delighted to welcome Dr. Kelly Moore to the helm of IAC. She has been a valued member of our IAC team for the past 18 months, and I have seen that her leadership embodies both IAC’s culture of collaboration and our unwavering passion for excellence in immunization services. During her IAC tenure, Dr. Moore has led core elements of our operation, including being responsible for Ask the Experts and our IAC “Handouts Team,” and she recently assumed my role as editor-in-chief of IAC Express. In addition, her expertise in crisis and risk communications has made her one of IAC’s primary media representatives with national and international news outlets.



A Career Built Around Immunization Advocacy
Kelly’s service to IAC is only her most recent contribution in a career as a leader in vaccine policy and immunization program implementation. Upon completing her medical and public health training, Kelly joined the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer with the CDC, receiving Crisis Response Service Awards and Outstanding Unit Citations for her work in bioterrorism surveillance and the response to the 2001 anthrax release.

Kelly’s first role after completing her post-EIS CDC preventive medicine residency was to lead state pandemic planning for the Tennessee Department of Health from 2004 to 2008, later earning national recognition for her team’s design and implementation of the state’s pandemic vaccine distribution program during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. As director of the Tennessee Immunization Program (TIP) from 2004 to 2018, she oversaw the state’s Vaccines for Children program, the immunization information system (TennIIS), and vaccine-preventable disease surveillance and response, and tripled the size of TIP in the process. During her tenure TIP was recognized by the Association of Immunization Managers (AIM) with three Bull’s-Eye Awards for effective program innovations. In 2012, AIM presented Kelly with its highest honor, the Natalie J. Smith, MD, Award for excellence in immunization program management.

   

Soon after completing the global 2018 Advanced Vaccinology (ADVAC) training program for vaccine decision-makers, Kelly founded her own company, The Vaccine Advisor, LLC, to advise public health agencies, vaccine manufacturers, and other organizations. Throughout her career she also has educated medical and public health students; she is currently an adjunct associate professor of health policy at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine.

Leadership for the National and Global Challenges of Immunization
If we have learned anything during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that vaccine-preventable diseases anywhere are a threat to people everywhere and that successful immunization programs to end these threats are built upon the skills and expertise of those who deliver vaccinations every day around the world. Kelly’s experience in immunization policy will be invaluable as IAC moves forward in its work to support frontline immunizers in implementing the increasingly complex recommendations of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Few people understand the ACIP and its work as well as Kelly. She has attended ACIP meetings since 2005, served on ACIP working groups since 2008, and represented AIM as its first liaison to ACIP for five years before being appointed to a four-year term (2015–2019) as an ACIP voting member. While serving as a member, she chaired four ACIP working groups.

As part of her long-term efforts to improve the quality of vaccine storage in clinic settings, she was the founding chair of AIM’s Vaccine Storage and Handling Committee and a charter member of the NSF-International Joint Committee on Vaccine Storage, creating and publishing the first voluntary manufacturing standards for vaccine storage equipment in the United States.

   

Kelly has a passion for sharing experiences and learning from immunization experts around the world. As a charter member of the International Association of Immunization Managers (IAIM), she studied vaccine cold chain management with the national immunization program of Albania and with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Turkey. She has been an advisor to WHO since 2016 in several different roles, including as chair of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (IPAC), member of the Committee on Programmatic Suitability for Vaccine Prequalification (PSPQ), and as a member of the Vaccine Innovation Prioritization Strategy (VIPS) project led by Gavi. She also has collaborated with visionary leaders through the Sabin-Aspen Vaccine Science and Policy Group, proposing strategies for tackling the biggest challenges facing the immunization world today, including development of a universal influenza vaccine and combating the global rise of vaccine hesitancy.



In Kelly, I have found a gracious and accomplished successor who embodies the values of our organization in her unwavering support for vaccination education and the work of the people who deliver vaccines. She has the vision to guide IAC as an enduring institution of immunization excellence imbued with the culture of collaboration and quality that is IAC’s hallmark.

IAC’s Strategic Growth in the Next Generation
Kelly shares my vision for an IAC that continues to support those who have known and appreciated IAC’s work for years while expanding the reach of our resources to the next generation of frontline immunizers. With that in mind, for several years I have been working with our leadership to highlight the name by which IAC is overwhelmingly recognized: Immunize.org. Those of you who meet us on social media are already familiar with this emerging brand identity. Under Kelly’s leadership, our organization will take steps to complete the “Immunize.org” brand evolution that began under my direction.

IAC’s L.J Tan, PhD, Carries Forward Our Coalition and Policy Efforts
Alongside Kelly, Dr. L.J Tan remains central to leading IAC’s mission. As IAC’s chief policy and partnerships officer, he will continue to lead IAC’s work in national immunization advocacy and policy development and co-chair the National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit. L.J also will take over my important work with the National Network of Immunization Coalitions, supporting and facilitating communications among more than 100 state and local immunization coalitions and national vaccine advocacy organizations across the country.

Welcoming IAC’s New Board of Directors
IAC’s volunteer board of directors plays a vital role in supporting IAC’s work. We are deeply grateful to our outgoing board members for their years of dedicated and generous service. We welcome the six new board members joining Kelly and are delighted by their distinguished backgrounds, their diversity of perspective, and their depth of expertise. I extend heartfelt thanks and gratitude to both outgoing and incoming members for volunteering their time and knowledge to the mission of IAC. Learn more about our new directors at the Board of Directors web page. 

Our Leadership Illuminates Our Path Forward
I am so proud of IAC’s accomplishments over the past 30 years, and I am confident that under the skilled leadership of our experienced “new” team, the next 30 years will only build upon this foundation. IAC will continue its core work, including IAC Express, and will expand and strengthen the reach of its trusted guidance and medical excellence that immunization providers have come to expect as we remain steadfast to our vision for a healthier world through immunization.

On behalf of Kelly, L.J, our board, and all of the staff and consultants of IAC, I thank you for subscribing to IAC Express and for supporting our mission of immunization education and delivery now and for the years to come.