Ana Cespedes: The Pharmacist and Global Director General of Operations of I HAVE

Ana Cespedes (Barrax, Albacete, 1973), pharmacist and global director general of Operations of I HAVE (International AIDS Vaccine Initiative), will collect this Wednesday the Gold Medal of Castilla-La Mancha which, he says, has been “a wonderful surprise» and the «best professional gift» to recognize his international career in the field of health, and that he comes precisely from his land.

The Government of Castilla-La Mancha has awarded him one of the two Gold Medals in the region for his work to accelerate the development of vaccines, for his cContribution to science, research and global public health under conditions of equity, a recognition that will bring him from the United States, where he works, to Manzanares (Ciudad Real), the place where this year the institutional act of the Day of the Region will be held.

A PhD thanks to a CLM scholarship

In an interview with Agencia Efe, Céspedes assures that La Mancha is not only the place where he was born, but also where he has always maintained very strong personal and professional roots.

«I started my professional career with a doctorate in Pharmacy thanks to a scholarship from Castilla-La Mancha. The fact that almost 3 decades later my land recognizes my international career in the field of health, health education and global public health is the best professional gift that I could have received in the year that I turn 50”, confesses this woman , which was also recognized by encastillalamancha.es in its Excellence Awards 2023.

Ebola, Marburg and Lassa Fever

Céspedes refers to his professional work in the organization he directs, in which they are working on projects related to AIDS, tuberculosis and other emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola Sudan, Marburg and Lassa Fever.

The most advanced project is that of a vaccine for tuberculosis in collaboration with Biofabri, a Spanish company, and he stresses that this is a very important project because every year 10 million people in the world are infected with tuberculosis, and 1.5 die millions.

Being the oldest infectious disease, there is still no vaccine for adults (who are the ones who die), and that is “something unacceptable” that from “Biofabri, IAVI, TBVI (Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative) and the University of Zaragoza we are determined to change it.”

At this time, therefore, they are working to obtain sufficient funding for the efficacy study, since the previous results are very positive.

The vaccine, essential to defeat Covid-19

Regarding the past health emergency due to the coronavirus, Céspedes was also immersed in research to reach vaccines with which to get rid of the pandemic and affirms that the Vaccination is key in tackling infectious diseasesincluding covid-19, and as the data shows, vaccines played a key role in resolving the pandemic: “deaths began to drop exponentially in January 2021, once the first vaccines were approved.”

Since the key in health matters is prevention, he sees it as very important to maintain the level of attention and monitoring of the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 (as well as other potential threats) to avoid surprises, which, he clarifies, “does not mean live in a state of alarm, but neither completely disengage ourselves».

As of today, there is a sufficient supply of covid-19 vaccines and acceptable global access conditions, and it is important that this does not change, not only for this disease.

“Infectious diseases are global health problems and require a globally coordinated approach,” he says.

He recalled that in the last 20 years “we have had an epidemic outbreak every 3 years approximately: SARS (2002-03), Influenza A, MERS (2012), Ebola (2014-16), Zika (2016) and SARS-CoV- 2 (2020)”, and since until the covid-19 pandemic “we had been able to solve them before they became a pandemic”, he is confident that “our epidemiological surveillance systems, investment in R&D and international collaboration are reinforced to reduce the probability that this will occur again.

In addition, the end of an emergency does not mean that the innovations that helped to get out of it are no longer necessary, says Ana Céspedes.

“The most profitable investment in public health is prevention”, therefore, “it is important to have a diversity of vaccines, with different characteristics, because not all populations have the same needs” and stresses that “we must be proud that Spain has also developed a vaccine.

For the director of IAVI, in the field of infectious diseases, AIDS is “the most difficult challenge we have ahead of us.”

Almost forty million people live with AIDS and, although there are very effective treatments that allow infected people to lead an almost normal life, “we cannot settle, it is necessary to prevent it.”

And in the area of ​​non-infectious diseases, he highlights that important steps are being taken in vaccination for cancer, and although they would still require combination with treatments and their study is limited to a small number of tumors, it could be a “medical revolution”. .

Ana Céspedes considers that international collaboration is key in the field of health. In fact, she has been working in the United States for 11 years and during all this time, she says, she has always maintained her professional relationship with Spain.

«It is not so important where you live, but the connections that you are able to make to also add value in your country. I will continue to do so as long as I can add value », although he also admits that he misses his family a lot and « it would be very nice to be able to lead a project with a global impact from Spain ».

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