Dr. Larry Corey is an internationally renowned expert in virology, immunology and vaccine development, and the former president and director of Fred Hutch. His research focuses on herpes viruses, HIV, the novel coronavirus and other viral infections, including those associated with cancer. He is principal investigator of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, or HVTN, which conducts studies of HIV vaccines at over 80 clinical trial sites in 16 countries on five continents. Under his leadership, the HVTN has become the model for global, collaborative research. Dr. Corey is also the principal investigator of the Fred Hutch-based operations center of the COVID-19 Prevention Network, or CoVPN, and co-leads the network’s vaccine testing pipeline.
Dr. Corey’s own laboratory group at Fred Hutch studies how immune cells control herpes simplex virus. Their goal is to make a vaccine that will reduce the virus’s reactivation. In the early 1980s, he worked with future Nobel laureate Dr. Gertrude Elion in the development of acyclovir as the first effective therapy for genital herpes. As director of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, he led the organization that eventually proved combination antiretroviral treatments could control HIV. The team also demonstrated that these drugs could reduce transmission of HIV from mothers to their infants. His research also showed that HIV-1 replicates in blood early in disease, emphasizing the importance of early therapy.
