University of Toronto scientists appointed as GSK chairs will advance drug delivery research and vaccine education tools for healthcare professionals

The University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy has announced the appointments of two leading scientists as endowed GSK research chairs. These appointments represent the collaborative efforts between the two organizations to advance the field of pharmacy and drive positive change in patient care. Announced during World Immunization Week 2024, the chairs will build tools for broader vaccine uptake and drive discovery in the next wave of vaccine design.

Anna Tadio, professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, and senior associate scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is the inaugural holder of the GSK Chair in Vaccine Education and Practice-Oriented Tools.  

Bowen Li, assistant professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, and the Canada Research Chair in RNA Vaccines and Therapeutics, is the new GSK Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery.

“At GSK, we are committed to supporting innovative centers and thought leaders, and the collaboration with the University of Toronto's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy aligns with our goals of positively impacting the future of pharmacy and supporting the development of next-generation vaccines and therapeutics,” said Dr. Bryan Tennant, scientific director, GSK Canada. “Congratulations to Dr. Taddio and Dr. Li on your appointments. This is a remarkable milestone in advancing pharmaceutical research and education, and we’re eager to see how your work will propel us toward a healthier society.”

Earlier interventions and widespread vaccination can change the trajectory of diseases and reduce pressure on healthcare systems. Pharmacists play a pivotal role in promoting good health outcomes, and their significance only grows as community pharmacies are increasingly recognized as essential health hubs.

The GSK Chair in Vaccine Education and Practice-Oriented Tools was established by GSK and the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy in 2023 through a joint investment of $ 3 million. As the inaugural chairholder, Taddio will focus on closing gaps in vaccine education for students and healthcare professionals, particularly pharmacists.  She will also work to develop and enhance evidence-based models of vaccine care that health professionals can use across a range of settings.

A pharmacist and a scientist, Taddio is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking work developing tools and guidelines focused on mitigating pain and fear during vaccinations and other needle procedures. In 2015, vaccine-administering recommendations developed by her team were written into Canadian immunization guidelines and adopted by the World Health Organization.

“Addressing barriers to vaccination is a crucial aspect of improving vaccine acceptance and, in turn, public health."

“Addressing barriers to vaccination is a crucial aspect of improving vaccine acceptance and, in turn, public health. We need to make important changes to how care is delivered that are directly informed by patient participation and experiences,” said Taddio. “With tools like CARD, we invite people to choose what suits their needs and preferences during a vaccination. By improving their experiences we are promoting confidence in vaccination and helping to increase vaccine uptake.”

As vaccines for COVID-19 first began to roll out in 2021, and with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Taddio's CARD system (short for Comfort, Ask, Relax, and Distract) was shared with healthcare networks and the public to help people feel more comfortable when receiving their vaccinations. The CARD system was implemented in mass vaccination clinics and in specialized clinics across Ontario, including those run by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health. Later that year, and in collaboration with Immunize Canada, a team working with Taddio released a web-based version of CARD intended for younger kids aged 5 - 11 to help reduce stress and improve their vaccination experience.

“Dr. Taddio’s work has had a significant impact on helping pharmacy professionals address vaccine hesitancy and improve the vaccination experience for both patients and immunizers," said Danielle Paes, chief pharmacist officer at the Canadian Pharmacists Association. "As community pharmacies continue to play an important role in supporting vaccination efforts, especially since COVID-19, the CARD system and Dr. Taddio’s work are a valuable resource for pharmacists in their role as immunizers.”

Taddio has continued to study the success of the intervention, and in 2023, the Canadian Pharmacists Journal published a six-article supplement dedicated to exploring CARD for community pharmacy-based vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This chair will help to further the work we are leading, creating and evaluating innovative and practical approaches that will drive how we educate healthcare providers to practice and support vaccination across the lifespan.”

Developing next-generation vaccines and delivery systems

Since its establishment in 2000, the GSK Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery has earned a remarkable reputation for its dedication to advancing our understanding of drug discovery and delivery. With the appointment of Bowen Li, assistant professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, the chair's legacy of groundbreaking research and innovation in pharmaceutics and drug delivery is set to continue.

Working at the intersection of biomaterials sciences, drug delivery, and immunoengineering, Li leads a cutting-edge research program dedicated to building nonviral delivery systems for nucleic acids, including mRNA, circular RNA, and CRSIPR-Cas9. This rapidly evolving, highly interdisciplinary area of biomedicine is focused on tapping the potential of RNA to encode therapeutic proteins to prevent or treat multiple diseases, including cancer, infectious diseases, and genetic disorders.

“The next wave of vaccines and pharmaceuticals will revolve around RNA drugs."

“The next wave of vaccines and pharmaceuticals will revolve around RNA drugs. Unlike traditional and conventional small molecule drugs that can only reach a small number of disease targets, RNA drugs have the potential to target the entire genome,” said Li. “However, the full potential of RNA therapeutics is contingent on solving the challenge of delivering these molecules into target cells safely and efficiently. This chair will help us develop new and better ways of delivering these drugs, improving their bioavailability so that we can experience their full benefit.”

The Li lab recently developed a pioneering high-throughput platform integrating combinatorial chemistry with deep learning algorithms. This innovative approach enables the swift design, synthesis, and screening of versatile delivery vehicles for customized nucleic acids, with the goal of accelerating the clinical translation of next-generation medicines.

Earlier this year, Li also received the Accelerate Translation grant from the University of Toronto’s Acceleration Consortium, a world-leading network of government, academia, and industry working to accelerate the discovery of materials, to support his work automating the synthesis and screening of vast libraries of ionizable lipid nanoparticles that are crucial to delivering nucleic acid-based therapies.