Vannessa is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and has a strong interest in translating epidemiology into policies and strategies that increase global market access to medicines. She earned her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from Columbia University with a focus on Infectious Disease Epidemiology. At Pfizer, she has executed Health Economics and Outcomes Research to increase global reimbursement and access for the smoking cessation drug, Chantix. Her work for Chantix includes Global Value and AMCP (Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy) dossiers, budget impact and cost-effectiveness models, briefing documents, and workplace productivity analyses.
Last year, Vannessa transitioned to Vaccines Medical Affairs and conducted epidemiological studies to support Pfizer’s blockbuster pneumococcal vaccine, Prevnar 13, the world's leading vaccine. Previously, she worked as an Emergency Preparedness and Response Planner at the NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene and developed disaster plans for biological, chemical, and nuclear terrorism, pandemic influenza and other disease outbreaks, and natural disasters such as coastal storms. 
Born in Nashville, TN but raised in Forsyth, GA, Vannessa holds a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology from Emory University and is a Bill & Melinda Gates Millennium Scholar. Upon completion of her DrPH degree at Harvard, she plans to pursue leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry and develop community health engagement initiatives to increase knowledge about and access to life-saving treatments in underserved populations. She would like to use community marketing, explore alternative funding mechanisms, and address problems in the patient journey to decrease disease rates and improve the health of the most vulnerable. In particular, she is interested in bridging the knowledge and treatment gap between chronic and infectious disease to mitigate the burden of both.
Vannessa is back at Pfizer for her DrPH Summer Immersion in the Vaccines Medical Affairs department and is assessing barriers to optimal Prevnar 13 delivery, access, and uptake in low and middle income countries. These countries often have a high pneumonia burden (especially in children) and thus need the vaccine the most. Prevenar 13 is currently available in 106 countries.
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