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Kirsten Lyke
Listen to this articleUniversity of Maryland School of Medicine
Kirsten E. Lyke, M.D., serves as professor of medicine and director of Vector-borne Diseases and Challenge Unit at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine in Baltimore. As a board-certified infectious diseases physician and translational scientist, Lyke specializes in tropical diseases and global health epidemiology, with particular expertise in immunology and vaccinology.
Lyke works as professor of medicine in the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Her broad experience in field and domestic trials focuses on global epidemics and pandemic outbreaks. She has conducted numerous trials including first-human malaria PfSPZ Vaccine, Ebola Zaire vaccine, Zika DNA vaccine and the PfSPZ/BioNTech mRNA vaccine. Lyke conceived of and serves as Chair of the national Mix and Match study on heterologous and homologous SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccines.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lyke worked on multiple fronts. “I had the opportunity to be on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. I worked as a critical care infectious diseases attending for the COVID-19 service,” she said. According to Lyke, she performed original trials for the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine trial, served as investigator for the Moderna and Novavax trials and served on the Governor’s COVID-19 Vaccine Technical Advisory Group while providing insight on progress toward testing for COVID-19 and vaccines toward SARS-CoV-2.
Lyke described current challenges in Maryland as coming from severe funding cuts into biomedical research and international research that weakened the foundational strength of physicians and researchers.
According to Lyke, additional threats to indirect funding provided to academic centers weaken the foundation of scientific research infrastructure, requiring leaders to rise to meet these challenges by standing together and allowing scientific truth to drive decisions while gently educating and standing up for science and education.
Honoree profiles were written using an artificial intelligence program and supported by information provided by the honorees and other resources. Each profile was reviewed, fact-checked and edited for accuracy by The Daily Record’s editorial staff.
