Robert Belshe, M.D., directed the NIH-funded Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU) at St. Louis University for the past three decades. His clinical and laboratory research interests include the development of live attenuated respiratory virus vaccines. Recent clinical projects include the evaluation of novel vaccines for influenza, including the live attenuated influenza vaccine available for children and adults aged 2-49. Belshe coordinated 50 other academic centers to evaluate a subunit vaccine for HSV2 in women ages 18-30. More than 8,300 women participated in the trial.
Past successes include evaluating haemophilus conjugate vaccines in infants and pneumococcal vaccines in infants and adults, demonstrating that smallpox vaccine dilutions could extend the national vaccine reserve by tenfold, evaluating the efficacy of acellular pertussis vaccines in college students, and developing a live attenuated vaccine as an improved vaccine for influenza.
Collaborations between the Vaccine Center and the Saint Louis University Liver Center led to the first-in-human studies of a prophylactic vaccine for hepatitis C. The Division of Infectious Diseases and VTEU have significant collaborations beyond the University, including the Midwest Research Center for Excellence for Biodefense Studies.
