Gale E. Smith, PhD

Dr. Smith is senior vice president of discovery and pre-clinical research and chief scientist, with responsibility for oversight of discovery, and managing scientific, technological and research operations at Novavax. Dr. Smith joined Novavax in January 2004 as vice president of vaccine development, where he oversaw the company's vaccine technology group. He led the development of Novavax’ core vaccine technology used in the development of nanoparticle vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, Ebola, and coronaviruses, including SARS, MERS and SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. Previously, Dr. Smith was chief scientific officer at Protein Sciences Corporation, responsible for leading the scientific team that developed the first human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccine candidate approved by the FDA for testing in the U.S., and the first recombinant influenza vaccine, Flublok™. He received his Bachelor of Science in biology from the University of North Dakota and a doctorate in microbiology from Texas A&M University.