Children's Hospital Receives $1 Million Gift to Develop Meningococcal Vaccines

Childrens Hospital & Research Center Oakland announced today a $1 million gift from the Clorox Company to support research with an aim of developing a vaccine against meningococcal disease a potentially deadly bacterial infection that affects millions of children and young adults throughout the world.

The gift establishes The Clorox Endowed Chair for Immunobiology & Vaccine Development at Childrens Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), supporting the groundbreaking research of Dan Granoff, MD, a physician scientist who played a major role in the development and evaluation of vaccines against Haemophilus influenzae in children. Granoff is also the author or co-author of more than 175 peer-reviewed research articles in areas of microbiology and vaccine research.

"Clorox is thrilled to partner with Childrens in the fight against this devastating disease," says Donald R. Knauss, chairman and CEO of the Clorox Company. "Establishing this chair and the research it will foster aligns strategically with our companys global cause platform to safeguard family well-being with a focus on infection prevention."

Bertram Lubin, MD, president and CEO of Childrens Hospital & Research Center Oakland, agrees: "Our shared vision of a world free of meningococcal disease translates into potentially preventing disease in millions of children and young adults. Childrens is excited and humbled by this transformative and generous gift."

Meningococcal bacteria cause potentially deadly infections triggering meningitis and sepsis -- a serious whole-body inflammatory state that is especially virulent among infants and young adults -- in Africa, the United States, and Europe. Granoffs laboratory focuses on Group B strain and on vaccines for prevention of epidemics in Africa caused by other strains.

The Clorox Endowed Chair for Immunobiology & Vaccine Development at CHORI will allow Granoff to expand his vaccine research against meningococcal disease, and in the years ahead, recruit his replacement at the Research Institute.

"I am confident that a successful vaccine can be made to control meningococcal disease," says Granoff. "This generous gift from The Clorox Company brings us closer than ever to finding a means for eradicating this devastating bacterial infection."