Dr Melvin Sanicas

Dr. Melvin Sanicas is a physician-scientist with expertise in global health, immunology, and preventive medicine. He is currently Global Medical Affairs Vaccine Lead at Bavarian Nordic, where he shapes medical strategy in the company’s vaccine portfolio, translates emerging science into practice, and builds partnerships with national and international health authorities as well as leading experts worldwide.

Beyond his corporate role, Dr. Sanicas is co-host of Global Health Cast, a TED Educator, and an advisor to early-stage life science and digital health startups. His TED-Ed lessons on influenza, meningitis, tuberculosis, and COVID-19 have been translated into more than 25 languages and reached over 15 million learners globally.

He has held senior leadership positions at Exact Sciences (International Medical Director), Takeda (Senior Global Medical Director; Director of Clinical Development Medical Excellence), and Sanofi (Regional Medical Director for Japan & Asia Pacific). Earlier in his career, as a Global Health Fellow and Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he managed a $25M+ portfolio across Europe, the US, Asia, and Africa and launched the Collaboration for TB Vaccine Discovery (CTVD). He has also served as a visiting scientist at the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (University of Cape Town) and as a TB Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Sanicas earned his BS in Biology (cum laude) and MD from the University of the Philippines Manila, an MSc in Vaccinology & Pharmaceutical Clinical Development (cum laude) from the Università di Siena, an MSc in Infectious Diseases (merit) from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and an MBA (merit) from the University of Leicester. He has also completed executive programs at the Institut Pasteur, University of Geneva, University of Aberdeen, University of Leeds, Harvard Kennedy School, and MIT Sloan. He is a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and the Royal Society of Arts.