Dr Vicente Vérez Bencomo, Director, Center for the Study of Synthetic Antigens, University of Havana.

Dr Vicente Vérez Bencomo is a world-renowned scientist who led the team that discovered and developed the Cuban Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine using a synthetic antigen - the first of its kind in the world. Educated in Cuba, Russia, and France, Dr Vérez has received numerous awards for his groundbreaking work, including the World Intellectual Property Organization's Gold Medal (2005), and the Cuban National Chemistry Award (2006). The Cuban Hib vaccine is undergoing evaluation by the World Health Organization for vaccination packages for use in the developing world. Dr Vérez has published widely in international scientific journals of impact and is the Cuban representative to the International Carbohydrates Organization and Senior Member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences. He is currently Director of the Center for the Study of Synthetic Antigens, under the aegis of the University of Havana's Chemistry Department. He sat down with MEDICC Review to talk about the global burden of Haemophilus influenzae type b, what motivates him as a scientist, how synthetic antigens might be applied to other vaccines, and what he is currently working on.