Cornelia L. Dekker, M.D.

Clinical Focus

• Pediatric Infectious Disease
• Vaccine Clinical Trials
• Vaccine Safety
• Infectious Diseases, Pediatric

Administrative Appointments

• Medical Director, Stanford-LPCH Vaccine Program (1999 - present)
• Member, HIV Vaccine Trial Network Safety Monitoring Board (2009 - present)
• IRB Reviewer, Stanford Administrative Panel on Human Subjects in Medical Research, Panel 3 (2002 - present)
• Member, Stanford GCRC Advisory Committee (2006 - present)
• Member, NVAC Vaccine Safety Working Group (2008 - 2011)

Honors and Awards

• Junior Faculty Award, SmithKlein Beecham (07/05/00-07/04/02)
• Excellence in Teaching, Stanford Univ. School of Medicine (06/23/08)

Professional Education

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

• Infectious Diseases
• Pediatrics

Internet Links

• Stanford-LPCH Vaccine Program Web site

Industry Relationships

Stanford is committed to ethical and transparent interactions with our industrial and other commercial partners. It is our policy to disclose payments (exclusive of travel support) from, and/or equity in, companies or other commercial entities to Stanford faculty of $5,000 or more in total value, as well as any equity in a privately held company, when the faculty member also has institutional responsibilities related to his or her interactions with the company. View Full Information

Current Research Interests

The overarching theme of our research activities is human response to natural virus infection and to vaccines. We have conducted several studies of adult, toddler and infant immune response to initial infection with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). Our latest was a project in which we screened 20,000 newborn infants at Stanford, El Camino and Santa Clara Valley Hospitals for evidence of congenital HCMV infection. Those infants identified as being infected were enrolled into a 3-year prospective study for medical, audiology and immunology screening. The hearing screening portion is designed to identify, as early as possible, infants who develop sensorineural hearing loss as a result of this infection.

A second area of clinical research is supported by Dr. Mark Davis' NIH-funded U19 project entitled "Protective Mechanisms Against Pandemic Respiratory Virus" and the newer U19 project entitled "Vaccination and Infection: Indicators of Immunological Health and Responsiveness". To provide samples for the lab projects we immunize children and adults (including elderly) with one of four different, licensed influenza vaccines (TIV, TIV high-dose, TIV Intradermal or LAIV) to study in detail the immune response to immunization. Blood samples collected from study subjects are analyzed for influenza-specific B and T-cell responses as well as gene expression studies and cytokine analyses. Our latest studies have focussed on genetic aspects by enrolling fraternal and identical twins. Under the new U19, we are conducting a study of the shingles vaccine in twins and non-twin adults for a close examination of T-cell responses.

Our group also is funded as part of the Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Units by NIH through our collaborators at Vanderbilt University. We have conducted studies of avian, novel H1N1 and seasonal influenza vaccines and a new malaria vaccine.

A fourth area of interest is vaccine safety. Stanford is one of six designated Centers for Immunization Safety Assessment (CISA) sponsored by the CDC. The network provides consultation to CDC on evaluation and treatment of adverse events following immunization with licensed vaccines, develops protocols to study certain events that occur following immunization (including hypersensitivity reactions, safety of live viral vaccines in immunodeficient children, genetics study of Guillain-Barre syndrome patients). We also collaborate with Dr. Greg Enns on a study of the safety of influenza vaccine and its metabolic effects in patients with the MELAS mtDNA polymorphisms.

For further information about ongoing studies, please refer to our website at http://vaccines.stanford.edu.

Clinical Trials

• Responses to Influenza Vaccine in Patients with Mitochondrial Disorders (MELAS) Recruiting
• Study of Age-Related Immune Responses to the Shingles Vaccine and Varicella Zoster Virus Recruiting
• 2009 Novel H1N1 Influenza Vaccine Study No longer recruiting
• B-cell Immunity to Influenza Active, not recruiting
• Comparison of Clonal B-cell Responses to Influenza Vaccine Completed

Publications

• Lack of association between childhood immunizations and encephalitis in California, 1998-2008. Pahud BA, Rowhani-Rahbar A, Glaser C, Gavali S, Salibay CJ, Fireman B, Dekker CL. Vaccine. 2012; 30 (2): 247-53
• Attitudes and beliefs of parents concerned about vaccines: impact of timing of immunization information. Vannice KS, Salmon DA, Shui I, Omer SB, Kissner J, Edwards KM, Sparks R, Dekker CL, Klein NP, Gust DA. Pediatrics. 2011: 127 Suppl 1 S120-6
• Causality assessment of serious neurologic adverse events following 2009 H1N1 vaccination. Williams SE, Pahud BA, Vellozzi C, Donofrio PD, Dekker CL, Halsey N, Klein NP, Baxter RP, Marchant CD, Larussa PS, Barnett ED, Tokars JI, McGeeney BE, Sparks RC, Aukes LL, Jakob K, Coronel S, Sejvar JJ, Slade BA, Edwards KM. Vaccine. 2011; 29 (46): 8302-8
• Comparison of the immunogenicity and safety of a split-virion, inactivated, trivalent influenza vaccine (Fluzone®) administered by intradermal and intramuscular route in healthy adults. Frenck RW, Belshe R, Brady RC, Winokur PL, Campbell JD, Treanor J, Hay CM, Dekker CL, Walter EB, Cate TR, Edwards KM, Hill H, Wolff M, Leduc T, Tornieporth N. Vaccine. 2011; 29 (34): 5666-74
• Developing the next generation of vaccinologists. Klein NP, Gidudu J, Qiang Y, Pahud B, Rowhani-Rahbar A, Baxter R, Dekker CL, Edwards KM, Halsey NA, Larussa P, Marchant C, Tokars JI, Destefano F. Vaccine. 2011; 29 (50): 9296-7