EpiVax and GAIA Vaccine Foundation Celebrate Women's Achievements Throughout History and Across Nations

PROVIDENCE, R.I., March 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- EpiVax Inc., ("EpiVax") an innovative Rhode Island-based biotechnology company, has a lot to celebrate on International Women's Day. The company, founded and led by Dr. Annie De Groot, boasts a female-majority work force and appears multiple times in the Providence Business News Book of Lists for Rhode Island: Top Private Companies (by revenue), Fastest Growing Companies (by revenue-growth percentage) and as a Top Ten Biotechnology Company. In 2017 EpiVax was cited as a Best Places to Work and Rhode Island Innovation '50 on Fire' companies. The company will recognize 20 years of business excellence this May with a relocation of corporate headquarters and office expansion. EpiVax will soon call Rising Sun Mills its new home, in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence.

EpiVax is dedicated to improving human health at home and abroad. VaxGivesBack, EpiVax's charitable giving committee, is focused on identifying local organizations who will benefit from financial donations or volunteer time. For charitable efforts abroad, De Groot founded the GAIA Vaccine Foundation.

Today, on International Women's day, GAIA Vaccine Foundation officially launched the second phase of their human Papillomavirus (HPV) prevention campaign in Mali, West Africa. The theme, titled "Our Daughters, Ourselves", focuses on prevention methods across generations. Healthcare clinics will offer free screening and HPV vaccination over 12 months. In the first month of the campaign (Feb 2018), more than 1,600 women were screened and over 200 girls vaccinated. GAIA's programs have already surpassed screening records from 2015, further demonstrating the value of community outreach for prevention.

About GAIA Vaccine Foundation

GAIA, a Rhode Island nonprofit organization with the mission of infectious disease prevention, has developed an innovative method for health communication called the "story-telling cloth". In Mali, the story-telling cloth proved to be an effective tool to raise health awareness: community health workers used the cloth as a visual aid during education sessions, a method that resulted in a 5-fold cervical cancer screening rate increase. During GAIA's 6-month campaign in 2016, over 3,000 women were screened. For more information on all GAIA programs, visit GAIAVaccine.org

About EpiVax
EpiVax is a world leader in the fields of immune engineering and vaccine design. EpiVax's immunogenicity screening tools are used by a global roster of companies to design and optimize therapeutic proteins and vaccines www.epivax.com

Press Contact:
Sarah Moniz
Business Liaison, EpiVax, Inc. 
401.272.2123 [email protected]
CEO/CSO [email protected]

SOURCE EpiVax Inc.