Dr. Volker Gerdts received a DVM in 1994 from Hanover Veterinary School and a German PhD equivalent from the Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Island of Riems and Hanover Veterinary School, Germany, in 1997. A postdoctoral fellowship, funded by the German Research Council, was spent from 1998-2000 at VIDO in the area of vaccine discovery and mucosal immunology. In 2002 Dr. Gerdts joined VIDO as a Research Scientist. He was appointed Associate Director of Research in 2007, and became the Director and CEO in 2019.
Dr. Gerdts research interests are in the area of neonatal vaccines for both humans and animals, mucosal immunology, and vaccine delivery and formulation. Current research projects are focused on vaccine development for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus, adjuvants, porcine immunology and the use of pigs as model for humans, immune modulation and regulation of mucosal immune responses.