Our Vision: To ensure that 90% of adolescents and young adults are vaccinated with nationally recommended vaccines.
Our Mission: Provide action-oriented leadership, innovation, and education on preventive health and immunization for adolescents and young adults.
establish
Establish immunization as a central component of preventive health and as an investment in lifelong health
develop
Develop healthcare providers as advocates that make strong recommendations for all nationally recommended vaccines
engage
Engage parents, adolescents, and young adults to embrace the value of immunization
ensure
Ensure easy access to and timely delivery of all recommended vaccines
Our History
Since 2014, UNITY has successfully contributed to the efforts to raise adolescent and young adult vaccination rates.
UNITY was formed with the notion that it was possible to strengthen the impact of different organizations - academia, public and private sectors, industry and advocacy groups - by uniting to work together to overcome barriers to adolescent and young adult vaccination. UNITY launched as a first of its kind organization to drive initiatives that directly help to achieve our goal.
Since its formation the group’s focus has been on developing and disseminating important tools and information through social media, conferences, presentations and speaking engagements. UNITY's approach identifies, focuses and leverages our unique make-up of individuals and organizations to deliver on the most difficult barriers to adolescent and young adult vaccination.
We’ve joined together a diverse group of experts to:
Our Members and Liaisons
This Consortium is the first of its kind to unite public and private organizations to share data and research and collaborate on initiatives aligned with our mission.
AdirA
American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA)
American Pharmacists Association (APhA)
Association of Immunization Managers (AIM)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
The Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
Families Fighting Flu
GlaxoSmithKline
Immunize.org
Indiana University
Journal of Adolescent Health
Kaiser Permanente
Learning First Alliance
Merck
Moderna
National Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health
National Association of County & City Health Officials
National Hispanic Medical Association
Pfizer
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Sanford Health
Sanofi
School Based Health Alliance
Sick Kids The Hospital for Sick Children
Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM)
University of Alabama Birmingham Medical School
University of California San Francisco School of Medicine
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
University of Toronto School of Medicine
UnitedHealthcare
US Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP)
Univision
Vaccinate Your Family
Young Invincibles
Walgreens
Members
- AdirA
- American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA)
- American Pharmacists Association (APhA)
- Association of Immunization Managers (AIM)
- Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
- Families Fighting Flu
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Immunize.org
- Indiana University
- Journal of Adolescent Health
- Kaiser Permanente
- Learning First Alliance
- Merck
- Moderna
- National Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health
- National Association of County & City Health Officials
- National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA)
- Pfizer
- Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
- Sanford Health
- Sanofi
- Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM)
- School-Based Health Alliance
- Sick Kids The Hospital for Sick Children
- University of Alabama Birmingham Medical School
- University of California San Francisco School of Medicine
- University of Hawaii at Manoa, Nancy Atmosphera-Walch School of Nursing
- University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
- University of Toronto, School of Medicine
- UnitedHealthcare
- Univision
- Vaccinate Your Family
- Young Invincibles
- Walgreens
Liaisons
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Immunization Services Division, NCIRD
- US Department of HHS, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal Child and Health Bureau (MCHB)
- US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy
UNITY Leadership
Board of Directors
Paul Offit, MD
Paul Offit is a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases and an expert on vaccines, immunology, and virology. He is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine that has been credited with saving hundreds of lives every day. Offit is the Maurice R. Hilleman professor of vaccinology, professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and director of The Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Offit is currently a member of National Institutes of Health (NIH) working group on vaccines, a subgroup of the "Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines" (ACTIV) comprised of experts to combat COVID-19. He is also a member of the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC). Previously, he was a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Gregory Zimet, PhD, HSPP
Dr. Zimet is Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical Psychology in the Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine. In addition, he is Co-Director with Dr. Rachel Katzenellenbogen of the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Center for HPV Research. Dr. Zimet started investigating attitudes about vaccines for adolescents in the mid-1990s. Much of his research has involved the study of vaccine acceptance and refusal, with a primary focus over the past 20 years on attitudes about HPV vaccine as well as the behavioral and social determinants of HPV vaccination. His studies have focused on adolescents and young adults, parents of adolescents, and health care providers and include evaluations of vaccine communication intervention strategies.
L.J. Tan, MS, PhD
Dr. Tan joined Immunize.org in 2013. Prior to that, Dr. Tan was the Director of Medicine and Public Health at the American Medical Association for 15 years. Dr. Tan also serves as Co-Chair of the National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit, together with the CDC and the National Vaccine Program Office. Dr. Tan recently served on the National Quality Forum’s Adult Immunizations Expert Committee and currently serves on the Pharmacy Quality Alliance’s Adult Immunization Working Group as well as the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Vaccine Study Group.
Mitchel Rothholz
Retired, American Pharmacists Association
Mitchel C. Rothholz is a pharmacist currently serving as Chief Strategy Officer for the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). He has served in numerous roles as an APhA staff member since 1994. He also serves as Secretary for the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners, a collaborative forum of 13 national pharmacist organizations. He is a 1984 graduate of the University of Florida, College of Pharmacy, and earned a Masters in Business Administration, Healthcare Management, from Regis University in 2005. He is an internationally recognized expert on Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery. He was a voting member of the HHS National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) and currently serves on the Leadership Steering Committee of the National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit (NAIIS), and Board of the Unity Consortium (Adolescent Health). He is and has been involved in numerous immunization committees, grants and cooperative agreements.
Luis Romano
Dr. Luis Romano has been with GSK since 2009. Luis is a pediatric infectious disease specialist. Prior to GSK, Luis was an attending physician and assistant professor at Federico Gomez Mexico Children’s Hospital in Mexico City, one of the largest pediatric hospitals in Latin America. After relocating to the US in 2016 he served as Medical Director supporting GSK flu vaccines, and now he is the US Medical Affairs Lead for Influenza and RSV vaccines, and Above Brand Strategy. He lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with his wife and two sons.
Ardi Kazarian
Ardi is a strategic product management and marketing consultant with a successful 20+ year track record in the technology sector working with both start-ups and established growth-oriented companies as well as strategic partnerships. She also has a 10+ year background in healthcare technology. Her passion is innovation and disrupting markets.
Claire Hannan, MPH
Claire Hannan has served as the Executive Director of AIM since 2004. She has over 18 years of experience working in children’s health and immunization issues. After working on Capitol Hill for 5 years, Ms. Hannan spent three years lobbying for children’s health issues. In 1997, she became the Director of Immunization Policy for the Association of State & Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), where she worked with state health officials, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and other partners to improve and enhance immunization policies and practices. She joined the Association of Immunization Managers as its first Executive Director in 2004. Ms. Hannan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Wagner College in Staten Island, NY and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
Tamera Coyne-Beasley, MD, MPH, FAAP, FSAHM
Dr. Tamera Coyne-Beasley is the Derrol Dawkins Endowed Chair in Adolescent Medicine, Division Director for Adolescent Medicine, Vice Chair of Pediatrics for Community Engagement, and Professor of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Children’s of Alabama. Her areas of expertise and training include adolescent medicine, preventive medicine, health services research, medical management, epidemiology and public health. Her research, academic, community engagement, and policy and program development focus on adolescent health and well-being, sexual and reproductive health, risk behaviors and resiliency, global health, immunizations, health disparities and equity. She is a former voting member and workgroup chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and currently serves on the board of directors for the National Foundation of Infectious Diseases. She is a Past President of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.
Officers
Judy Klein
Judy is President and Founder of Unity Consortium and a healthcare and vaccine industry veteran. Judy focuses her entrepreneurial spirit on ventures that seek to maintain or improve peoples’ health. Judy started inKlein, a boutique firm partnering with healthcare organizations, with that goal in mind. Judy has held leadership positions in the healthcare industry and the non-profit community serving on Boards of Directors. Judy was honored to be awarded the 2018 Enterprising Women of the Year. Judy has degrees in Economics from The Wharton School and Mathematics from the College at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jane Quinn
Jane Quinn is a business professional with extensive experience in the vaccine market segment. She has held many diverse roles in building brand and customer marketing strategies including executive leadership positions for GlaxoSmithKline covering their Pediatric, Adolescent and Adult vaccine portfolios, numerous product launches, and responsibility for all public sector customers. Jane’s interest in preventive health and immunization began in Merck’s Vaccine Division and was preceded by analytical roles at an academic research chair endowed by Campbell Soup Company and directing client service and data operations at Scott-Levin Associates. Jane’s hometown is Philadelphia and she received degrees in Marketing and an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University.
Interns
- Alexandra Garcia, MPH Candidate, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
- Natalie Mar Cordero, MPH Candidate, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
- Madeline McNee, MPH Candidate, University Mailman School of Public Health
Advisors
2020-2021 UNITY Teen Advisory Council
- Co-Lead: Ardi Kazarian
- Co-Lead: Ethan Lindenberger
- Kelly Danielpour – Crossroads School
- Madeline Crisp – Little Rock Central High School
- Cristina Morales – The Catholic University of America
- Ella Weber – Crookston High School
- Talia Leva – West Irondequoit High school
- Natalie Chapman – Hanover High School
- Bridget Westrum – Homeschooled
- Mark Drayton – Upper Merion High School
- Khushi Noorani – Micheal E. Debakey High School for Health Professions
- Shantelle Barretto – Micheal E. Debakey High School for Health Professions
- Daniel Grosman – Basis Independent Brooklyn
- Shaliyah Cooper
2020-2021 UNITY Mom Advisory Council
- Co-Lead: Greg Zimet, PhD
- Co-Lead: Sarah Vivo
- Brandi Veltri
- Cristiana Mack
- Diane Eckert
- Dilnaz Mory
- Jackie Somers
- Jennifer Sanderson
- Jessica Ramirez
- Jill Lauer
- Kendra Smallwood
- La Wanda Lambert Girton
- Laine Chidester
- Mary White
- Tonya Rader
- Virginia Heintz
Our Initiatives
While education is key, it is only half the battle: engagement and action are necessary to strive for change. In coordination with dedicated healthcare providers, parents, and adolescents, UNITY Consortium facilitates programs and studies with actionable results to increase visibility in the community.
