Profile: Hosbach ’84 Heads Policy at Sanofi Pasteur

Early in his career, Phil Hosbach ’84 was dispatched to Senegal to follow up on a clinical study of a whooping cough vaccine. “That was my first experience going to an impoverished country and seeing how people live in challenging conditions that they must deal with on a daily basis.”

That insight changed his perspective. For millions of people all over the world, vaccines can be the difference between life and death.

“Our vision is that no one suffers or dies from a vaccine-preventable disease,” says Hosbach, vice president of new products and immunization policy at Sanofi Pasteur, the world’s largest company devoted to producing human vaccines. “It’s more than just a job.”

Hosbach is among the key leaders in shaping U.S. vaccine policy. He serves on the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, an honor he views as the pinnacle of a nearly 30-year career.

He counsels the assistant secretary for health and the director of the National Vaccine Program Office regarding research priorities, as well as safety and efficacy. He identifies strategies to ensure the availability of adequate supplies of vaccines.

After the attacks on the U.S. on 9/11, his Sanofi Pasteur team prepared for bioterror threats. In 2009, he worked closely with the federal government to coordinate Sanofi Pasteur’s global response to the H1N1 virus.

Hosbach serves on the boards of ESSA Bancorp Inc. and Pennsylvania Bio, an organization supporting the life sciences industry.

Among his colleagues at Sanofi are Richard DiPaolo ’83 and Michelle Ellis Ladley ’07. His daughter is Ashley Hosbach ’15, an English major, and he serves on Marquis Parents Council.