Continuing coverage: One day in the foreseeable future, annual flu shots may be completely unnecessary. If the work of Dr. Slobodan Paessler at UTMB goes as planned, his universal flu vaccine will eliminate the need for yearly injections, reduce the global cost of the virus — which runs into the billions — and help save the thousands of lives lost every year. The 41-year-old scientist was born in the former Yugoslavia, attended veterinary school in Germany, earned his Ph.D. at UTMB and joined the faculty in 2004. He's long believed that the best and cheapest medicine is preventive medicine and that vaccines are the perfect solutions to many of the world's dreaded diseases. Paessler said a number of scientists are hoping to produce a universal flu shot. “But nobody is trying what we're doing.”