Polio: A Look Back at America's Most Successful Public Health Crusade

Dr. Oshinsky will discuss how the battle against polio revolutionized philanthropy and medical research in America.
Date: April 3, 2013. 12:00 p.m.
Location: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Onstead Auditorium (second floor)
Note: This lecture is also part of the Houston History of Medicine Society lecture series.

David Oshinsky, Ph.D.

• Professor, Jack S. Blanton chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin
• Distinguished scholar in residence at New York University
• Pulitzer Prize Winning author of Polio: An American Story

Oshinsky specializes in 20th Century U.S. political and cultural history. His latest book, Polio: An American Story, won both the Pulitzer Prize in History and the Hoover Presidential Book Award, and his articles and reviews appear regularly in the New York Times and other national publications. His articles and reviews appear regularly in the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

New Vaccines: How and Why ACIP Makes Vaccine Recommendations

Dr. Pickering will discuss will discuss the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) process, using the experience with the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine as an example.
Date: April 11, 2013. 12:00 p.m.
Location: University of Texas School of Public Health Auditorium (first floor)

Larry Pickering, MD., FAAP

• Senior Advisor to the Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
• Executive Secretary , Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Professor of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine

Dr. Pickering’s research interests include immunizations, infectious diarrhea, child-care related illnesses, and protective factors in human milk. He is past associate editor and the current editor of the Red Book® of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), co-editor of the third edition of the book Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, and sits on several editorial boards. Dr. Pickering is a recipient of the Distinguished Physician Award of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, the Edward J. van Liere Research Award and the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the West Virginia University School of Medicine and the Founder’s Award of the Southern Society for Pediatric Research. He was named Outstanding Clinical Faculty Members for Research by the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk.

PREVIOUS LECTURES

Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases

Dr.Hotez will discuss providing access to innovations in biotechnology for the world's poorest people in developing countries and here in Texas and do a book signing of "Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases: The Neglected Tropical Diseases and Their Impact on Global Health and Development.” (Books will be available for sale.)
Date: Tuesday, September 18, 2012. 12:00 - 1:30
Location: Texas Medical Center Library

Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D.

• President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute
• Founding Dean of the Baylor College of Medicine National School for Tropical Medicine
• Chief of the new Section of Tropical Medicine in the BCM Department of Pediatrics
• Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics Texas Children’s Hospital
• Head of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development

Dr. Hotez is an internationally-recognized clinician and investigator in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. He leads an international team of scientists working to develop new vaccines for hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, and Chagas disease, diseases affecting hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide. The hookworm vaccine is currently in clinical trials.  He is the co-founder of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases which provides access to essential medicines for more than 100 million people in developing nations.

More information on Neglected Tropical Diseases.

How will Houston Deal with a Pandemic?

Dr. Persse will speak about how the City of Houston has prepared to deal with a pandemic and what would happen if there were a virulent disease outbreak.
Date: Thursday, October 18, 2012. 12:00 p.m.
Location: University of Texas School of Public Health Auditorium

David E. Persse, M.D., FACEP

• Physician Director, Emergency Medical Services, City of Houston
• Public Health Authority, Department of Health & Human Services, City of Houston
• Professor of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine
• Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the UT Medical School - Houston

Dr. Persse is responsible for the medical aspects of clinical care quality management, disease control, and public health preparedness for the City of Houston. Dr. Persse serves as the Medical Director for the region's Catastrophic Medical Operations Center (CMOC), wherein he helps coordinate distribution of governmentally supplied vaccines and other medical resources throughout the region.

More information on Pandemics.

Immunization in the US - the Best or Worst in its Class?

Dr. Schuchat will discuss immunization patterns across the lifespan, vaccine-preventable disease trends, and analysis of where and why we are failing. She will explore the reasons why whooping cough is acting up, the factors that got HPV vaccine off track, and what UNICEF's health equity drive has to do with Houston's toddlers.
Date: January 24, 2013. 12:00 p.m.
Location: University of Texas Medical School Auditorium

Anne Schuchat, M.D. (RADM, USPHS)

• Assistant Surgeon General, United States Public Health Service
• Acting Director, Center for Global Health at the CDC

Rear Admiral Schuchat has worked at CDC since 1988 on vaccine-preventable, respiratory, and other infectious diseases. Since 2005, she has led CDC's Immunization Program and in 2009 served as Chief Health Officer for CDC's H1N1 pandemic response. Globally, she has worked in West Africa on meningitis vaccine studies, in South Africa on surveillance and prevention projects, and in China on SARS emergency response. Schuchat has made critically important contributions to the prevention of infectious diseases in children, including her role in perinatal group B streptococcal disease prevention where she spearheaded the development of CDC's guidelines that have led to an 80% reduction in newborn infections and a 75% narrowing of racial disparities among sufferers of this infectious disease. She also has been instrumental in pre- and post-licensure evaluations of conjugate vaccines for bacterial meningitis and pneumonia and in accelerating availability of these new vaccines in resource-poor countries through WHO and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.

More information on Immunization Programs.

Emerging Zoonotic Viral Infections: Do They Find Us or Do We Find Them?

Dr. Peters will discuss the origins of microbial threats. Are they truly "new" or do they arise from mutation or translocation? How many are there? Can we predict them? What strategies can we use to control them?

Date: Thursday, February 28, 2013 12:00pm
Location: University of Texas Medical School Auditorium, MSB 3.001 (3rd floor)

CJ Peters, M.D.

• Director for Biodefense, Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, UTMB
• Professor, UTMB Departments of Microbiology and Immunology and Pathology
• John Sealy Distinguished University Chair in Tropical and Emerging Virology

Peters is an expert in Pathogenesis and epidemiology of viral hemorrhagic fevers and other emerging viral infections. He is currently working on Rift Valley fever vaccines, pathogenesis and innate resistance to SARS. Prior to joining UTMB, Dr. Peters was chief of the Special Pathogens Branch of the CDC since 1992 and directed research at federal Biosafety Level 4 laboratories. Peters traveled widely in South America and Africa investigating viral outbreaks. He played a key role in tracking down the hantavirus that caused mysterious deaths in New Mexico.