| R. Mark Buller is professor in the department of molecular microbiology
and immunology at the St. Louis University School of Medicine. His current
research focuses on viral pathogenesis, the interplay between the genetic
expression of an infecting virus and the host’s response to the infection.
Buller applies this work toward the development of anti-virals and vaccines
for poxviruses, such as smallpox. His research is driven by recent concern
over a potential reintroduction of smallpox, or similar poxvirus, into the
world population as an act of bioterrorism or biowarfare. Buller serves as
chairperson of the poxvirus study group for the International Committee on
Taxonomy of Viruses, and as a special reviewer for the smallpox research
program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between 1982 and
1994, he held positions at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, first as a visiting scientist at the Laboratory of Viral Diseases,
and later as head of the Poxvirus Pathogenesis Group.
Buller earned his PhD in 1975 from the Institute of Virology in Glasgow,
Scotland. He sits on a number of editorial review boards, and in 2002, was
a member of the NIAID Blue-Ribbon Panel on Bioterrorism and its Implications
on Biomedical Research.
Donald Henderson is professor of medicine and public health at the University
of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Distinguished Service Professor
in the departments of epidemiology and international health at Johns Hopkins
University. He also is founding director of the Hopkins Center for Civilian
Biodefense Strategies, established in 1998 to increase awareness of the
medical
and public health threats posed by biological weapons. Henderson’s
involvement in public health extends to a national and international level,
where he holds a number of administrative positions. He was director of the
Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Public Health Preparedness
from 2001-2003, and currently is resident scholar in Baltimore at the Center
for Biosecurity of The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. From 1966-1977,
he directed the World Health Organization’s global smallpox eradication
campaign, which was largely responsible for eradicating smallpox as a
naturally-occurring disease. Henderson received his MD from the University of Rochester in 1954, and
his Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University’s School
of Hygiene and Public Health in 1960. He has received a number of awards
and honors, including the National Medal of Sciences, the National Academy
of Science’s Public Welfare Medal, and the Japan Prize, which he shared
with two colleagues. Henderson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
in 2002 for his contribution to national and international public health.
Theresa Koehler is associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center. Her research there focuses on the genetics, physiology, and virulence of Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium which causes anthrax infection in mammals. She is especially interested in the pathogenesis of anthrax, signal transduction, and the host-parasite relationship. Dr. Koehler's work on B. anthracis has been funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1992. In 2003 she became a lead investigator of a multi-institutional bioterrorism research program for anthrax treatment funded by the NIAID.
Koehler received her PhD from the University of Massachusetts in 1987 and spent the next three years in a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Since joining the faculty of the University of Texas in 1991, she has received multiple commendations and awards for excellence in research and graduate education. Koehler has served on a number of biodefense-related federal advisory committees and has made media appearances throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Erich R. Mackow, PhD, is an associate professor in the department of medicine at Stony Brook University. He received his PhD from Temple University in 1984 and went on to do a postdoctoral fellowship in C.-J. Lai's laboratory at the National Institutes of Health, studying influenza and dengue viruses. Later, he worked as a research associate in the lab of Harry B. Greenberg at Stanford University, studying Group A and B rotaviruses. From Stanford he moved to his current positions at Stony Brook and the VA Medical Center at Northport.
Joseph B. McCormick is regional dean and James H. Steele Professor of Epidemiology of the Brownsville Regional Campus of the University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center School of Public Health. In 1977, he founded the CDC Lassa fever Research Project in Sierra Leone. There, he conducted extensive and definitive studies of the epidemiology and treatment of Lassa hemorrhagic fever, publishing a landmark publication in the New England Journal of Medicine on effective antiviral treatment for this disease.
He returned to Atlanta in 1979 and became Chief, Special Pathogens Branch, Division of Viral Diseases at the CDC, directing the Biosafety level 4 laboratories for 9 years. He subsequently led the original team that did the first AIDS investigation in Africa and established the Project SIDA in Kinshasa, Zaire, and later the Project Retro-Ci in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. In 1993, he became Chairman, Community Health Sciences Department, at the Aga Khan University Medical School (AKU) where he established an epidemiology program resembling the CDC Field Epidemiology Training Programs, and a Masters' degree in Epidemiology. In 1997 he moved to France where he founded epidemiology programs for the Institute Pasteur and for Aventis Pasteur. He returned to the US in 2001 to start a new regional campus of the UT-Houston School of Public Health in Brownsville.
His awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, and humanitarian awards from Florida Southern College and Duke University Medical School.
Paul Mead is chief of epidemiology, microbiology, and diagnostic activity in the bacterial zoonosis branch in the division of vector-borne infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Infectious Diseases in Fort Collins, CO. Mead received his medical degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver and his MPH at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to his present position, he served as chief of the outbreak response and surveillance unit in the CDC's foodborne and diarrheal diseases branch in Atlanta, GA, where he was also an Epidemic Intelligence Service Fellow.
Mead is the recipient of numerous awards, including, among others, the US Public Health Service's Crisis Response Service Award (2002); CDC's Group Award, Statistical Research and Services, CDC (2002); and CDC's James H. Nakano Citation, National Center for Infectious Diseases (2000).
Robert D. Perry is a professor in the department of microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics at the University of Kentucky. He has studied Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, for over 25 years. His primary research focuses on iron transport mechanisms and their role in virulence as well as biofilm formation and regulation. His research group collaborates with other investigators on vaccine development, proteomics, and anti-plague therapeutics. He is an investigator in the Southeastern Research Center for Excellence for Biodefense (SERCEB).
Perry received his PhD from Michigan State University. He joined the faculty at Louisiana State University Medical Center, Shreveport in 1986 and moved to the University of Kentucky in 1991. He has served on the editorial board of Infection and Immunity, on a number of NIH review panels, and on several biodefense-related committees and panels.
C. J. Peters is a professor in the department of pathology and in the department of microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, and is a member of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases. He is also director for biodefense at the UTMB Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases.
After completing his medical education at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Peters served his residency in internal medicine at Southwestern Medical School. His interest in tropical medicine and virology was sparked by five years as a research associate at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease intramural laboratory in Panama. Upon returning to the United States, he completed his fellowship in immunology at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation. From 1977 through 1992, he held several positions at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, ranging from research scientist and Medical Division chief to Disease Assessment Division chief. Subsequently, he moved to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as head of the Special Pathogens Branch.
Peters' career includes 30 years of experience in the virology, pathogenesis and epidemiology of hemorrhagic fever viruses. He has authored or coauthored more than 300 scientific publications, including more than 70 publications on Rift Valley fever virus and more than 60 publications on arenaviruses, not including reviews or textbook chapters. In 1997, Peters and Mark Olshaker wrote Virus Hunter: Thirty Years of Battling Hot Viruses around the World, a book describing emerging viruses and how they are studied.
 |
Gregory A. Poland, MD
Mayo Clinic Director, Mayo Vaccine Research Group and the Program on Translational
Immunovirology and Biodefense; and Group Leader, Region V Regional Center
of Excellence
email | web site | publications
Introduction |
Gregory Poland is professor of medicine, infectious diseases, molecular
pharmacology, and experimental therapeutics at the Mayo Clinic College
of Medicine, where he also is the department of medicine’s associate chair
for research. In his various capacities at the Mayo Clinic, Poland’s
work focuses on the fields of vaccinology, clinical research, and biodefense.
He is director of the Immunization Clinic, the Program in Translational
Immunology and Biodefense, and the Vaccine Research Group, which uses state-of-the-art
technology to investigate issues of vaccine response and novel vaccines
important
to public health. In addition to his work at the Mayo Clinic, Poland participates
in a number of national and academic committees, organizations, and workgroups,
and serves as peer reviewer for more than 26 publications. He is president
of the International Society for Vaccines, and is the American editor for
the journal Vaccine. Poland serves as frequent advisor to government and
military officials on issues of vaccination policy and infectious disease
prevention.
Poland is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Secretary
of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in 2003 for his participation
on the Armed Services Epidemiological Board, and a joint award in 1998 from
the CDC and Healthcare Financing Administration for his contribution to increasing
adult immunization in the U.S. He was honored as Outstanding Clinical Investigator
of the Year by the Mayo Clinic and Foundation in 1997, and was named Mary
Lowell Leary Professor in Medicine in 2004. Poland has been highly visible
in the national media, with appearances and interviews on a number of major
television and radio networks, as well as throughout influential newspapers
and magazines.
Poland received his MD from the Southern Illinois University School of
Medicine, and completed his residency and postgraduate work at the University
of Minnesota/Abbot-Northwestern Hospital.
Alan Rothman is a professor in the program in immunology and virology and in infectious diseases and medicine at the University of Massachusetts, where he is also affiliated with the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research. He earned an MD degree at Boston University and pursued post-graduate training in internal medicine at the Medical College of Virginia and at the Boston Veterans Administration Hospital. He also received post-graduate training in infectious diseases at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Dr. Rothman is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Internal Medicine (Infectious Diseases).
Maria S. Salvato is a professor at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. Her research interests include the pathogenesis of arenavirus hemorrhagic fever and arenavirus vaccines; mechanisms of virus-mediated cell death in AIDS; and use of animal models and genomic/proteomic approaches to analyze virus/host interactions.
Dr. Salvato received her BA in zoology at the University of California, Los Angeles and her PhD in molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley. She did post-doctoral work at the University of California, San Francisco, and at the Medical Research Council, Cambridge, UK. She held faculty positions at Scripps Clinic in San Diego, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and is now at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
Colonel David W. Vaughn, MD, MPH, is Director, Military Infectious Diseases Research Program (MIDRP), U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Fort Detrick, MD. Director of MIDRP since 2002, Dr. Vaughn also chairs the Department of Defense's Joint Technology Coordination Group on Infectious Diseases of Military Importance.
A graduate of St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1983, Dr. Vaughn completed a residency in Pediatrics in 1986 and was awarded an MPH from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1991. He was Chief, Pediatrics, U.S. Army Hospital, Nuremberg, Germany from 1986-1990; Chief, Department of Virology, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS), Bangkok, Thailand from 1992-1998; Chief, Department of Virus Diseases, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), Washington, D.C. from 1998-2002. He serves as adviser and consultant to the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, and the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative. Dr. Vaughn is a world authority in dengue, Japanese encephalitis and hepatitis viral diseases, and on vaccine development and testing.
 Marilynn Larkin is a medical editor, journalist, and videographer based in New York City. Her work has frequently appeared in, among others, The Lancet, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, and Reuters Health's professional newswire. She is currently head of publications for The Society for Biomolecular Screening.
Ms. Larkin has served as editor of clinical publications for neurologists, anesthesiologists, HIV providers, and long-term care professionals. She also developed physician/patient education videos and continuing medical education symposia for several medical communications companies.
Prior to her work for physician audiences, she covered health, nutrition, fitness, psychology, and travel for women's and general interest magazines. She is also author of five medical books for general readers, and of Reporting on Health Risk, a handbook for journalists.
In 2004, Ms. Larkin started her own fitness consulting company (www.mlarkinfitness.com), and developed a class, Posture-cizesm, that helps people improve their posture, increase productivity, and reduce injury. |
