Public Health Heroes Awards Ceremony

For his many contributions to global health, including his leadership in the eradication of smallpox, the discovery of HIV, and the control of Ebola hemorrhagic fever.

As an infectious disease trained pediatrician and epidemiologist, Donald Francis has more than 30 years experience in epidemic control and vaccines. He spent 21 years working for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) focusing on vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, cholera, smallpox, and hepatitis B. He directed the World Health Organization’s Smallpox Eradication Program in Sudan and U.P. State in Northern India. His hepatitis B vaccine work included Phase III trials among gay men in the United States and among infants born to carrier mothers in China. Francis was also a member of the WHO team investigating the world's first outbreak of Ebola virus in 1976. His work in retroviruses began at Harvard, where Francis received his doctorate.

Francis has worked on HIV/AIDS since its emergence in 1981. He initially directed the AIDS laboratory at the CDC and worked closely with the Institut Pasteur to identify the causative virus. Later, he spent almost seven years developing and assessing HIV prevention programs in the United States. Francis's early efforts to call attention to the threat of AIDS and warn of the inadequacy of the public health response were chronicled in And the Band Played On, journalist Randy Shilts's seminal account of the early years of the AIDS epidemic.

After his retirement from the CDC in 1992, he joined Genentech to develop vaccines, while he also helped found what became the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. With waning private sector interest in HIV vaccine development, Francis started a new company, VaxGen, to ensure that an HIV vaccine would be developed. In 2003, VaxGen completed the world’s first Phase III trials of two candidate HIV vaccines in North America and Europe and in Thailand, respectively. Francis left VaxGen, where he had served as president, in early 2004 to cofound Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases and serves as its chairman and executive director.

Award Presenter William Foege, M.D., M.P.H.

Former CDC director William Foege serves as senior medical adviser to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program, advising the foundation on strategies that could be usefully pursued in global health. As a medical missionary in Nigeria, he developed a surveillance and containment strategy that changed the worldwide approach to smallpox vaccination and eventually led to the disease’s eradication. Foege was director of the CDC from 1977 to 1983. From 1984 to 2000, he served as executive director of the Task Force for Child Survival and Development, which helped raise general immunization levels of the world’s children from 20 percent to 80 percent in just six years. In 1997 he received the first National Public Health Award from UC Berkeley.

The Challenge: Finding Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases

Because our world is getting smaller and our societies more interdependent, improving health conditions and services in developing parts of the world is not merely humanitarian—it is also for our own protection. With increased globalization comes the threat that emerging diseases can rapidly become devastating pandemics. In addition, many countries are still plagued by the known threats of HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and a host of other pernicious diseases.

The public health community promotes global health by advising world health agencies and collaborating with other countries to provide research and urgently needed training to reduce disparities in global health care delivery. Public health workers are also on the front lines—treating the sick and dying across borders, all over the globe—and in the laboratories, searching for cures and developing intervention strategies for protecting communities.

The UC Berkeley School of Public Health Responds

The School’s recently formed Center for Global Public Health encompasses a variety of initiatives to promote health on worldwide scale. For example, an initiative led by Professor Lee Riley works to improve health in urban slum communities, and Professor Eva Harris formed the Sustainable Sciences Institute to help scientists in developing countries gain access to the resources needed to address local problems related to infectious diseases.
The School has more centers and research programs funded by the Fogarty International Center—the international component of NIH that addresses global health challenges through collaborative research—than any other school of public health. They include the International Training and Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases, and the Global Center for Health Economics and Policy Research.
The Center for Public Health Practice assists with international summer internships for students. Berkeley M.P.H. students have contributed to efforts in countries including Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, India, Kenya, Thailand, Namibia, Nicaragua, Haiti, Switzerland, Vietnam, and Zambia.
Nicholas Jewell, professor of statistics and biostatistics, is leading a project to develop statistical techniques for data on HIV and sexually transmitted infections. It will address the significant challenge of application of causal inference methods to randomized trials for HIV prevention in Africa.


2008 International Hero - Donald P. Francis, M.D., D.Sc.		Related Links Webcast: A Conversation with Don Francis and Warren Winkelstein Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases Frontline interview
For his many contributions to global health, including his leadership in the eradication of smallpox, the discovery of HIV, and the control of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. As an infectious disease trained pediatrician and epidemiologist, Donald Francis has more than 30 years experience in epidemic control and vaccines. He spent 21 years working for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) focusing on vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, cholera, smallpox, and hepatitis B. He directed the World Health Organization’s Smallpox Eradication Program in Sudan and U.P. State in Northern India. His hepatitis B vaccine work included Phase III trials among gay men in the United States and among infants born to carrier mothers in China. Francis was also a member of the WHO team investigating the world's first outbreak of Ebola virus in 1976. His work in retroviruses began at Harvard, where Francis received his doctorate. Francis has worked on HIV/AIDS since its emergence in 1981. He initially directed the AIDS laboratory at the CDC and worked closely with the Institut Pasteur to identify the causative virus. Later, he spent almost seven years developing and assessing HIV prevention programs in the United States. Francis's early efforts to call attention to the threat of AIDS and warn of the inadequacy of the public health response were chronicled in And the Band Played On, journalist Randy Shilts's seminal account of the early years of the AIDS epidemic. After his retirement from the CDC in 1992, he joined Genentech to develop vaccines, while he also helped found what became the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. With waning private sector interest in HIV vaccine development, Francis started a new company, VaxGen, to ensure that an HIV vaccine would be developed. In 2003, VaxGen completed the world’s first Phase III trials of two candidate HIV vaccines in North America and Europe and in Thailand, respectively. Francis left VaxGen, where he had served as president, in early 2004 to cofound Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases and serves as its chairman and executive director. Award Presenter William Foege, M.D., M.P.H. Former CDC director William Foege serves as senior medical adviser to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program, advising the foundation on strategies that could be usefully pursued in global health. As a medical missionary in Nigeria, he developed a surveillance and containment strategy that changed the worldwide approach to smallpox vaccination and eventually led to the disease’s eradication. Foege was director of the CDC from 1977 to 1983. From 1984 to 2000, he served as executive director of the Task Force for Child Survival and Development, which helped raise general immunization levels of the world’s children from 20 percent to 80 percent in just six years. In 1997 he received the first National Public Health Award from UC Berkeley. The Challenge: Finding Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases Because our world is getting smaller and our societies more interdependent, improving health conditions and services in developing parts of the world is not merely humanitarian—it is also for our own protection. With increased globalization comes the threat that emerging diseases can rapidly become devastating pandemics. In addition, many countries are still plagued by the known threats of HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and a host of other pernicious diseases. The public health community promotes global health by advising world health agencies and collaborating with other countries to provide research and urgently needed training to reduce disparities in global health care delivery. Public health workers are also on the front lines—treating the sick and dying across borders, all over the globe—and in the laboratories, searching for cures and developing intervention strategies for protecting communities. The UC Berkeley School of Public Health Responds The School’s recently formed Center for Global Public Health encompasses a variety of initiatives to promote health on worldwide scale. For example, an initiative led by Professor Lee Riley works to improve health in urban slum communities, and Professor Eva Harris formed the Sustainable Sciences Institute to help scientists in developing countries gain access to the resources needed to address local problems related to infectious diseases. The School has more centers and research programs funded by the Fogarty International Center—the international component of NIH that addresses global health challenges through collaborative research—than any other school of public health. They include the International Training and Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases, and the Global Center for Health Economics and Policy Research. The Center for Public Health Practice assists with international summer internships for students. Berkeley M.P.H. students have contributed to efforts in countries including Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, India, Kenya, Thailand, Namibia, Nicaragua, Haiti, Switzerland, Vietnam, and Zambia. Nicholas Jewell, professor of statistics and biostatistics, is leading a project to develop statistical techniques for data on HIV and sexually transmitted infections. It will address the significant challenge of application of causal inference methods to randomized trials for HIV prevention in Africa.