2014 Hansen Award
William H. Foege, MD, MPH
The University of Iowa College of Public Health named William H. Foege, MD, MPH, the recipient of its 2014 Richard and Barbara Hansen Leadership Award and Distinguished Lectureship. Foege is an acclaimed epidemiologist, child health and development specialist, and global health luminary who helped conceive and lead the successful worldwide campaign to eradicate smallpox. He visited the University of Iowa campus Oct. 1-2, 2014.
Foege participated in a College of Public Health Book Club discussion highlighting his 2012 memoir “House on Fire,” which recounts his personal experiences and the development of a global coalition in the decades-long campaign to defeat smallpox. The discussion was moderated by Dean Borg of Iowa Public Radio. Foege also presented the 2014 Hansen Distinguished Lecture entitled, “Is Ebola the New Face of Global Health?”
Biographical Information
William Foege is an epidemiologist who worked in the successful campaign to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. Foege became Chief of the CDC Smallpox Eradication Program, and was appointed Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in 1977. He attended Pacific Lutheran University, received his medical degree from the University of Washington, and his Master’s in Public Health from Harvard University.
In 1984, Foege and several colleagues formed the Task Force for Child Survival, a working group for the World Health Organization, UNICEF, The World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Its success in accelerating childhood immunization led to an expansion of its mandate in 1991 to include other issues which diminish the quality of life for children.
Foege joined the Carter Center in 1986 as Executive Director, Fellow for Health Policy and Executive Director of Global 2000. In 1992, he resigned as Executive Director of the Carter Center, but continued in his role as a Fellow and as Executive Director of the Task Force for Child Survival and Development. In January 1997, he joined the faculty of Emory University, where he was Presidential Distinguished Professor of International Health at the Rollins School of Public Health. In September 1999, Foege became a Senior Medical Advisor for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In October 1999, Foege resigned as Executive Director of the Task Force for Child Survival and Development. Foege retired from Emory University in December of 2001, however he remains active as Presidential Distinguished Professor Emeritus of International Health. He has recently retired from his role at the Gates foundation as Senior Fellow.
Foege has championed many issues, but child survival and development, injury prevention, population, preventive medicine, and public health leadership are of special interest, particularly in the developing world. He is a strong proponent of disease eradication and control, and has taken an active role in the eradication of Guinea worm, polio and measles, and the elimination of River Blindness. By writing and lecturing extensively, Foege has succeeded in broadening public awareness of these issues and bringing them to the forefront of domestic and international health policies.
Foege is the recipient of many awards, holds honorary degrees from numerous institutions, and was named a Fellow of the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 1997, and in 2012 was awarded the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is the author of more than 125 professional publications. Foege is currently Presidential Distinguished Professor Emeritus of International Health, Emory University and resides in Atlanta, GA.