| Peter J. Hotez | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 5, 1958 Hartford, Connecticut |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Vaccinology, Neglected Tropical Disease Control |
| Institutions | Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, Sabin Vaccine Institute |
| Alma mater |
Yale University (B.A.) |
Dr. Peter J. Hotez is a scientist, pediatrician, and leading advocate and expert in the fields of global health, vaccinology, and neglected tropical disease control. He is President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, headquartered in Washington, DC; and will lead the Sabin vaccine development program at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) beginning in August 2011. He also will serve as founding dean of a new School of Tropical Medicine at BCM, chief of a new Section of Tropical Diseases in the BCM Department of Pediatrics and hold the Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics[1].
Hotez leads an international team of scientists working to develop vaccines to combat hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, and other infectious and neglected diseases, including malaria. These diseases are the most common infections of the world’s poorest people.
Together with Philip K. Russell, Hotez founded the Human Hookworm Vaccine Initiative (HHVI) in 1999,[2] a non-profit product development partnership of Sabin’s vaccine development program. Innovations developed by Sabin Vaccine Development--funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and others--are sometimes referred to as “antipoverty vaccines” because of their impact on both global health and economic development. Today, antipoverty vaccines against hookworm and schistosomiasis will soon undergo clinical testing in Brazil. Hotez writes extensively about the opportunity of using vaccines as instruments of foreign policy and to promote global peace, especially among poor countries seeking nuclear weapons technology.[3]
Hotez has also highlighted the importance of related neglected infections among people living in areas of poverty in the United States, including post-Katrina Louisiana and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast, the border with Mexico, and in U.S. inner cities.[4] In order to maximize access to existing medicines for neglected tropical diseases, in 2006 Hotez co-founded the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (“Global Network”) with leading experts in the field. The Global Network, launched at the Clinton Global Initiative and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, highlights the horrific health and educational effects of neglected tropical diseases and advocates for their control and elimination. As a result of these activities, and the effort of public-private partnerships and NGOs, today more than 100 million people are receiving essential medicines for neglected tropical diseases.[5]
Hotez is also the founding Editor-In-Chief of the Public Library of Science (PLoS) Neglected Tropical Diseases, the first online open access medical journal focused exclusively on neglected tropical diseases.
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Hotez was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He received a BA in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry magna cum laude (phi beta kappa) from Yale University in 1980, a PhD from Rockefeller University in 1986, and a Doctorate in Medicine from Weill Cornell Medical College in 1987. His doctoral dissertation and postdoctoral training were in the area of hookworm molecular pathogenesis and vaccine development.
He obtained pediatric residency training at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and postdoctoral training in clinical pediatric infectious diseases and molecular parasitology at Yale University School of Medicine. Hotez holds a license to practice medicine in the District of Columbia, was board certified in pediatrics in 1998, and re-certified in 2005.
Hotez has received several awards throughout his career, including:
In 2008, he was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.[8] He is an ambassador of the Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP), a member of the World Health Organization Scientific and Technical Advisory Group for Neglected Tropical Diseases,[9] and in 2011, Hotez was appointed as a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Council of Councils[10]. He is also currently President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.[11]
Hotez is author of “Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases: The Neglected Tropical Diseases and Their Impact on Global Health and Development,[12]” co-author of “Parasitic Diseases, 5th Edition,[13]” a co-editor of Krugman's Infectious Diseases of Children, 11th Edition,[14] and the author of over 200 scientific papers.
Selected works:
Hotez lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and four children.