William Foege - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from William H. Foege) American physician and epidemiologist

William Foege


10th Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
In office May 1977 – 1983
President	Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	David Sencer
Succeeded by	James Mason

Personal details
Born	(1936-03-12) March 12, 1936 (age 88) Decorah, Iowa, U.S.
Spouse	Paula Foege
Education	Pacific Lutheran University (BA) University of Washington (MD) Harvard University (MPH)
Awards	Calderone Prize (1996) Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize

William Herbert Foege (/ˈfeɪɡi/ FAY-ghee; fay-ghee; born March 12, 1936) is an American physician and epidemiologist who is credited with "devising the global strategy that led to the eradication of smallpox in the late 1970s". From May 1977 to 1983, Foege served as the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Foege also "played a central role" in efforts that greatly increased immunization rates in developing countries in the 1980s.

In June 2011, he authored House on Fire: The Fight to Eradicate Smallpox, a book on modern science, medicine, and public health over the smallpox disease.

On September 23, 2020, he sent a private letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert R. Redfield urging him to acknowledge in writing that the CDC had responded poorly to COVID-19 and to set a new course for how CDC would lead the United States' response, calling the White House's approach "disastrous."

Early life

Foege was born March 12 1936 in Decorah, Iowa. He was the third of six children born to William A. Foege, a Lutheran minister, and Anne Erika Foege. The family lived in Eldorado, Iowa in Fayette County, starting in 1936 and moved to Chewelah, Washington, in 1945.

In his younger days he was inspired by the life of his uncle, a Lutheran missionary to New Guinea. He became interested in science at age 13 when working at a pharmacy, and read extensively about the world (e.g., Albert Schweitzer's work in Africa) while in a body cast for several months at age 15. When a teenager he expressed a desire to practice medicine in Africa.

Education

Foege received a B.A. from Pacific Lutheran University in 1957. He attended medical school at the University of Washington, where he became interested in public health while working "after school and on Saturdays" at the Seattle–King County Health Department. After receiving his M.D. in 1961, he completed an internship with the United States Public Health Service hospital at Staten Island in 1961–1962.

He participated in the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) between 1962 and 1964, assigned to Colorado. When Foege was with the EIS, he was inspired by Alexander Langmuir to pursue global health, and spent a short time with the Peace Corps in India under Charles Snead Houston. Upon reading a lecture on priorities in public health by Thomas Huckle Weller, Foege entered the Master of Public Health program at the Harvard School of Public Health where he studied with Weller. He received his M.P.H. in 1965.

Smallpox eradication

While working for the Centers for Disease Control in Africa as Chief of the Smallpox Eradication Program, Bill Foege developed the highly successful surveillance and ring vaccination strategy to contain smallpox spread. This greatly reduced the number of vaccinations needed, ensuring that the limited resources available sufficed to make smallpox the first infectious disease to be eradicated in human history.

For his efforts to eradicate smallpox, Foege was the co-winner of the 2020 Future of Life Award along with Viktor Zhdanov. "We're all indebted to Bill Foege and Viktor Zhdanov for their critical contributions to the eradication of smallpox, which demonstrated the immense value of science and international collaboration for fighting disease", said António Guterres, Secretary General, United Nations. Dr. William MacAskill who wrote an article about "Smallpox was one of the worst diseases to ever befall the human race, and its eradication is one of the greatest achievements of humanity. Bill Foege and Viktor Zhdanov should be celebrated for their contributions, and should inspire us today to take effective action to tackle the world's most pressing problems." In consideration of the achievements of Zhdanov and Foege, Bill Gates added, "They (Viktor and Bill) are phenomenal examples of what it means to harness science for global health”.

Career

Foege's research includes child survival and development, injury prevention, population, preventive medicine, and public health leadership—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 Disease, polio and measles, and the elimination of river blindness.

In May 1977, he became the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and served until 1983.

Directorship aside, he has also held various positions during his career:

President, co-founder, The Task Force for Global Health, 1984-1999
Senior Fellow, Global Health Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Advisory Board Member, Emory University Global Health Institute
Professor Emeritus, Rollins School of Public Health
Health Policy Fellow, The Carter Center, 1986–present
Executive Director, The Carter Center, 1986–1992
Advisory Medical Board Member, Theranos

Personal life

He is noted for his height of 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m). Foege and his wife Paula had three sons, the eldest of whom died in 2007. He has been described as a "religious man"; between 1997 and 2006 he served on the Board of Regents of Pacific Lutheran University.

Awards and honors

Abraham Lilienfeld Award, American College of Epidemiology, 1990
Fries Prize for Improving Health, James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation (formerly known as the Healthtrac Foundation), 1992
Sedgwick Memorial Medal, American Public Health Association, 1993
Frank A. Calderone Prize, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, 1996
Honorary Doctor of Science, Harvard University, 1997
Honorary Fellow, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 1997–present
Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Pacific Lutheran University, 2000
Wittenberg Award, The Luther Institute, 2001
Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service, 2001
C.-E. A. Winslow Medal, Yale University, 2004
Thomas Francis, Jr. Medal in Global Public Health, University of Michigan, 2005
Public Welfare Medal, United States National Academy of Sciences, 2005
Honorary Doctor of Medical Sciences, Yale University, 2005
Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal, Sabin Vaccine Institute, 2006
Julius B. Richmond Award, Harvard School of Public Health, 2006
The William H. Foege building, named in his honor and dedicated in 2006, houses the University of Washington School of Medicine's Departments of Bioengineering and Genome Sciences.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, 2007
Chosen as one of "America's Best Leaders" by U.S. News & World Report, 2007
Raymond and Beverly Sackler Award for Sustained National Leadership, Research!America, 2008
CDC Foundation Hero Award, 2009
Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012
Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2012
Richard and Barbara Hansen Leadership Award, University of Iowa College of Public Health, 2014
2020 Future of Life Award (Smallpox Eradication)

Selected publications

Books and book chapters

Foege WH, Amler RW (1987). "Introduction and methods". In Amler RW, Dull HB (eds.). Closing the gap: the burden of unnecessary illness. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505483-0. OCLC 16755579.
Foege WH. "Foreword." In: Albert Schweitzer (1998). The primeval forest. Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press in association with The Albert Schweitzer Institute for the Humanities. ISBN 0-8018-5958-1. OCLC 38925138.
Ross DA, Hinman AR, Saarlas K, Foege WH (2003). "Foreword". In O'Carroll PW, et al. (eds.). Public health informatics and information systems. Berlin: Springer. pp. v–vii. ISBN 0-387-95474-0. OCLC 133157982.
Foege WH; et al., eds. (2005). Global health leadership and management. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0-7879-7153-7. OCLC 57579300.
Foege WH (June 2011). House on Fire: The Fight to Eradicate Smallpox. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26836-4.
Foege WH (2018). The Fears of the Rich, the Needs of the Poor: My Years at the CDC. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-1-421-42529-0.

Journal articles

Foege WH, Millar JD, Lane JM (October 1971). "Selective epidemiologic control in smallpox eradication". Am J Epidemiol. 94 (4): 311–5. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a121325. PMID 5110547.
Foster SO, Brink EW, Hutchins DL, Pifer JM, Lourie B, Moser CR, Cummings EC, Kuteyi OE, Eke RE, Titus JB, Smith EA, Hicks JW, Foege WH (1972). "Human monkeypox". Bull World Health Organ. 46 (5): 569–76. PMC 2480784. PMID 4340216.
Ruben FL, Smith EA, Foster SO, Casey HL, Pifer JM, Wallace RB, Atta AI, Jones WL, Arnold RB, Teller BE, Shaikh ZQ, Lourie B, Eddins DL, Doko SM, Foege WH (1973). "Simultaneous administration of smallpox, measles, yellow fever, and diphtheria—pertussis—tetanus antigens to Nigerian children". Bull World Health Organ. 48 (2): 175–81. PMC 2481001. PMID 4541683.
Henderson RH, Davis H, Eddins DL, Foege WH (1973). "Assessment of vaccination coverage, vaccination scar rates, and smallpox scarring in five areas of West Africa". Bull World Health Organ. 48 (2): 183–94. PMC 2481004. PMID 4541684.
Foege WH, Millar JD, Henderson DA (1975). "Smallpox eradication in West and Central Africa". Bull World Health Organ. 52 (2): 209–22. PMC 2366358. PMID 1083309.
Ravenholt RT, Foege WH (October 1982). "1918 influenza, encephalitis lethargica, parkinsonism". Lancet. 2 (8303): 860–4. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(82)90820-0. PMID 6126720. S2CID 45138249.
Foege WH, Amler RW, White CC (September 1985). "Closing the gap. Report of the Carter Center Health Policy Consultation". JAMA. 254 (10): 1355–8. doi:10.1001/jama.254.10.1355. PMID 4021014.
Hinman AR, Foege WH, de Quadros CA, Patriarca PA, Orenstein WA, Brink EW (1987). "The case for global eradication of poliomyelitis". Bull World Health Organ. 65 (6): 835–40. PMC 2491079. PMID 3501736.
McGinnis JM, Foege WH (November 1993). "Actual causes of death in the United States". JAMA. 270 (18): 2207–12. doi:10.1001/jama.270.18.2207. PMID 8411605.
McGinnis JM, Foege WH (March–April 1999). "Mortality and morbidity attributable to use of addictive substances in the United States". Proc Assoc Am Physicians. 111 (2): 109–18. doi:10.1046/j.1525-1381.1999.09256.x. PMID 10220805.
Foege W (April 2002). "Keynote address: issues in overcoming iron deficiency". J Nutr. 132 (4 Suppl): 790S–3S. doi:10.1093/jn/132.4.790S. PMID 11925483.
Foege WH (March 5, 2003). "Holding our breath". MedGenMed. 5 (1): 11. PMID 12827072.
Foege WH (December 18, 2003). "Polio and policy options". MedGenMed. 5 (4): 34. PMID 14745381.
McGinnis JM, Foege WH (March 2004). "The immediate vs the important". JAMA. 291 (10): 1263–4. doi:10.1001/jama.291.10.1263. PMID 15010451.
Foege WH (Winter 2004). "Redefining public health". J Law Med Ethics. 32 (4 Suppl): 23–6. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2004.tb00178.x. PMID 15807317. S2CID 22762113.

References

^ The Crimson Staff (June 5, 1997). "Eleven granted honorary degrees". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on February 15, 2006. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
Hagen R (May 8, 2006). "Say how? A pronunciation guide to names of public figures". National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
^ Paulson T (March 9, 2006). "Carter hails UW's shy hero Foege. New building named for health leader is dedicated". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
^ Kim JY (November 12, 2007). "America's best leaders. William H. Foege, physician. A lifelong battle against disease". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
"President Obama honors William Foege, Emory professor emeritus, with prestigious award". Woodruff Health Sciences Center. May 29, 2012.
Murphy, Brett and Letitia Stein (October 6, 2020). ""It is a slaughter": Infectious disease icon asks CDC director to expose White House, orchestrate his own firing". USA Today. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
^ "William H. Foege to receive Public Welfare Medal, Academy's highest honor". National Academy of Sciences. January 26, 2005. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
^ Maynard S (October 7, 1998). "Families that work – an occasional series: Rev. William A. Foege's family never had much money, and never felt deprived". The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington).
^ Foege WH (October 2001). "The wonder that is global health" (PDF). Nat Med. 7 (10): 1095–6. doi:10.1038/nm1001-1095. PMID 11590422. S2CID 29636271. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 16, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2009.
^ "William Foege, Affiliate Professor, Epidemiology". University of Washington School of Public Health. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
"William H. Foege, MD, MPH, assumes APHA presidency". Am J Public Health. 76 (2): 208. 1986. doi:10.2105/AJPH.76.2.124.
Graham K, Heys S (December 12, 1985). "A global vision to save millions – William Foege wants all world's children immunized by 1990". The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution.
Weller TH (September 1963). "Questions of priority". N Engl J Med. 269 (13): 673–8. doi:10.1056/NEJM196309262691306. PMID 14050972.
Guterres, António (November 16, 2020). "Future of Life Institute Award". Future of Life Institute.
MacAskill, William (November 16, 2020). "Future of Life Award". Future of Life Institute.
Gates, Bill (November 16, 2020). "Future of Life Award". Future of Life Institute.
"William Foege -Department Faculty". Archived from the original on August 17, 2004.
Altman, Lawrence K.; Weiss, Scott; Klieger, Sarah B.; Fitzgerald, Julie; Balamuth, Fran; Kubis, Sherri; Tolomeo, Pam; Bilker, Warren; Han, Xiaoyan (April 17, 1977). "DISEASE UNIT PLANS BIG RE-EVALUATION". The New York Times. Vol. 2, no. suppl_1. doi:10.1093/ofid/ofv131.117. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
Miller, Andy. "Decatur-based Task Force for Global Healthsaves children's lives". Archived from the original on August 28, 2016. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "William Foege, M.D., M.P.H". Retrieved September 26, 2009.
^ Emory University. "Emory Global Health Institute Advisory Board. William H. Foege, MD, MPH". Archived from the original on June 11, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
Rollins School of Public Health. "William H. Foege". Archived from the original on June 13, 2010. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
^ The Carter Center. "William Foege, M.D., M.P.H". Retrieved September 26, 2009.
Parloff, Roger (April 7, 2016). "Theranos Adds Startlingly Well-Qualified Medical Board". Fortune. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
Holohan M (July 2006). "Bill Foege: Another mountain to climb". Lens: A New Way of Looking at Science. Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
Paulson T (April 28, 2007). "David Foege, 1962–2007: Vashon mourns teacher's death". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Preston R (2003). The demon in the freezer. New York: Random House. p. 74. ISBN 0-345-46663-2.
Panem S (1988). The AIDS bureaucracy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. p. 33. ISBN 0-674-01271-2.
"Board news". Pacific Lutheran Scene. Summer 1998. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
"Commencement moved venues, accomplished alum spoke". Pacific Lutheran University. May 17, 2006. Archived from the original on July 11, 2010. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
"Past Lilienfeld Awardees". American College of Epidemiology. Archived from the original on January 18, 2009. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
"Fries Prize for Improving Health recipients". James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
"Sedgwick Memorial Medal". American Public Health Association. Archived from the original on March 31, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
"Calderone prize. Past award recipients". Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
"Research Report 1998" (PDF). London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 7, 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
"Foege receives honorary doctorate, exhorts Class of 2000". Pacific Lutheran University Scene. Summer 2000.
"2001 Wittenberg Award recipient Dr. William Foege". The Luther Institute. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
Strauss E (2001). "Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service. Award description. William Foege". Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. Archived from the original on January 15, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
"C-E.A. Winslow Medal presented to William H. Foege October 28". Yale University. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
"The Thomas Francis, Jr. Medal in Global Public Health. The 50th anniversary program – April 12, 2005". University of Michigan. April 12, 2005. Archived from the original on October 1, 2009. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
"Honorary degrees". Yale Bulletin & Calendar. June 10, 2005. Archived from the original on August 3, 2009. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
"Gold Medal Award". Sabin Vaccine Institute. Archived from the original on August 14, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
Kabak V (November 1, 2006). "Public health school bestows top honor". The Harvard Crimson.
"Awards". National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Archived from the original on July 13, 2010. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
"William H. Foege to receive Research!America Advocacy Award". Research!America. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
"CDC Foundation events". Retrieved September 30, 2009.
"Ivan Allen, Jr. Prize Recipients". Archived from the original on January 21, 2012. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
"President Obama Names Presidential Medal Freedom Recipients". whitehouse.gov. April 26, 2012. Retrieved April 30, 2012 – via National Archives.
"Richard and Barbara Hansen Leadership Award and Distinguished Lecture". Retrieved October 24, 2012.
"Future of Life Award". November 16, 2020.

External links

Bill Foege Oral History (interview by Victoria Harden, July 13, 2006; part of the Global Health Chronicles site).

v t e Laureates of the Calderone Prize
C. Everett Koop (1992) Jonathan Mann (1994) William Foege (1996) D.A. Henderson (1999) Nafis Sadik (2001) Peter Piot (2003) Mary Robinson (2005) Allan Rosenfield (2007) Susan Pardee Baker (2010) Harvey V. Fineberg (2011) H. Jack Geiger (2014) Mary T. Bassett (2016) Julio Frenk (2018) Anthony Fauci (2023)

Categories: