Newswise — Bethesda, MD -- Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D., founding dean and professor of the National School of Tropical Medicine and professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, will deliver the 2013 David Packard Lecture at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), March 5, 2013, at 3 p.m. in the university’s Sanford Auditorium.

The annual Packard Lecture, hosted by USU’s Faculty Senate, is the university’s most prestigious lectureship and is named in honor of the former Deputy Secretary of Defense, co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company, and USU’s second president. Previous Packard Lecturers include former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, pioneering heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey, and Nobel Laureate Dr. Sydney Brenner.

Dr. Hotez will present, “Blue Marble Health and the Neglected Tropical Diseases.” He is an internationally-recognized clinician and investigator in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. He leads the only product development partnership for developing new vaccines for hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, and Chagas disease, diseases affecting hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide. The hookworm vaccine is currently in clinical trials. In 2006, at the Clinton Global Initiative, he co-founded the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases to provide access to essential medicines for more than 100 million people.

Hotez earned his undergraduate degree in molecular biophysics from Yale University in 1980 (Phi Beta Kappa), followed by a Ph.D. in biochemical parasitology from Rockefeller University in 1986 and an M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College in 1987. He completed pediatric residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital from 1987 to 1989 and postdoctoral fellowship training in infectious diseases and molecular parasitology at Yale from 1989 to 1991. Dr. Hotez has authored more than 250 original papers, including lead articles in the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Science, and Scientific American, and more than 30 op-ed pieces or editorials, including pieces in the New York Times, LA Times, and the Washington Post and 61 textbook chapters. He has also authored or edited 10 books, including the acclaimed Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases (ASM Press). He has been a frequently invited speaker or visiting professor and is a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post.

In addition to his duties at Baylor, Hotez is also president and director, Sabin Vaccine Institute, president and director, Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, and a Fellow in the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, American Academy of Pediatrics, and in Disease and Poverty at the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University. Additionally, he is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal, “PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.” He is the past-president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and has served in membership or leadership roles with a multitude of professional organizations, including as a current member of the NIH Council of Councils. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences, the Association of American Physicians, and The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST). In 2011 he was awarded the Abraham Horwitz Award for Excellence in Leadership in Inter-American Health by the Pan American Health Organization of the WHO. He currently serves as principal investigator for research grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Dutch government, and NIH, as well as co-principal investigator for a research grant from the Carlos Slim Health Institute. ---The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) is the nation’s federal health sciences university. USU students are primarily active duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service who have received specialized education in tropical and infectious diseases, preventive medicine, TBI and PTSD, disaster response and humanitarian assistance, and acute trauma care.

A large percentage of the university’s more than 5,600 physician, advanced practice nurse, and dental alumni are supporting operations around the world, providing their leadership and expertise. The University also has graduate programs in biomedical sciences, clinical psychology and public health, most open to civilian and military applicants, committed to excellence in research which have awarded more than 400 doctoral and 900 masters degrees to date. For more information about USU and its programs, visit www.usuhs.edu.

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