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NFID names 2017 award recipients
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The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, or NFID, has announced the recipients of several prestigious awards being presented at its Annual Awards Dinner in May.
The foundation has awarded Peter Piot, MD, PhD, with the 2017 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Humanitarian Award for his role in the first isolation of the Ebola virus, his early research of AIDS in Africa, and his services as founding director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and head of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
“Through an unusual combination of scientific excellence, policy strategy, strong communication and global activism, he has been playing pivotal roles in the two defining global infectious disease epidemics of our time — HIV/AIDS and Ebola,” Bruce G. Gellin, MD, MPH, deputy assistant secretary for health and director of the National Vaccine Program Office, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a press release. “And beyond the halls of academia, his impact is far greater as he influences global health policy, practice and education across several continents and institutions, bringing key issues in global public health to mainstream political, civil society and business leaders around the world.”
Earlier this year, Infectious Disease News spoke with 2016 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Humanitarian Award recipient Robert E. Black, MD, MPH, professor of international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, about his career researching and reducing the leading causes of childhood mortality and morbidity. Black received the award in recognition of his work to improve the survival of children around the world.
The NFID also named Myron M. Levine, MD, as recipient of the 2017 Maxwell Finland Award for Scientific Achievement for his role in characterizing the burden, pathogenesis and etiology of diarrheal diseases, and his work in designing and testing vaccines, including an FDA-approved cholera vaccine.
“He has catalyzed vaccine introduction throughout the world and has trained dozens of vaccine leaders domestically and globally,” Kathleen M. Neuzil, MD, MPH, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and an Infectious Disease News Editorial Board member, said in the release. “He is exceptionally qualified for this award based on his outstanding contributions to infectious diseases and public health, and his excellence in all areas identified by the award — research, training and impact on domestic and global public health.”
Lastly, the NFID granted its former president, Thomas M. File, Jr., MD — another member of the Infectious Disease News Editorial Board — with the 2017 John P. Utz Leadership Award for his accomplishments in strengthening the organization during his presidency and his contributions to infectious disease literature. The award was established in recognition of one of the original NFID founders, the late John P. Utz, MD.