Speaker Bios

Myron S. Cohen, M.D., is the J. Herbert Bate Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is Director of the UNC Division of Infectious Disease and UNC Center for Infectious Disease. Dr. Cohen received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana, and an M.D. from Rush Medical College in Chicago. He completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Michigan, and Infectious Disease training at Yale University. Dr. Cohen is the Director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) STD Clinical Trials Unit, and the UNC HIV Prevention Trials Unit. He is Associate Director of the UNC Center for AIDS Research and the NIH STD Cooperative Research Center. Dr. Cohen has worked for more than 20 years on understanding the biology and prevention of transmission of STD pathogens, including HIV. He is the author of more than 250 articles, reviews, book chapters and books. He has received numerous honors including Distinguished Alumni Awards from Rush Medical College and the University of Michigan. Dr. Cohen is the Co-Director of the UNC Fogarty Program, and supervises international research activities in Beijing, China and Lilongwe, Malawi.

Barton F. Haynes, M.D., is the Frederic M. Hanes Professor of Medicine and Director of the Duke University Human Vaccine Institute. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee in 1969 and his M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in 1973. He completed his internship and residency at Duke University Medical Center in 1975, and after conducting research for five years at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under the mentorship of Drs. Sheldon Wolff and Anthony Fauci from 1975 to 1980, Dr. Haynes returned to Duke as a member of the faculty in the Department of Medicine in the summer of 1980. He served as Chief of the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Clinical Immunology from 1987-1995, and as Chair of the Department of Medicine from 1995-2002 at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Haynes is internationally recognized for his work in the areas of rheumatology, clinical immunology and AIDS research, and in particular for the important role he has played in understanding the normal human immune system, for developing treatments of autoimmune disease syndromes, and for devising vaccine strategies for the prevention of HIV. Dr. Haynes serves as a member of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Advisory Council and is a member of the Institute of Medicine.

Samuel Katz, M.D., is the Wilburt Cornell Davison Professor and Chairman Emeritus of Pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Katz recently received the Sabin Gold Medal award, recognizing his exemplary leadership in the field of vaccinology. He has contributed to numerous vaccine discoveries, including collaboration to develop the measles vaccine in use today. In addition to development of the measles vaccine, Dr. Katz worked extensively on a range of other vaccines, including vaccinia (used as smallpox vaccine), polio, rubella, influenza, pertussis (whooping cough), Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugates, and HIV. Dr. Katz is an honors graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Medical School. His early career included an internship at Beth Israel Hospital, a residency in pediatrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boston Children’s Hospital, followed by a research fellowship in virology and infectious diseases. He became a staff member at Children’s Hospital, working with Nobel Laureate John F. Enders to develop the attenuated measles virus vaccine. For 22 years, Dr. Katz was chairman of Duke University Medical Center’s Department of Pediatrics. Having relinquished the chairmanship in 1990, his activities continue with vaccines and pediatric AIDS. He participates in the clinical research trials of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), serves on the NIH Committee for AIDS Vaccines and devotes time to the care of children with HIV infection. Dr. Katz currently co-chairs the India-U.S. Vaccine Action Program and the National Network for Immunization Information. He also serves as a consultant with the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and World Health Organization. His published studies include numerous original scientific articles, chapters in textbooks, abstracts, commentaries, editorials and reviews. He is co-editor of Infectious Diseases of Children, a textbook now in its 11th edition.

Jim Kirkpatrick, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P.M., is the Bioterrorism Coordinator and Chief of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response in the North Carolina Division of Public Health. He received his bachelor of science degree from Texas Tech University, graduated from Southwestern Medical School and interned at Fort Lewis, Washington. He completed his residency in preventive medicine at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and his master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane University. He is a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College and the Army War College and is board certified in Preventive Medicine. He is a 31-year veteran of the U.S. Army Medical Corps. Previous key assignments include: Surgeon, 4th Battalion/10th Infantry, Panama; Instructor, Academy of Health Sciences, Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Surgeon, Second Armored Division, Fort Hood, Texas; Chief, Preventive Medicine for Cuban Refugee Operations, Fort Chaffee, Arkansas; Chief, Epidemiology Consultation Service, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research; Disease Control Consultant, Office of The Surgeon General, Pentagon; Military Medical Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs); Commandant, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland; Commander, Irwin Army Community Hospital, Fort Riley, Kansas; Commander, Darnall Army Community Hospital, Fort Hood, Texas; Director, Health Policy and Services, U.S. Army Medical Command, Fort Sam Houston, Texas; and Commander, 18th Medical Command and U.S. Forces Korea/Eighth U.S. Army Surgeon, Seoul, Korea. His final Army assignment was as Dean and Commandant of the U.S. Army Academy of Health Sciences, which is the largest school of allied health sciences in the world. Colonel Kirkpatrick’s military awards and decorations include: the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Expert Field Medical Badge, Order of Military Medical Merit, Distinguished Member of the Army Medical Department Regiment and the George M. Sternberg Medal for Excellence in Military Preventive Medicine.

David Ropeik, is Director of Risk Communication at The Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, where he is responsible for communicating the Center’s approach of keeping risk in perspective to the press, policy makers and the public. He also teaches Risk Communication at the Harvard School of Public Health and is a commentator on risk issues for National Public Radio’s "Morning Edition" program. He has a bachelor’s degree and masters degree in Journalism from Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism. Before joining Harvard, he was a television reporter and news anchorman at WCVB-TV in Boston for 22 years. He twice won the DuPont-Columbia Award, often cited as The Pulitzer Prize of television journalism. He also won several regional EMMY awards. Mr. Ropeik has been a visiting lecturer in journalism at Boston University and Tufts University, and he wrote a nationally syndicated science column for the Boston Globe and New York Times syndication service from 1998-2000, and for MSNBC.com from 2000-2002. He is co-author of the book "Risk: A Practical Guide for Deciding What’s Really Safe and What’s Really Dangerous in the World Around You," published this fall by Houghton Mifflin. He has written extensively on risk perception and risk communication.

Peter Young, M.B.A., is CEO of AlphaVax, where he has, since 1999, lead the firm’s effort to develop and commercialize a new vaccine vector technology. AlphaVax has had a significant scientific impact in the vaccine arena, and has secured grant and licensing partner support for development projects in HIV, herpes, papilloma and other viral infections, as well as in cancer and bio-defense. Mr. Young began his career with Merrell Dow after graduating Phi Beta Kappa and earning an M.B.A. from Indiana University. He subsequently worked for Abbott International before moving to Glaxo in 1989. Mr. Young served in a variety of commercial and general management positions there, concluding with global responsibility for the combined commercial and clinical development of Glaxo Wellcome’s HIV portfolio in its dramatic growth during the mid- and late 1990s. His career spans 20 years in the global pharmaceutical industry, and encompasses extensive general and commercial management experience. Mr. Young has a strong track record of commercial product success, particularly in antibiotics and anti-viral medicines, organizational leadership, and policy development. He combines a broad cross-functional and international industry background with a respected reputation in public health circles.

	Presented By:
	With Sponsorship From: