Preeminent UM SOM Scientist Elected to National Foundation for Infectious Diseases Board

CVD Director Kathleen Neuzil to Serve Three-Year Term on NFID Board, a Key Role to Promote Disease Prevention through Vaccines

Kathleen M. Neuzil, MD, MPH, FIDSA, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM), was elected to serve a three-year term to the Board of Directors for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID).

“The Center for Vaccine Development has long been dedicated to the prevention of infectious diseases.  Therefore, I am honored to be working with NFID on their mission to provide education to public and professional communities on emerging pathogens, the importance of curbing antimicrobial, and the role and value of vaccines,” said Dr. Neuzil, who is also deputy director of UM SOM’s Institute for Global Health (IGH).
 
Dr. Neuzil is one of the world’s preeminent scientists and advocates in vaccine development and policy. She has conducted clinical and epidemiologic studies on numerous vaccine-preventable diseases throughout her career. She is an expert on influenza, rotavirus and respiratory syncytial virus as well as in maternal immunization, optimizing vaccine use and overcoming barriers to sustainable vaccine uptake in low resource settings.  Through her research, Dr. Neuzil has been a key driver in the many changes in influenza policy in the U.S. Internationally, her research has helped to shape rotavirus vaccine policy.

“Dr. Neuzil’s research has had a significant impact on vaccine policy around the world. She will be able to continue this important leadership as a member of the Board of Directors for National Foundation for Infectious Diseases,” said UM SOM Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, who is also Vice President, Medical Affairs, University of Maryland and the John and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor.

Dr. Neuzil’s extensive experience in domestic and international vaccine and global health policy has included serving on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the Pandemic Influenza Task Force for the Infectious Disease Society of America. In addition, she has also worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) as an advisor on diarrheal diseases and has served as a member of WHO advisory groups on rotavirus and vaccine safety in pregnancy. Dr. Neuzil earned her M.D. at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and her M.P.H. at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.  

Founded in 1973, NFID is non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public and healthcare professionals about the causes, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases.

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Commemorating its 210th Anniversary, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world -- with 43 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs; and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished recipient of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research.  With an operating budget of more than $1 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic and clinically-based care for more than 1.2 million patients each year. The School has over 2,500 students, residents, and fellows, and nearly $450 million in extramural funding, with more than half of its academic departments ranked in the top 20 among all public medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total workforce of nearly 7,000 individuals. The combined School and Medical System (“University of Maryland Medicine”) has a total budget of $5 billion and an economic impact of nearly $15 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine faculty, which ranks as the 8th-highest public medical school in research productivity, is an innovator in translational medicine with 600 active patents and 24 start-up companies. The School works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visit medschool.umaryland.edu/

About the UM SOM Center for Vaccine Development

Since its inception in 1974, the CVD has worked to eliminate vaccine-preventable diseases. The CVD has created and tested vaccines against cholera, typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, non-typhoidal salmonella disease, shigellosis (bacillary dysentery), Escherichia coli diarrhea, nosocomial pathogens, tularemia, influenza, and other infectious diseases. Learn more about the CVD.