2012 presidential medal of freedom ceremony william foege
William Herbert Foege M.D., M.P.H. (; born 1936 in Decorah, Iowa) is an American epidemiologist who is credited with "devising the global strategy that led to the eradication of smallpox in the late 1970s".
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.
Dr william foege smallpox eradication lessons for today
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.
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.
Also known as "Bill Foege," 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.
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
Richard and Barbara Hansen Leadership Award, University of Iowa College of Public Health, 2014
Books and book chapters
Foege WH, Amler RW (1987). "Introduction and methods". In Amler RW, Dull HB. Closing the gap: the burden of unnecessary illness. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505483-0. OCLC 16755579.CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
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. 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.
Journal articles
Foege WH, Millar JD, Lane JM (October 1971). "Selective epidemiologic control in smallpox eradication". Am J Epidemiol. 94 (4): 311–5. 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.
Foege WH, Amler RW, White CC (September 1985). "Closing the gap. Report of the Carter Center Health Policy Consultation". JAMA. 254 (10): 1355–8. PMID 4021014. doi:10.1001/jama.254.10.1355.
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. PMID 8411605. doi:10.1001/jama.270.18.2207.
McGinnis JM, Foege WH (Mar–Apr 1999). "Mortality and morbidity attributable to use of addictive substances in the United States". Proc Assoc Am Physicians. 111 (2): 109–18. PMID 10220805. doi:10.1046/j.1525-1381.1999.09256.x.
Foege W (April 2002). "Keynote address: issues in overcoming iron deficiency". J Nutr. 132 (4 Suppl): 790S–3S. PMID 11925483.
