1999 Richard J. Duma/NFID Annual Press Conference and Symposium on Infectious Diseases
Please Choose a Presenter
» Kenneth G. Castro, M.D.
» Gray Davis, Ph.D.
» Richard J. Duma, M.D., Ph.D.
» Bruce Gellin, M.D., M.P.H.
» J. Thomas Grayston, M.D.
» Leslye D. Johnson, Ph.D.
» William J. Martone, M.D., M.Sc.
» Ralph Nader
Kenneth G. Castro, M.D.
Director, Division of Tuberculosis Elimination
National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Castro has been director, Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since January 1993. He is a physician-scientist trained in epidemiology with a specialty in internal medicine and a subspecialty in infectious diseases. He is a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) with 15 years of experience in various positions at CDC and has also served as a clinician at Grady Memorial Hospital since 1988. A native Puerto Rican and Spanish-speaker, he has frequently served as an advisor to the Puerto Rico Department of Health, the Pan American Health Organization and several ministries of health throughout Latin America and Spain.
Dr. Castro began his career with CDC in 1983 as an epidemic intelligence officer with the AIDS Program. A fellowship in infectious diseases at the Emory University School of Medicine allowed him to focus on the growing number of persons with tuberculosis and its association with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Subsequent work at CDC included the 1993 revision of CDC's classification system for HIV infection in adolescents and adults and the expanded surveillance of AIDS case definition; coordination of outbreak investigations of nosocomial transmission of multidrug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in HIV-infected patients; the development of guidelines for the management of persons exposed to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis; and recommendations for the use of alternative preventive therapy in persons infected with multidrug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In May 1992, he was appointed to the office of the associate director of HIV/AIDS to coordinate CDC-wide HIV-associated tuberculosis activities.
In his present position, Dr. Castro has focused on leading the national tuberculosis prevention and control efforts and research activities through the various tuberculosis control programs and clinical consortia sponsored by CDC. He has become increasingly involved in the international aspects of tuberculosis control and has served as an expert advisor to the World Health Organization and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases.
The author of more than 85 scholarly publications, Dr. Castro received his bachelor's degree in 1974 from the University of Puerto Rico; completed post-graduate biology studies at Northeastern University; received his medical degree in 1980 from SUNY-Stony Brook School of Medicine; completed his internal medicine postgraduate training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine; and completed a fellowship in infectious diseases at the Emory University School of Medicine.
Dr. Castro has received numerous USPHS and CDC awards, several for his coauthored publications. In January 1999, Dr. Castro received the Dr. Arturo L. CarriŪn Award from the Puerto Rico Society of Microbiologists, American Society of Microbiology Branch, for his career accomplishments in infectious diseases epidemiology. He is an associate editor for the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, a peer reviewer for numerous scientific journals and a member of several professional societies.
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Gray Davis, Ph.D.
President
Sexual Health Communications
Durham, North Carolina
Gray Davis, Ph.D., president of the Sexual Health Communications, has more than 20 years of experience in the field of sexual health at Burroughs Wellcome Co. and Glaxo Wellcome, Inc. As a research scientist, she managed the first trials of the antiviral drug Zovirax and later became the international project leader for the product. In this capacity, she helped to develop acyclovir's topical, oral and intravenous formulations for genital herpes, zoster and chicken pox, and later led the company's efforts to gain over-the-counter status for the product.
Davis was responsible for establishing and managing the Viral Resistance Task Force, which was the first collaborative effort between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and a pharmaceutical company. She also directed national awareness campaigns on sexually transmitted diseases, herpes specifically, overseeing the development of video and television programming targeting teen audiences. Davis was also a consultant to the Committee on Prevention and Control of Sexually Transmitted Diseases of the Institute of Medicine, which resulted in the publication The Hidden Epidemic--Confronting Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
Davis holds a master's degree in clinical pharmacy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and a doctorate in health policy and administration from UNC. Her academic research focused on herpes in pregnancy and attitudes towards health care among adolescents.
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Richard J. Duma, M.D., Ph.D.
Director
Division of Infectious Diseases
Halifax Medical Center
Daytona Beach, Florida
Dr. Duma is director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, FL, and clinical professor of medicine at the Medical College of Virginia (MCV). He is also a trustee and one of the founders of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), a nonprofit, public foundation established in 1973, to support research and education into the causes, cures and prevention of infectious diseases. Duma, known internationally in the field of infectious diseases, was elected vice president of the NFID Board of Directors from 1973 to 1975 and president from 1975 to 1991. He served as its executive director from 1991 to 1995.
Prior to becoming executive director of NFID, Duma was a tenured professor of medicine, pathology and microbiology and chairman, Division of Infectious Diseases, MCV. He was also director of hospital epidemiology and chairman of the MCV Hospital Infection Control Committee.
Duma has served as chairman of the Steering Committee for the National Coalition for Adult Immunization, which is a national network of more than 95 health care organizations dedicated to promoting adult immunization, primarily through educational and motivational activities. He was also the first chairman of the U.S. Pharmacopeia National Coordinating Committee on Large Volume Parenterals, which played a major role in setting standards and ensuring the safety of the nation's intravenous fluids and medicinals. He is also a long standing member of the Data Monitoring Safety Board for the Mycoses Study Group of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. As the author of more than 100 scientific articles and research studies, he has written more than 30 chapters and is a reviewer for numerous medical journals.
Duma received his medical degree from the University of Virginia Medical School and his doctorate in experimental pathology and microbiology from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases and is a fellow of both the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, as well as a member of numerous other professional societies. Currently, he is president of the Infectious Diseases Society of Florida.
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Bruce Gellin, M.D., M.P.H.
Staff Director
The Vaccine Initiative
Nashville, Tennessee
Dr. Bruce Gellin directs the Vaccine Initiative, a special project of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS). The project, chaired by Dr. Louis Sullivan (president, Morehouse School of Medicine and former secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) and Dr. Samuel Katz (chairman emeritus, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine), is based in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, where Gellin is a member of the faculty.
Gellin, an infectious disease expert with training in epidemiology, has had broad experience in public health aspects of infectious diseases. He has held positions at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Rockefeller Foundation and extensive consultations with the World Health Organization's Children's Vaccine Initiative and Expanded Program on Immunizations. In addition to his current position at Vanderbilt, Gellin holds faculty positions at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and Columbia University School of Public Health.
Gellin is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, board certified in infectious diseases and a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He has written extensively about public health aspects of infectious diseases in medical and non-medical texts and peer-reviewed medical literature. He has also served as a medical advisor to Encyclopedia Britannica.
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J. Thomas Grayston, M.D.
Professor, Department of Epidemiology
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington
Dr. Grayston is professor of epidemiology, adjunct professor of pathobiology and emeritus vice president for health sciences at the University of Washington. He was the founding dean of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Washington. He joined the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1960, as chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine.
He is the author of over 300 research papers plus numerous book chapters, review articles and abstracts. His papers are concerned primarily with the epidemiology, pathogenesis and laboratory aspects of infectious diseases. His work with Chlamydia dates back to 1949. He has a long-standing interest in respiratory tract infections and their epidemiology.
Grayston and his colleagues first isolated Chlamydia pneumoniae (TWAR) in 1965, showed that it caused human respiratory disease in 1985-6, and were responsible for its speciation in 1989. For the last 10 years, they have worked on the relationship of C. pneumoniae and atherosclerosis.
Grayston received his B.S., M.S., and M.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. After completing a fellowship in preventive medicine and residency in internal medicine at the University of Chicago, he was appointed to the faculty of the Department of Medicine. He served in the Epidemic Intelligence Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and at the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2, Taipei, Taiwan.
He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and of the American Association of Physicians. He has served as president of the American Epidemiological Society and the Association of Academic Health Centers. The Infectious Diseases Society of America presented him with its Joseph E. Smadel Award, and he is the recipient of the Harry A. Feldman Award from the American Epidemiological Society. Grayston is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Preventive Medicine. He has served as member, consultant and chairman of a large array of professional organizations in the areas of epidemiology, infectious disease and public health.
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Leslye D. Johnson, Ph.D.
Chief, Enteric and Hepatic Diseases Branch
Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Maryland
Dr. Johnson is chief of the Enteric and Hepatic Diseases Branch in the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). This branch is part of the extramural programs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The program works from "bench to bedside" emphasizing basic, applied and clinical research to understand the mechanisms of infection and disease as well as the development and evaluation of therapies and vaccines. Dr. Johnson's area of interest and expertise is multi-disciplinary approaches to infection and disease caused by hepatitis viruses.
Johnson is a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the American Society for Microbiology, the American Society for Virology and the International Society of Antiviral Research. She serves as a government liaison to both the American Liver Foundation and Hepatitis Foundation International. Johnson played a major role in the development of "A Framework for Progress on Hepatitis C" for the NIAID. She chairs the Inter-Institute Hepatitis C Working Group at the NIH and represents the NIH on the Inter-Agency Group.
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William J. Martone, M.D., M.Sc.
Senior Executive Director
National Foundation for Infectious Diseases
Bethesda, MD
Dr. Martone is senior executive director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID)--a nonprofit foundation that promotes research, education and prevention of infectious diseases. Prior to NFID, Martone was director of the Hospital Infections Program of the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, he is a clinical associate professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and a staff physician at the Atlanta V.A. Medical Center.
Martone is a past president of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. He is a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and is a member of the American Society for Microbiology, the American College of Physicians, the American College of Epidemiology and numerous national and international scientific program committees. In addition, Martone also is a member of the American Hospital Association Ad Hoc Committee on AIDS Policy as well as the Technical Panel on Infections in Hospitals, and he serves as a consultant to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Martone received his bachelor's degree from Union College in Schenectady, New York, his master of science from the University of Virginia and his medical degree from New York University.
Martone has authored and/or coauthored more than 75 research papers and book chapters on infectious disease topics. In addition, as an editorial board member, he has reviewed several scientific journals and numerous proceedings.
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Ralph Nader
Founder
Princeton Project 55 Inc.
Washington, D.C.
For more than 30 years, Ralph Nader has been recognized as one of America's foremost social critics and defender of the rights of the ordinary consumer. During this period of time, he has taken on a wide variety of issues and has successfully made both government and industry respond to consumer needs.
Nader's first campaign was waged against the unsafe vehicles being produced by the automobile industry. His 1965 book, Unsafe at Any Speed, made the public aware of this situation, and it led to the passage of a series of automobile safety laws in 1966.
After that, Nader's attention turned to a wide range of public health issues including safety of the food and water supply, the workplace and the environment. These efforts have led to the passage of at least eight major federal consumer protection laws such as the motor vehicle safety laws and the Safe Drinking Water Act. In addition, Nader's advocacy has helped to launch several federal regulatory agencies including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Product Safety Administration.
Nader has founded several organizations that have produced a wide variety of studies and reports on consumer protection issues. These organizations include the Center for the Study of Responsive Law, Public Citizen and Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs). The Center for the Study of Responsive Law, which Nader headed from 1969 until 1980, has produced innumerable reports on subjects such as the Interstate Commerce Commission, food safety, pensions, corporate welfare and government procurement. Public Citizen, which was founded in 1971, has over 100,000 members and includes such groups as Congress Watch, Critical Mass Energy Project and the Health Research Group. The PIRGs, which are student-funded and controlled organizations functioning on college campuses in 23 states, have led advocacy efforts on a wide variety of issues including environmental health and energy conservation.
In 1989, Nader proposed to his Princeton alumni class of 1955 that the classmates initiate civic projects dedicated to systemic change. One of these projects is the Princeton Project 55 TB Initiative. Two years later he proposed to his Harvard Law School class of 1958 that the classmates establish an Appleseed Foundation dedicated to starting Centers for Law and Justice in as many states in the country as possible. He is urging alumni classes everywhere to consider aligning themselves in formal organizations in order to pursue systemic civic changes to advance justice in our society.
Nader's most recent efforts have been focused in three major areas which are multinational corporations, the civil justice system and banking and insurance reform. He has spoken and written extensively on the growing imperialism of multinational corporations and the dangerous convergence of corporate and government power. He has also vigorously opposed efforts to restrain consumer's rights to seek justice in the courts against wrongdoers in the area of product liability, securities fraud and medical negligence. Finally, he has crusaded actively for reform of the insurance and banking industries.
