Volume 21, No. 3                           December 1996

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) will honor former President Jimmy Carter, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, and Nobel Laureate Joshua Lederberg, PhD, at its annual NFID Awards Dinner on February 13, 1997, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC.

NFID will present the Maxwell Finland Award for Scientific Achievement, which is given to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the understanding of infectious diseases or public health, to Dr. Lederberg. Former President Carter and Mrs. Carter will be honored as well with the first Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind. This award will be presented henceforth to individuals whose outstanding humanitarian efforts and achievements have contributed significantly to improving the health of humankind.

The Honorable Paul G. Rogers, the 1996 Maxwell Finland Awardee and Chairman of the NFID Board of Trustees, and Susan J. Rehm, MD, Vice President of the NFID Board of Trustees, will co-chair the gala event.

As outstanding humanitarians, both President Carter and Mrs. Carter have worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for people worldwide. Since leaving the White House, they continue to be advocates for peaceful conflict resolution, improving health worldwide, human rights, and the empowerment of urban communities.

In 1982, President and Mrs. Carter founded The Carter Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization in Atlanta dedicated to improving the quality of life for people at home and in the developing world through programs in health, democracy and development, and urban revitalization. Through the Center's activities, the Carters have worked to resolve conflict, promote democracy, protect human rights, and prevent and eradicate disease.

After learning that a 12-year-old civil war in Sudan was blocking the eradication of Guinea worm disease worldwide, a goal of the Center's Global 2000 Program, President Carter met with Sudan officials. As a result, he and Center officials were able to broker a four month cease-fire so that nongovernmental organizations and health officials could implement measures to prevent Guinea worm disease and river blindness, as well as provide immunizations. More than 2,500 villages were visited, and at least 50,000 people were treated to prevent river blindness. In addition, health officials were able to vaccinate more than 35,000 children against polio and nearly 40,000 against measles.

The Carter Center also assists victims of human rights abuse as well as agencies and governments that are trying to build institutions to protect human rights. "Peace is a human right; environmental quality is a human right; democracy and freedom are human rights," President Carter said. "For the agenda of The Carter Center, human rights is the overriding consideration."

In 1991, President Carter launched The Atlanta Project (TAP), which is a community-based program designed to combat the social problems associated with poverty. One of the project's efforts was a city-wide, door-to-door campaign in Atlanta to identify children needing immunizations. As a result, nearly 16,000 preschool children were given free shots or had their vaccination records updated.

A more recent initiative launched by TAP, the America's Youth Passport, provides parents of newborns with a booklet in which to keep their children's health records, fingerprints, and photographs. The booklet, which resembles a US passport and is being distributed by the Georgia Hospital Association, also includes information about immunizations, nutrition, exercise, daycare, injury prevention, and parenting. President Carter said the program is important because "it encourages parents to practice prevention as opposed to managing health and safety problems after they arise".

In addition to his work with The Carter Center, President Carter is University Distinguished Professor at Emory University and also devotes time to Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps people in need to renovate and build homes for themselves. Not only has he served on the Board of Directors, but he and Mrs. Carter volunteer one week a year to assist people building their homes.

President Carter has received numerous awards and honors for his outstanding community service, his work toward international peace, his environmental concern, and for his efforts in combating human rights abuses. Among these distinguished awards are the J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding, 1994; the Spark M. Matsunaga Medal of Peace, US Institute of Peace, 1993; the Physicians for Social Responsibility Award, 1991; the Edwin C. Whitehead Award, National Center for Health Education, 1989; and the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism, 1987.

Mrs. Carter is an advocate for mental health, early childhood immunization, conflict resolution, and urban revitalization. Through her work at The Carter Center, she is able to tackle many of these issues. She is a full partner with President Carter in all of the Center's activities, and serves as Vice Chair of the Center's Board of Trustees.

In 1991, Mrs. Carter established and continues to chair the Mental Health Task Force, an advisory body of experts, consumers, and advocates promoting positive change in the mental health field. She also hosts the annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, which brings leaders of the nation's mental health organizations together to address critical issues. Mrs. Carter became a driving force for mental health when she was First Lady of Georgia, and in 1977, when she went to Washington, she became Active Honorary Chair of the President's Commission on Mental Health, which resulted in the passage of the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980.

As a mother of four, Mrs. Carter has dedicated her life to issues affecting women and children. In 1991, she co-founded with Mrs. Betty Bumpers, "Every Child by Two," a nationwide campaign to immunize all of the nation's children by age two. Mrs. Bumpers and her husband, Senator Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, were the 1995 NFID Maxwell Finland Award recipients.

Mrs. Carter supports Habitat for Humanity with her husband, serves on the Policy Advisory Board of TAP, and is on the Board of Directors of the Friendship Force, a citizens exchange program in more than 40 countries. She is a distinguished Fellow at the Emory University Institute for Women's Studies in Atlanta and is actively involved with the Rosalynn Carter Institute of Georgia Southwestern College, a program established in her honor to help family and professional caregivers.

Mrs. Carter has received numerous honors and awards, including the Volunteer of the Decade Award from the National Mental Health Association in 1980; the Award of Merit for Support of the Equal Rights Amendment from the National Organization for Women in 1976; the Notre Dame Award for International Service in 1992; and the Eleanor Roosevelt Living World Award, Peace Links in 1992. As an author of three books, including Helping Yourself Help Others: A Book for Caregivers, she continues to help and inspire others.

Dr. Lederberg was selected as the recipient of the 1997 Maxwell Finland Award for his outstanding research career, his leadership in determining infectious disease threats, and his commitment to educating both the public and policymakers about infectious diseases.

Trained as a research geneticist, Dr. Lederberg began his lifelong research on the genetic structure of microorganisms at Columbia and Yale universities. It was there that he discovered genetic recombination in bacteria. As a result of this important discovery, scientists have been able to develop new vaccines, develop healthier plants, and test new drugs.

At age 33 in 1958, Dr. Lederberg received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for this discovery and his subsequent work on bacterial genetics. Since this honor, he has served as Professor of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin and at Stanford University. He is also the past President of Rockefeller University and is currently University Professor and Sackler Foundation Scholar there.

As a member of the National Academy of Sciences for almost 40 years and a charter member of its Institute of Medicine (IOM), Dr. Lederberg has been active on numerous health-related advisory committees and has served on the President's Cancer Panel. For his continued scientific success, Dr. Lederberg was awarded the National Medal of Science--one of the nation's most distinguished scientific awards--in 1989.

Dr. Lederberg had always been interested in space biology and played an active role in NASA's Mariner and Viking missions to Mars. For more than 15 years, he served on the National Academy of Sciences committees on space biology and served on NASA committees, particularly the Lunar and Planetary Missions Board.

In 1992, Dr. Lederberg served as co-chair of IOM Committee that developed the landmark report, Emerging Infections: Microbial Threats to Health in the United States. "The impact of this IOM report has been profound," said James M. Hughes, MD, Director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "He has been tireless in his efforts to disseminate the recommendations of this report to the scientific community, policymakers, and the public."

Dr. Lederberg has continued his efforts to educate the public about infectious diseases. He has written numerous scientific articles, newspaper columns, distributed scientific reports, and has provided expert advice to many federal agencies and to the World Health Organization.

"I believe that Dr. Finland would be extremely proud to have Dr. Lederberg join the list of distinguished individuals who have received the Maxwell Finland Award for his outstanding leadership in alerting government agencies, policymakers, and the public to threats posed by emerging infectious diseases," added Dr. Hughes.

Past recipients of the Maxwell Finland Award are the Hon. Paul G. Rogers, former Congressman from Florida; the Honorable Dale Bumpers, Senator from Arkansas, and Mrs. Betty F. Bumpers, co-founder of "Every Child by Two"; Elizabeth Hanford Dole, President of the American Red Cross; Arthur Ashe, Jr., champion tennis player and humanitarian; Michael D. DeBakey, MD, Chancellor of Baylor College of Medicine and renowned surgeon; Mrs. Albert Lasker, President of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation; P. Roy Vagelos, MD, former Chief Executive Officer of Merck & Co., Inc.; Anthony S. Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health; and C. Everett Koop, MD, former US Surgeon General.

The NFID Awards Dinner will begin at approximately 6:30 p.m. with a reception. Dinner will be served at 7:30 p.m., and the award ceremony will follow.

Individual tickets are $400 per person. Sponsored private tables for 10 are available for $10,000 on the Presidential Box (Balcony) Level, $6,500 on the Terrace Level, and $5,000 on the Floor Level. In addition, there are a limited number of tables of eight on the Presidential Box Level at $8,000 each. NFID is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization, and as a result, most of this cost is tax deductible. Net proceeds from the event will be used to support research, public and professional education, and prevention into the causes and cures for infectious diseases.

For more information or an invitation, please contact NFID at (301) 656-0003, fax (301) 907-0878, e-mail: nfid@aol.com, or write NFID Awards Dinner, NFID, 4733 Bethesda Avenue, Suite 750, Bethesda, MD 20814-5228.