Volume 24, No. 4 - December 1999                     Published by the National

Foundation for Infectious Diseases

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) will honor Robert Edward (Ted) Turner III, Atlanta-based businessman and noted philanthropist, and distinguished medical researcher and corporate executive R. Gordon Douglas, Jr., MD, at the annual NFID Awards Dinner on February 15, 2000, at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City Hotel, located in Arlington, VA.

NFID will present the Maxwell Finland Award for Scientific Achievement to Dr. Douglas for his pioneering achievements in infectious disease research, which have included research on the mechanisms of transmission, immunology and antiviral therapy of influenza, rhinovirus and respiratory syncytial virus infections. This award is given to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the understanding of infectious diseases or public health.

Mr. Turner will be honored with the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind for philanthropic contributions to improving the lives and health of people worldwide through both the United Nations Foundation, which he created and the Turner Foundation, the Turner family's private grant-making organization.

"The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases is proud to honor such important individuals with these two awards," said William J. Martone, MD, senior executive director, NFID.

When Dr. R. Gordon Douglas, Jr., MD graduated from Princeton and entered Cornell University Medical College in 1955, the polio vaccine had just been launched in April of that year. This development was the stimulus that led to his interest in virology and infectious diseases.

Dr. Douglas has been a forceful proponent for preventive medicine by vaccines on the national scene. Blending his academic and industrial backgrounds, he has been an articulate and effective spokesperson for more focused national and world planning for vaccine research and development and for delivery of vaccines to all populations.

Former Maxwell Finland Award winner Anthony S. Fauci, MD had this to say of Dr. Douglas: "Based on my many interactions with Dr. Douglas over 25 years, I have been impressed with his insight and with the contributions that he has made to fostering and encouraging the development of vaccines against infectious diseases." He continued, "There is no question that he is one of the outstanding figures in infectious disease research in the country today."

As the head of Merck Vaccine Division, Dr. Douglas spearheaded development of varicella, hepatitis A and rotavirus vaccines, as well as new combinations of pediatric vaccines (DTP, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae B, and inactivated poliomyelitis virus), delayed delivery systems, and new adjuvants.

Prior to joining Merck in 1990, Dr. Douglas had a distinguished career as physician and academician, having held professorships at Baylor College of Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Cornell University Medical College. While at Merck, Dr. Douglas oversaw the development of vaccines that have had a significant public health impact, including the first licensed vaccine for use against chicken pox.

Dr. Douglas has published more than 190 scientific papers and was co-editor, with Drs. Gerald L. Mandell and John E. Bennett, of the first three editions of the major textbook of infectious diseases, Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Douglas has served on the editorial boards of several distinguished medical journals and publications. In addition, he has received numerous awards for his achievements including the R.R. Hawkins Award for Scholarly Publishing from the Association of American Publishers, American Medical Writers Association Award, and the Infections Diseases Society of America's H. Feldman Award, among others.

Having retired from Merck in May of this year, Dr. Douglas is currently a consultant at the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health. In addition, he is actively involved in the work of Princeton Project 55 (PP55), a nonprofit organization established by the Class of 1955 at Princeton University to mobilize alumni, students and others to provide civic leadership and to develop and implement solutions to systemic problems that affect the public interest. One of the programs of PP55 is its Tuberculosis Initiative (TBI), dedicated to increasing public awareness about tuberculosis, encouraging US leadership in tuberculosis prevention and control and fostering tuberculosis vaccine development. As the current Project Director of TBI, Dr. Douglas is dedicated to increasing interest in and finding funding for tuberculosis research through coalition building and establishing a presence on Capitol Hill.

Dr. Douglas is a member of the Institute of Medicine, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Society for Microbiology, and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He is a past president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and a current member of the NFID Board of Directors.

Dr. Douglas received his baccalaureate degree from Princeton University and his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College.

Ted Turner is currently vice chairman of Time Warner, Inc., the world's leading media and entertainment company. He is also president of the Turner Foundation, the Turner family's private grant-making organization founded in 1990, which focuses on world health, population and the environment. In 1997, Mr. Turner committed $1 billion over a ten-year period to advance specific programmatic initiatives of the United Nations (UN). These funds will go toward such far-reaching UN causes as UNICEF, disease prevention and eradication, refugee assistance, education, destruction of land mines, and peacekeeping. As a conduit for funding these important global programs, Mr. Turner has established the United Nations Foundation (UNF). The UNF has made children's health one of its highest priorities. The UNF is actively defining how most effectively to allocate approximately $20 million per year to benefit the world's neediest children. Initial target areas include HIV/AIDS prevention, new approaches to delivering important public health intervention such as vaccines to those who otherwise would lack access to such services, polio eradication, and tobacco use prevention. In 1998, one of the UNF's first grants was to the United Nations Population Fund. Over $4 million will be directed toward advancing adolescent reproductive and sexual health. A large segment of these funds will be earmarked for under served countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to create and expand quality healthcare services and education for adolescents.

Former President Jimmy Carter said this of Mr. Turner's philanthropic contributions: "His extremely generous and socially conscious philanthropy has had and will continue to have tremendous impact on our lives and on generations to come. He has shown not only great leadership with his magnanimous gestures, but also an understanding of the challenges facing our global society."

Fittingly, Mr. Turner announced the $1 billion donation to the UN at a time when he was being presented with the 1997 Global Leadership award by the United Nations Associations-USA for his contributions to the international community. Among the other numerous awards, honors, and honorary degrees he has received, Mr. Turner was named Time Magazine's 1991 Man of the Year. Currently, Mr. Turner is a member of the boards of directors of several organizations, including the National Cable Television Association, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Change, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, The International Founders Council of the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, and the Business Council of the United Nations.

An active environmentalist, Mr. Turner has donated funds to such causes as Worldwatch and hundreds of other environmental efforts. In 1997, the Turner Foundation established a new initiative--the Turner Endangered Species Fund, created to facilitate the involvement of private landowners in the conservation of imperiled plant and animal species. This important activity will help ensure the persistence of existing populations and to help recover decimated populations.

Mr. Turner is a graduate of Brown University.

Past recipients of the Maxwell Finland Award are Stanley Falkow, PhD, pioneer in the field of pathogenesis, Maurice R. Hilleman, PhD, renowned vaccine researcher, Joshua Lederberg, PhD, Nobel Prize winner and genetics research pioneer; the Honorable Paul G. Rogers, former congressman from Florida; the Honorable Dale Bumpers, senator from Arkansas, and Mrs. Betty F. Bumpers, co-founder, "Every Child by Two"; Elizabeth Hanford Dole, former president, American Red Cross; Arthur Ashe, Jr., champion tennis player and humanitarian; Michael E. DeBakey, MD, chancellor, Baylor College of Medicine and renowned surgeon; Mrs. Albert Lasker, president, Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation; P. Roy Vagelos, MD, former chief executive officer, Merck & Co., Inc.; Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director, NIAID, NIH; and C. Everett Koop, MD, ScD, former United States surgeon general.

The first Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind was presented in 1997 to President and Mrs. Carter. In 1998, NFID presented this award to General Colin L. Powell. Last year's winner was, US Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health, David Satcher, MD, PhD.

The Awards Dinner will take place on the evening of February 15, 2000 at the Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City, Arlington, VA. Individual seats for the NFID Awards Dinner are $350 per person. Sponsored private tables for 10 are available for $8,000 for a Preferred Location and $5,000 for a Select Location. 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.