From Concept to Public Health Reality: the Oral Cholera Vaccine Story
Monday, January 9, 2023 [6:00pm – 7:30pm]
Learning Objectives:
Speaker: Dr. John Clemens is an infectious disease epidemiologist known for his research leading to the development, licensure, and global use of safe, effective, and affordable oral cholera vaccines (OCVs), which are currently stockpiled by WHO and are a key component of the WHO Global Initiative to End Cholera by 2030. His expertise lies in designing, conducting, analyzing and evaluating large, population-based epidemiologic studies and vaccine field trials in low and middle-income countries. His work also includes major methodological contributions to the design of studies measuring vaccine effectiveness and vaccine herd protection.
Professor Clemens’ career has spanned academia, government and international organizations. He has held several global health leadership roles and led two international organizations: Founding Director-General of the International Vaccine Institute (1999-2011) and Executive Director of the icddr,b in Bangladesh (2013-21). He currently serves as Senior Scientific Advisor to the Director-General of the International Vaccine Institute. Professor Clemens has authored or co-authored over 490 peer-reviewed articles and has served on the editorial boards of several international journals.
He is an elected member of the American Epidemiology Society, and an elected Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He has held numerous expert advisory positions on international panels, committees and boards. In recognition of his groundbreaking work on oral cholera vaccines, in 2010 he was awarded the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal, and in 2018 he received the Prince Mahidol Award for Public Health jointly with Professor Jan Holmgren.
