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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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FACT: Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is a bacterial disease that causes pneumonia and meningitis, particularly in young children. It is responsible for 3,000,000 illnesses and 400,000 deaths every year.
FACT: A safe and effective vaccine for Hib has existed for over 20 years. Which means that, theoretically, the lives of up to 8 million now dead kids could have been saved, had the vaccine immediately gone into widespread use.
FACT: The vaccine didn't go into widespread use. But then it did.
Want to know what changed? The Hib Initiative implemented a strategy that involved research, communications and intense coordination to accelerate vaccine uptake.
If you want to hear a really interesting story don't miss this seminar … Hope to see you and snacks will be provided!
Speaker: Rana Hajjeh, MD
Division Director, Bacterial Diseases, CDC/OD/NCIRD
Clinical Professor, Emory School of Medicine
Visting Professor, Bloomberg School of Public Health (Johns Hopkins)
When: Friday, April 13th from 3:00 – 4:00 PM
Where: Whitaker Lecture Hall 1103
Speaker Bio:
Rana Hajjeh did her undergraduate and medical studies at AUB (B.S. ’84, M.D. ’88).
During 1988-1993, she trained in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Emory
University, Atlanta, GA, and is board certified in both. In 1993, she joined the Epidemic
Intelligence Service (EIS) at the U.S. CDC for 2 years. She was the chief of the
epidemiology section, Mycotic Diseases in 1996 - 2003. During 2003-2005, Dr Hajjeh
was the director of the Surveillance Program at the U.S. Navy Medical Research Unit-3
(NAMRU3) in Cairo, Egypt, where she worked closely with WHO (EMRO), and various
countries in the region. During 2005-2009, Dr Hajjeh was the director of the Hib
Initiative, a project supported by the GAVI Alliance, as a collaboration between CDC,
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine and WHO, which aimed at accelerating introduction of Hib vaccines in
developing countries. Currently, Dr Hajjeh is the director of the Division of Bacterial
Diseases at the Center of Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases, CDC, where she leads
a group of 180 staff. Dr. Hajjeh is fluent in Arabic, French and English. She has
published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, and many book chapters, and serves on the
editorial reviews of many journals.
Cheers!
–The BBUGS Public Policy
Inthu Somasuntharam, Roy Wang and Alex Caulk
