'Deeply grateful': Baylor professor to receive David E. Rogers Award

Dr. Peter Hotez, professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, was awarded the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation David E. Rogers Award.

The accolade honors individuals who have made significant contributions to public health.

"Congratulations to Dr. @PeterHotez on receiving the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation David E. Rodgers Award," read a tweet from the Baylor College of Medicine's official account on Aug. 27. 

Hotez himself also commented with gratitude on receiving the award. 

"I’m deeply grateful to the AAMC, an organization we’ve worked closely with for decades," Hotez said in an article published by the Baylor College of Medicine. "It’s a personal honor for me given our mutual commitment to medical and scientific education."

Hotez holds degrees from Yale University, The Rockefeller University and the Weill Cornell Medical College. He's a professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology. Hotez works on a number of vaccine projects, including a human hookworm vaccine, a Schistosomiasis vaccine, a Chagas Disease and Leishmaniasis vaccine, a SARS vaccine and Multivalent Anthelmintic Vaccine Discovery. 

Hotez's profile on Baylor's website also says he is the dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine, an Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics at the Texas Children's Hospital and co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. His professional interests are listed as being drug and vaccine delivery and tropical medicine. In particular his work on tropical medicine covers traditionally neglected areas. 

Hotez has done pioneering work in molecular science and worked on vaccine advocacy efforts to help counteract fears surrounding vaccines in the United States. He also has over 600 published academic papers and has authored four books, including his most recent book "Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-Science" published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Hotez is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

The awards ceremony for the David E. Rogers award is being held on Oct. 27.