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Former CDC Director to Lecture at Emory on "Plagues: Bugs and Behavior"
ATLANTA -- During a global public health career spanning nearly 30 years
and addressing disease issues ranging from SARS to smoking, Jeffrey
Koplan, MD has developed a unique perspective and understanding of global
"plagues" that include infectious disease epidemics such as smallpox,
pandemic flu, and HIV/AIDS, as well as chronic disease crises such as
obesity and tobacco and alcohol-related illnesses.
As an Emory Great Teacher, he will present his fascinating insights
and historical knowledge of past and present plagues and their psychological
and behavioral power, as well as what we can expect from the future,
and whether an understanding of the evolution of infectious "bugs" and
behavior-related afflictions can help us stem the progression of these
public health scourges.
His lecture on "Plagues: Bugs and Behavior" will be free and open to
the public on Thursday, October 16, 7:30 p.m. in Emory’s Miller Ward
Alumni House at 815 Houston Mill Road. Call 404-727-5686 for more information.
Dr. Koplan came to Emory University as vice president for academic health
affairs in 2002 after serving as director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), the nation's most important agency devoted
to health promotion and the prevention of disease, injury, and disability.
He began his public health career in the early 1970s as one of the CDC’s
celebrated "disease detectives," more formally known as Epidemic Intelligence
Service (EIS) officers. During his illustrious career in public health,
he has been a world leader in virtually every major global public health
issue as part of the final smallpox eradication project in Bangladesh,
a member of the team that investigated the Bhopal chemical disaster,
the anthrax incidents in 2001, and continuing global problems of HIV/AIDS,
malaria, and tuberculosis.
As a consultant to the World Bank and the World Health Organization,
Dr. Koplan has worked extensively in the public health programs of other
nations, including China, Hungary, Finland, the Caribbean and elsewhere.
During the SARS epidemic, he has been a special consultant to the government
of Hong Kong. As a founder and the first director of the CDC’s National
Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, he was successful
in establishing the fight against chronic disease as a national priority,
provided national and international leadership in efforts to combat
the health toll of tobacco, obesity and chronic diseases, and initiated
the national breast cancer early detection program
At Emory, in addition to his role as vice president, he is senior adviser
to the Southeastern Center for Emerging Biologic Threats.
Dr. Koplan is a graduate of Yale College, the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine,
and the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a Master Fellow of the
American College of Physicians and was elected to membership in the
Institute of Medicine and the Institute’s Governing Council. Dr. Koplan's
recognitions for his achievements in the Public Health Service include
the Distinguished Service Award, the highest award given.
His wife, Carol Koplan, MD, is an adjunct assistant professor in the
Rollins School of Public Health, and their daughter Kate is in the final
year of her five-year MD/MPH training at Emory. The Koplans’ son, Adam,
is a theater director in New York City.
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