William Foege


William Herbert Foege is an American physician and epidemiologist who is credited with "devising the global strategy that led to the eradication of smallpox in the late 1970s".
Foege also "played a central role" in efforts that greatly increased immunization rates in developing countries in the 1980s.
In June 2011, he authored House on Fire: The Fight to Eradicate Smallpox, a book on modern science, medicine, and public health over the smallpox disease.

Early life

Foege was born March 12 1936 in Decorah, Iowa. He was the third of six children born to William A. Foege, a Lutheran minister, and Anne Erika Foege. The family lived in Eldorado, Iowa in Fayette County, starting in 1936 and moved to Chewelah, Washington, in 1945.
In his younger days he was inspired by the life of his uncle, a Lutheran missionary to New Guinea. He became interested in science at age 13 when working at a pharmacy, and read extensively about the world while in a body cast for several months at age 15. When a teenager he expressed a desire to practice medicine in Africa.

Education

Foege received a B.A. from Pacific Lutheran University in 1957. He attended medical school at the University of Washington, where he became interested in public health while working "after school and on Saturdays" at the Seattle–King County Health Department. After receiving his M.D. in 1961, he completed an internship with the United States Public Health Service hospital at Staten Island in 1961–1962.
He participated in the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 1962 and 1964, assigned to Colorado. When Foege was with the EIS, he was inspired by Alexander Langmuir to pursue global health, and spent a short time with the Peace Corps in India under Charles Snead Houston. Upon reading a lecture on priorities in public health by Thomas Huckle Weller, Foege entered the Master of Public Health program at the Harvard School of Public Health where he studied with Weller. He received his M.P.H. in 1965.

Career

Foege's research includes child survival and development, injury prevention, population, preventive medicine, and public health leadership—particularly in the developing world. He is a strong proponent of disease eradication and control and has taken an active role in the eradication of Guinea Worm Disease, polio and measles, and the elimination of river blindness.
He has held various positions during his career:
Also known as "Bill Foege," he is noted for his height of. Foege and his wife Paula had three sons, the eldest of whom died in 2007. He has been described as a "religious man"; between 1997 and 2006 he served on the Board of Regents of Pacific Lutheran University.

Awards and honors

Books and book chapters