October 1, 1999
LAWRENCE -- One of the nation's top scientists in the field of public health will deliver two speeches at the University of Kansas as part of the 1999 Takeru Higuchi Memorial Lectures series.
Dr. Donald A. Henderson, Johns Hopkins University distinguished service professor, will lecture on the "The Looming Threat of Bioterrorism" at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, in 103 Budig Hall, and on "Smallpox: A Vanquished Dragon Enjoys A Resurrection" at 5:45 p.m. the same day in Alderson Auditorium of the Kansas Union. Both lectures are free and open to the public.
Henderson is perhaps best known for directing the World Health Organization's (WHO) campaign that successfully eradicated smallpox. He also was instrumental in launching the 1974 global program of immunization that is now vaccinating 80 percent of the world's children against six major diseases. The program hopes to eradicate polio by the year 2000.
Valentino J. Stella, professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at KU, said he recommended Henderson because he is known as a passionate speaker on the two related topics.
"We were interested in getting someone in here who was an expert on emerging diseases, such as Ebola, AIDS and the haunta virus," Stella said. "He has also written extensively on the threat of bioterrorism."
Stella said time had been allotted for Henderson to answer questions after each lecture. Henderson, who was the dean of faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health from 1977 to 1990, currently works there with the Albert B. Sabin Foundation in the Department of International Health.
The annual lecture series honors the memory of Takeru Higuchi, who was the founding chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at KU. Higuchi is also regarded as a pioneer in the field of physical pharmacy.
Contact: Ranjit Arab, (785)864-8855.