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ACSH Distinguished Achievement Awardee--Donald A. Henderson, M.D., M.P.H.

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Dr. Donald A. Henderson, known to many as D.A., spearheaded the fight to eradicate smallpox from the world. When he was chosen to head up the World Health Organization's Global Smallpox Eradication Campaign in 1966, smallpox was endemic in Brazil, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and Indonesia. In 1980, the speckled monster's reign, dating back more than thirty centuries, had finally ended and success was declared. Several million potential victims' lives were spared. Dr. Henderson's victory is one of the twentieth century's greatest medical achievements. Now, in the twenty-first century, the battle has resurfaced with a new enemy. The threat posed by global bioterrorism has D.A. once again on the front lines. D.A. founded and directed the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies to address the threats of bioterrorism, served as associate director in the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy and as a senior advisor to the Department of Health and Human Services on civilian biodefense matters. In October 2001, Tommy Thompson, Secretary of HHS, named Dr. Henderson chair of the national advisory council on public health preparedness.

We would like to acknowledge our gratitude to D.A. for lending ACSH his expertise and guidance with ACSH's recent bioterrorism and anthrax publications. Tonight, we honor D.A.'s extraordinary contributions to medicine and science.

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Other Awardees:

Bruce N. Ames, Ph.D.

Norman E. Borlaug, Ph.D.

Robert L. Bartley

C. Everett Koop, M.D.

Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D.