Event Description
Grand Rounds Title: "The Philadelphia Measles Epidemic of 1991: Lesson from the Past or Prologue to the Future"
The measles epidemic of 1991 in Philadelphia was one of the worst in the city's history: 1,400 people were infected and 9 died in a few months. The epidemic centered on two fundamentalist churches, Faith Tabernacle and First-Century Gospel, which refused vaccines as well as medical care for their children. We will discuss the response of the city's courts in trying to balance the rights of individuals to express their religious beliefs and the rights of the public to be free of potentially deadly diseases.
Speaker: Paul A. Offit, MD, Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; and the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Dr. Offit is also the author of Do You Believe in Magic?: The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine. He has published more than 140 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety. Dr. Offit is the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC; for this achievement Dr. Offit received the Luigi Mastroianni and William Osler Awards from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the Charles Mérieux Award from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases; and was honored by Bill and Melinda Gates during the launch of their Foundation’s Living Proof Project for global health. Biography
The Grand Rounds Lecture Series is an exciting series of talks and discussions concerning local, national and international issues in public health practice and research. Previous speakers have included the Massachusetts’ Secretary of Health & Human Services, officials from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Philadelphia Health Commissioner. These lectures provide an excellent opportunity for the Philadelphia community to keep informed and share insights about public health and medicine in a collegial atmosphere. Continuing Medical Education credits are available.
Those who will enjoy the grand rounds are faculty and students of the Drexel University community, professionals from community-based organizations and government agencies involved in public health related activities, media professionals who write about pressing public health concerns, and other interested individuals in the Greater Philadelphia area.
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