Walter ORENSTEIN  MD, DSc (Hon)

Associate Director of the Emory Vaccine Center

Director of Emory Vaccine Policy and Development

Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, Epidemiology, and Global Health at Emory University

Dr. Orenstein is a Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, Global Health, and Pediatrics at Emory University.

From 2008 through 2011, Dr. Orenstein was Deputy Director for Immunization Programs at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. His primary focus at the foundation had been on polio eradication, measles control, and improving routine immunization programs. Prior to 2004, Dr. Orenstein worked for 26 years in the Immunization Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1988-2004, he was the Director of the United States Immunization Program. He is a former Assistant Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service. Dr. Orenstein successfully developed, promoted, facilitated and expanded new vaccination strategies to enhance disease prevention. Walter Orenstein has authored and co-authored numerous books, journals and reviews. He co-edited Plotkin’s Vaccines, 7th edition in 2018 –

the leading textbook in the field. He is a past Chair of the WHO’s Poliomyelitis Technical Consultative Group and served as the Chair of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) from 2012 to 2016.

He is also currently a member of the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization Polio as well as Measles and Rubella Working Groups. Between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2018, Dr. Orenstein was the President of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID). Dr. Orenstein’s research focus has been on assessment of vaccine effectiveness in observational studies, methods to overcome vaccine hesitancy, ways to enhance uptake of recommended vaccines, and ways to facilitate polio eradication and sustain that eradication. In addition, Dr. Orenstein is the Principal Investigator for an NIH funded Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance, with a focus on better understanding pathogenesis, immune responses to vaccines and infection, and viral surveillance in animal populations.