A Scientific Symposium Commemorating
the 50th Anniversary of the Development of
the Polio Vaccine
April 11 and 12, 2005
Alumni Hall, University of Pittsburgh
Polio Symposium
Speakers
- Matthias Gromeier, M.D.
- William Gruber, M.D.
- David L. Heymann, M.D.
- Robert A. Keegan
- Heidi J. Larson, Ph.D.
- Gary J. Nabel, M.D., Ph.D.
- Paul A. Offit, M.D.
- David M. Oshinsky, Ph.D.
- Tara O’Toole, M.D., M.P.H.
- Louis Piconi
- Charles R. Rinaldo Jr., Ph.D.
- John B. Robbins, M.D.
- Peter L. Salk, M.D.
- John Troan
- Julius S. Youngner, Sc.D.
Heidi J. Larson, Ph.D.
Senior Adviser, Immunization and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization
UNICEF
Dr. Larson, who has worked overseas on child and adolescent health concerns for more than 20 years, currently oversees communication strategies for immunization and child survival at UNICEF headquarters in New York. She is also a research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health’s Center for Population and Development Studies. Dr. Larson previously served as senior communication adviser to the Global TB Program, now called Stop TB, for the World Health Organization (WHO). She has worked as a consultant to UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, and WHO on communication strategies for HIV/AIDS prevention and care, as Pacific area social mobilization adviser for UNICEF, and as child disability officer for UNICEF Nepal. Dr. Larson received her Ph.D. in social anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. She has published and lectured widely on children’s concerns and on the social dimensions of health and qualitative research methods.