Donald A. Henderson
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Donald Ainslie Henderson (September 7, 1928 – August 19, 2016) was an American physician, educator, and
epidemiologist Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent diseases. It is a cornerstone ...
who directed a 10-year international effort (1967–1977) that eradicated
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
throughout the world and launched international childhood vaccination programs. From 1977 to 1990, he was Dean of the
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene ...
. Later, he played a leading role in instigating national programs for public health preparedness and response following biological attacks and national disasters. At the time of his death, he was Professor and Dean Emeritus of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, as well as Distinguished Scholar at the UPMC Center for Health Security.


Early life and education

Henderson was born in Ohio. His father, David Henderson, was an engineer; his mother, Eleanor McMillan, was a nurse. His interest in medicine was inspired by a Canadian uncle, William McMillan, who was a general practitioner and senior member of the
Canadian House of Commons The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body who ...
.Henderson, D.A. ''Smallpox: The Death of a Disease''. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2009. p. 21. Henderson graduated from
Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
in 1950 and received his MD from the
University of Rochester School of Medicine The School of Medicine and Dentistry (SMD) is an accredited medical school and school for advanced dental education, with graduate education programs in biomedical, biological and health sciences. The facilities of the school are located in the ...
in 1954. He was a resident physician in medicine at the
Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital The Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital (Bassett Medical Center) is a teaching hospital in Cooperstown, New York. The hospital opened in June 1922. The hospital has 180 beds. It is associated with Columbia University. It is home to the Bassett Can ...
in
Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and the county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in ...
, and, later, a Public Health Service Officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the
Communicable Disease Center The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...
(now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—CDC). He earned an MPH degree in 1960 from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health (now the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private university, private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins ...
).


Research and career


Eradication of smallpox

Henderson served as Chief of the CDC virus disease surveillance programs from 1960 to 1965, working closely with epidemiologist
Alexander Langmuir Alexander Duncan Langmuir (; September 12, 1910 – November 22, 1993) was an American epidemiology, epidemiologist who served as Chief Epidemiologist of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 1949 to 1970, developing the Epid ...
. During this period, he and his unit developed a proposal for a
United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...
(USAID) program to eliminate smallpox and control measles during a 5-year period in 18 contiguous countries in western and central Africa. This project was funded by USAID, with field operations beginning in 1967. The USAID initiative provided an important impetus to a
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
(WHO) program to eradicate smallpox throughout the world within a 10-year period. In 1966, Henderson moved to Geneva to become director of the campaign. At that time, smallpox was occurring widely throughout Brazil and in 30 countries in Africa and South Asia. More than 10 million cases and 2 million deaths were occurring annually. Vaccination brought some control, but the key strategy was "surveillance-containment". This technique entailed rapid reporting of cases from all health units and prompt vaccination of household members and close contacts of confirmed cases. WHO staff and advisors from some 73 countries worked closely with national staff. The last case occurred in
Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
on October 26, 1977, only 10 years after the program began. Three years later, the World Health Assembly recommended that smallpox vaccination could cease. Smallpox is the first human disease ever to be eradicated. This success gave impetus to WHO's global Expanded Program on Immunization, which targeted other vaccine-preventable diseases, including
poliomyelitis Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...
,
measles Measles (probably from Middle Dutch or Middle High German ''masel(e)'', meaning "blemish, blood blister") is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable infectious disease caused by Measles morbillivirus, measles v ...
,
tetanus Tetanus (), also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by ''Clostridium tetani'' and characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually l ...
,
diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacteria, bacterium ''Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild Course (medicine), clinical course, but in some outbreaks, the mortality rate approaches 10%. Signs a ...
, and
whooping cough Whooping cough ( or ), also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious, Vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine-preventable Pathogenic bacteria, bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common c ...
. Now targeted for eradication are
poliomyelitis Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...
and
Guinea Worm ''Dracunculus medinensis'' (Guinea worm, dragon worm, fiery serpent) is a nematode that causes dracunculiasis, also known as Guinea worm disease. The disease is caused by the female which, at around in length, is among the longest nematodes ...
disease; after 25 years, this objective is close to being achieved.


Later work

From 1977 through August 1990, Henderson was Dean of the
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene ...
. After being awarded the 1986 National Medal of Science by
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
for his work leading the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
(WHO) smallpox eradication campaign, Henderson launched a public struggle to reverse the Reagan administration's decision to default on WHO payments. In 1991, he was appointed associate director for life sciences, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President (1991–93) and, later, deputy assistant secretary and senior science advisor in the
Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...
(HHS). In 1998, he became the founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies, now the
Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (abbreviated CHS) is an independent, nonprofit organization of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The center works to protect people's health from epidemics and pandemics and ensures ...
. Following the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson asked Henderson to assume responsibility for the Office of Public Health Preparedness (later the
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) is an operating agency of the U.S. Public Health Service within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that focuses on preventing, preparing for, and responding to the ...
). For this purpose, $3 billion was appropriated by Congress. In 2006, Henderson co-authored a paper in which the authors were skeptical of several potential pandemic measures, including
social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...
: "''Many could result in significant disruption of the social functioning of communities and result in possibly serious economic problems. Such negative consequences might be worth chancing if there were compelling evidence or reason to believe they would seriously diminish the consequences or spread of a pandemic. However, few analyses have been produced that weigh the hoped-for efficacy of such measures against the potential impacts of large-scale or long-term implementation of these measures''." At the time of his death, he served as the Editor Emeritus of the academic journal ''Health Security'' (formerly ''Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science'').


Honors and awards

* 1975 – George McDonald Medal,
London School of Tropical Medicine London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...
* 1978 – Public Welfare Medal,
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
* 1985 – Albert Schweitzer International Prize for Medicine * 1986 – National Medal of Science in Biology * 1988 – The Japan Prize, shared with Isao Arita and
Frank Fenner Frank John Fenner (21 December 1914 – 22 November 2010) was an Australian scientist with a distinguished career in the field of virology. His two greatest achievements are cited as overseeing the eradication of smallpox, and the attempted cont ...
* 1990 – Health for All Medal, World Health Organization * 1993 –
Walter Reed Medal The Walter Reed Medal may refer to the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Major Walter Reed in 1929, or a medal currently awarded by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. ----The Walter Reed Medal was established by the Amer ...
, The American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene * 1994 – Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal, Sabin Foundation * 1995 – John Stearns Medal, New York Academy of Medicine * 1996 – Edward Jenner Medal, Royal Society of Medicine * 2001 – Clan Henderson Society, Chiefs Order * 2002 – Presidential Medal of Freedom *2007 –
John Snow Society The John Snow Society (JSS), founded 1992, is a learned society named for the English physician John Snow. It publishes the newsletter ''Broad Sheet'', and hosts the Pumphandle Lecture at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The Joh ...
's
Pumphandle Lecture The Pumphandle Lecture, established in 1993, is an annual lecture held around September to celebrate the removal of the Broad Street pump handle that took place in September 1854 during the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak, cholera epidemic in S ...
* 2013 – Order of Brilliant Star, with Grand Cordon, Republic of China * 2014 –
Prince Mahidol Award The Prince Mahidol Award () is an annual award for outstanding achievements in medicine and public health worldwide. The award is given by the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, which was founded by the Thai Royal Family in 1992. Prince Mahidol ...
, Thailand * 2015 – Charles Merieux Award,
National Foundation for Infectious Diseases The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (abbreviated NFID) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public and medical community about infectious diseases. It was established in 1973 and is based in Bethesda, Mary ...
Seventeen universities conferred honorary degrees on Henderson.


Selected publications

* Fenner F, Henderson DA, Arita I, Jezek Z, Ladnyi. (1988) ''Smallpox and Its Eradication'' (), Geneva, World Health Organization. The definitive archival history of smallpox. * Henderson DA. (2009) ''Smallpox, the Death of a Disease'' () New York: Prometheus Books * Henderson DA (1993) Surveillance systems and intergovernmental cooperation. In: Morse SS, ed. ''Emerging Viruses''. New York: Oxford University Press: 283–289. * Henderson DA, Borio LL (2005) Bioterrorism: an overview. In ''Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases'' (Eds. Mandell MD, Bennett JE, Dolin R) Phil, Churchill Livingstone, 3591–3601. * Henderson DA (2010) The global eradication of smallpox: Historical Perspective and Future Prospects in ''The Global Eradication of Smallpox'' (Ed: Bhattacharya S, Messenger S) Orient Black Swan, London. 7–35 * * * * Henderson DA. (1967) Smallpox eradication and measles-control programs in West and Central Africa: Theoretical and practical approaches and problems. ''Industry and Trop Health'' VI, 112–120, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston. * * * * * . * * *


Personal life

Henderson married Nana Irene Bragg in 1951. The couple had a daughter and two sons, whom they raised in Atlanta, Georgia and Geneva, Switzerland. He died at Gilchrist Hospice,
Towson, Maryland Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorpo ...
, at the age of 87, after fracturing his hip.Archives Reference: The Donald A. Henderson Collection in the Institute of the History of Medicine Library at Johns Hopkins spans his career in smallpox eradication, including newspaper articles, honors, biographical material, lecture notes, speeches, and correspondence as well as medals and other awards.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Donald Ainslie 1928 births 2016 deaths American public health doctors Donald Ainslie Henderson Oberlin College alumni People from Lakewood, Ohio National Medal of Science laureates University of Pittsburgh faculty Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health alumni Smallpox eradication American vaccinologists American people of Canadian descent American people of Scottish descent Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health faculty Members of the National Academy of Medicine University of Rochester alumni Recipients of the Jenner Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine