Joseph B. McCormick
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Joseph B. McCormick (Birth October 16, 1942) is an American epidemiologist, physician, and academic.


Early life and education

Joseph B. McCormick was born in
Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
. His early years were spent on a farm in
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
. He attended
Florida Southern College Florida Southern College (Florida Southern, Southern or FSC) is a private college in Lakeland, Florida. In 2019, the student population at FSC consisted of 3,073 students along with 130 full-time faculty members. It offers undergraduate, gradua ...
, graduating with degrees in chemistry and mathematics in 1964. He had a summer fellowship with the Institute of Nutrition of
Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
and
Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
,
Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
. in 1969. McCormick received a Master of Science from the
Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...
in 1970. He had a summer followship in
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
at the Rural Health Clinc in 1971. He attended
Duke University School of Medicine The Duke University School of Medicine, commonly known as Duke Med, is the medical school of Duke University. It was established in 1925 by James B. Duke. The School of Medicine, along with the Duke University School of Nursing, Duke Universi ...
, graduating in 1971. His residency and internship was at the
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, also known by its acronym CHOP, is a children's hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its primary campus is located in the University City, Philadelphia, University City neighborhood of West Philadelph ...
under Dr.
C. Everett Koop Charles Everett Koop (October 14, 1916 – February 25, 2013) was an American pediatric surgeon and public health administrator who served as the 13th surgeon general of the United States under President Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1989. According ...
, from 1971 to 1973. He was a fellow in the Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 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 ...
from 1975 and 1976. Following graduation from college, McCormick went to
Brussels, Belgium Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
and attended the
Alliance Francaise An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or sovereign state, states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an a ...
and the Free University for a year. He learned the French language to enable him to teach sciences and mathematics in a secondary school in Kinshasa, Congo.


Career

While living in the Congo, McCormick worked in a local hospital and developed an interest in medicine,specifically tropical diseases. In 1974, following his residency training, he was appointed an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He was the James H. Steele Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Texas Houston School of Public Health He was appointed to the faculty of the Groupe d'Etudes de Virologie de Institute Pasteur from 1984 to 1990. In 1993, he was appointed professor and chairman of Community Health and Sciences at the
Aga Khan University Aga Khan University is a private research university based in Karachi, Pakistan. It is a non-profit institution and an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network. It was founded in 1983 as Pakistan's first private university. Starting in 2000, t ...
Medical School in
Karachi, Pakistan Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...
. He established an epidemiology program, similar to the CDC. Later, he was a visiting scientist at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation,
La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...
, an adjunct professor at
Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...
, and an adjunct professor at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...
. In 1997 he returned to France where he started epidemiology programs for the Institute Pasteur and
Aventis Pasteur Sanofi Pasteur is the vaccines division of the French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi. Sanofi Pasteur is the largest company in the world devoted entirely to vaccines. It is one of four global producers of the yellow fever vaccine. ...
, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer. He was also a member of the scientific board of the Centre Internationale de Recherche Medical in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, He became the assistant dean, University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health, at Brownsville campus on January 1, 2001. McCormick has over 200 scientific publications with co-authors from over twenty different countries. He is the co-author with Fisher-Hoch of the book ''Level 4: Virus Hunters of the
CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and is headquartered in Atlanta, ...
.''


Milestones

McCormick studied patients with
Lassa fever Lassa fever, also known as Lassa hemorrhagic fever, is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. Many of those infected by the virus asymptomatic, do not develop symptoms. When symptoms occur they typically include fever, wea ...
while in Africa. After clinical testing, he found that prompt and aggressive treatment with
ribavirin Ribavirin, also known as tribavirin, is an antiviral medication used to treat illness caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, as well as some viral hemorrhagic fevers. For HCV, it is used in combi ...
significantly improved patient survival. He has had over thirty consultancies with organizations such as 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),
Pan American Health Organization The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) in charge of international health cooperation in the Americas. It fosters technical cooperation among member countries to fight communicable and non ...
. He has acted as a reviewer for many scientific journals. McCormick was interviewed in 2006 for the television program ''Frontline'' "The Age of Aids" produced by the
Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the ...
.


Personal life

McCormick He is married to a epidemiologist Dr. Susan Fisher-Hoch.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCormick, Joseph B. Living people American tropical physicians Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health alumni Florida Southern College alumni Duke University School of Medicine alumni Academic staff of Aga Khan University American expatriate academics American expatriates in Pakistan Year of birth missing (living people)