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Dr. Peter Hotez Receives Inaugural IDSA Anthony Fauci Courage in Leadership Award
Annual award recognizes individual efforts to uphold and speak to scientific truths
HOUSTON (October 11, 2023) – Texas Children’s Hospital is pleased to announce that Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, has been awarded the inaugural Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Anthony Fauci Courage in Leadership Award for his efforts to uphold and speak to scientific truths.
The Anthony Fauci Courage in Leadership Award is given in recognition of the values and attributes that Dr. Fauci has exhibited throughout his career, courage in leadership in speaking scientific truth, perseverance in the face of opposition, and serving as a change agent for healthcare and patients around the world.
"I'm thrilled to be honored by the IDSA, and it's especially meaningful to have the name of my longstanding colleague and mentor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, attached to this award. Beyond being a vaccine scientist, over the past decades I have also sought to counter antivaccine activism. As a parent of an adult daughter with autism and intellectual disabilities, I worked to debunk vaccine and autism links, and more recently its expanding influence during the COVID-19 pandemic. I am profoundly grateful to IDSA and its members - my colleagues - for their support and guidance on this front,” said Dr. Hotez.
The Anthony Fauci Courage in Leadership Award celebrates individuals who inspire and encourage others to make a difference and is awarded to a person who has demonstrated courage in leadership, a commitment to promoting scientific integrity, advocating for sound science, and advancing the field of infectious disease at their institutions or in their local, national, or global communities.
Dr. Hotez is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the author of several books including Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism – about his daughter – and the newly released The Deadly Rise of Anti-science: A Scientist’s Warning (Johns Hopkins University Press). He and team members from the Texas Children’s Hospital CVD and Baylor co-led the development of neglected disease vaccines, as well as a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine technology for global health, with millions of doses administered in India and Indonesia. They just received the David and Beatrix Hamburg Award for Advances in Biomedical Research and Clinical Medicine for their vaccine technology development work from the National Academy of Medicine. In 2022, Dr. Hotez and Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital and senior associate dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor CVD, were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for their vaccine efforts. In 2022, Dr. Hotez received the AMA’s Scientific Achievement Award, and in 2023, the AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award, for promoting vaccines and combating vaccine misinformation. He has also been recognized by the AAMC and the American Medical Writer’s Association and holds several honorary doctorates.
ABOUT TEXAS CHILDREN’S
Texas Children’s, a nonprofit health care organization, is committed to creating a healthier future for children and women throughout the global community by leading in patient care, education and research. Consistently ranked as the best children’s hospital in Texas and among the top in the nation, Texas Children’s has garnered widespread recognition for its expertise and breakthroughs in pediatric and women’s health. The system includes the Texas Children’s Duncan NRI; the Feigin Tower for pediatric research; Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, a comprehensive obstetrics/gynecology facility focusing on high-risk births; Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus, a community hospital in suburban West Houston; and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, the first hospital devoted to children’s care for communities north of Houston. The organization also created Texas Children’s Health Plan, the nation’s first HMO for children; Texas Children’s Pediatrics, the largest pediatric primary care network in the country; Texas Children’s Urgent Care clinics that specialize in after-hours care tailored specifically for children; and a global health program that is channeling care to children and women all over the world. Texas Children’s Hospital is affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine. For more information, visit www.texaschildrens.org.
ABOUT TEXAS CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL CENTER FOR VACCINE DEVELOPMENT
Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development is one of the leading vaccine development centers in the world. Established in Washington DC as the Sabin Vaccine Institute Product Development Partnership (PDP) in the year 2000 and after relocating to the Texas Medical Center in 2011, it rebranded as Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development. For the past two decades it has acquired an international reputation as a non-profit PDP, advancing vaccines for poverty-related neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and emerging infectious diseases of pandemic importance. In addition, it builds and strengthens capacity for vaccine development locally and with foreign nations and leads global efforts to guide and influence vaccine policy and advocacy through “vaccine diplomacy” as an international bridge for peace and vaccine development capacity.