Henderson, Donald Ainslie

Henderson, Donald Ainslie, 1928–2016, American physician instrumental in eradicating smallpox, b. Lakewood, Ohio, M.D. Univ. of Rochester, 1954, M.P.H. Johns Hopkins, 1960. He joined (1955) the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the Communicable Disease Center (now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), and developed (1960–65) a campaign funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development to eliminate smallpox and control measles in several African countries. He then ran (1966–77) the World Health Organization's campaign to eradicate smallpox worldwide, implementing a vaccination program that focused on isolating outbreaks rather than vaccinating huge populations. He subsequently served (1977–90) as dean of the public health school at Johns Hopkins. Henderson was later a government consultant on bioterrorism.

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