Washington Post Profiles D.A. Henderson, HHS Secretary Thompson’s Science Adviser for Public Health Preparedness

The Washington Post on May 21 profiles D.A. Henderson, principle science adviser for public health preparedness to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson. Over the last six months, Henderson served as director of the HHS Office of Public Health Preparedness and helped to develop a new biological warfare defense strategy. In his new position, Henderson will help develop "broader agendas on directions for science and research," including long-term research on vaccines. Henderson has served "at the forefront" of most policy debates on bioterrorism and biological warfare over the past 30 years. He led the World Health Organization smallpox eradication program in the 1960s and 1970s and served as a "leading advocate for destruction of world's two remaining stocks of smallpox virus" in the 1980s. This year, Henderson has opposed plans to vaccinate the U.S. population against smallpox over concerns that the vaccine "will cause serious adverse effects in a significant number of people." Donald Burke, director of the Center for Immunization Research at Johns Hopkins University, said, "You don't find many impressive scientists who are as hard-headed as [Henderson] is. He has an ability to interpret cutting-edge science and ask what is the impact today or in the future" (Gugliotta, Washington Post, 5/21).