Honoring the Career of Dr. Eugene John Gangarosa, MD, MS, FACP — Introducing the APHA Epidemiology Section’s Wade Hampton Frost Lectureship Award Recipient, Career Awards Session, Nov. 9, 2009
by Dr. Jim Gaudino, MD, MS, MPH, FACPM, Immediate Past Chair, APHA Epidemiology Section
On behalf of the Awards Committee this year, it is my pleasure to introduce Dr. Eugene John Gangarosa, MD, MS, FACP, as this year’s Wade Hampton Frost Lectureship Award winner.
The Wade Hampton Frost Lectureship Award recognizes an outstanding epidemiologist for excellence in epidemiologic practice or research.
To be a winner, one need not be an epidemiologist. Rather, one must have:
-- made intellectual innovations in epidemiology OR in the application of epidemiology to public health problems;
-- substantially used epidemiology to address the impact of important public health problems through scientific publications or other means;
-- recognized influence in his or her own field;
-- demonstrated leadership in public health as indicated by leadership roles in professional organizations, government agencies, academic institutions or in the private sector; and
-- be an engaging and substantive speaker WITH the ability to speak on topics of interest to epidemiologists and other public health scientists.
Dr. Gangarosa is well known for being incredibly modest about all of his scientific and practice-based contributions as well as his generous support for the training of new practice-based epidemiologists. However, don’t let that throw you off. This “true scientist and gentleman,” as one close colleague called him, has made some impressive contributions, as did his predecessor Dr. Wade Hampton Frost.
These contributions include:
-- the use of science to support population-based epidemiology;
-- the application of epidemiology to identify and address real public health issues, both in the United States and abroad; and
-- the development and implementation of practical disease control and prevention strategies to address the problems identified.
We especially recognize Dr. Gangarosa for his continuous and lasting contributions to understanding better the persistent risk factors that contribute to waterborne and food-borne illnesses worldwide, especially cholera and diarrheal diseases, and to knowing how to respond to these factors on the individual, community and system levels.
Born in Rochester, N.Y., he stayed in “home” territory for the first part of his life and training back in the 1950s. He attended the University of Rochester, receiving his BA in 1950, his MD in 1954, and an M.S. in microbiology in 1955.
Now ready to complete his training and begin his career, he left home base. He first went for his medical training as a rotating intern at the Tripler General Hospital, in Oahu, Hawaii, 1955-56. That must have been was quite a change in weather for him! Soon he completed his medical residency at the Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C., from 1957 to 1959. He remains a licensed physician in three states and is a board-certified internist, recognized as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.
His epidemiological training includes work at some prestigious institutions, first, at the Walter Reed Army Research Institute (1957-59) and then at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS; 1964 to 1966). Remember, at that time the now internationally, acclaimed CDC EIS program, started by Dr. Alex Langmuir, had only been around about 13 years.
Prior to joining CDC, Dr. Gangarosa had already been involved with international work, including an assignment in Lahore, West Pakistan as the director of the Pakistan Medical Research Center, affiliated with the University of Maryland International Center for Medical Research and Training program (1962 to 1964).
Although his latest CV now downplays his more that 20-25 years at CDC, when he arrived at CDC, he “hit the ground running” to begin his impressive career there. CDC offered the core training he needed in his career. Clearly, he was a young, talented investigator with a driving interest in infectious diseases and their continuing health impacts, both nationally and internationally. Just as Dr. Wade Hampton Frost was once described, Gene became one of the “young Turks” at CDC – passionate about and committed to his work at CDC and to the difference he could make.
While he was moving up the ranks at CDC, soon becoming the chief of CDC’s Enteric Disease branch, he was constantly involved with field epidemiologic work as a primary and co-investigator as well as a hands-on supervisor of those conducting these investigations. He coordinated laboratory and other support within CDC as well as managed CDC’s collaboration with its partner agencies (at the local, state or international level). At “headquarters” he also was in charge of “pulling together the bigger picture” of the epidemiology of these diseases, including the impacts and lessons learned from disease control activities and the gaps in the science and technology that needed to be better studied and addressed.
Getting back to the international “field,” from 1978-1981, while on assignment from CDC, he became the dean of the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, where he met and trained international students. I will get back to describing some lasting impacts his work there made to public health here in a minute.
Reflecting on his work as one reads his CV, one can easily can see “the threads” of (1) the various positions he has held, (2) the work he and his colleagues produced, evidenced by the many publications (~160 peer-reviewed journal articles and textbook chapters) listed on his CV, and (3) the diversity of topics he addressed in dealing with infectious diseases. These investigations took him, his colleagues, and various EIS officers to many places in the United States and throughout the world! Let me name a few: Guam, Pakistan, Mexico, Trinidad, countries in Central America, Lebanon, the then country of Yugoslavia, and so forth. These three “threads” in Gene’s career remind me of the diversity and practice-based work of Wade Hampton Frost.
Notably, his accomplishments also include his role in the development of international oral rehydration solutions to address cholera and other diarrheal diseases and his scientific and financial involvement in the development of point-of-use household water treatment. Both of these major public health interventions are now practiced by millions of people worldwide and have saved of hundreds, if not thousands, of lives each year.
His other academic and professional record is simply too long to read off, but shows his incredible involvement as a professor and expert advisor within academic institutions and national and international advisory groups and organizations.
He has been also honored with awards such as CDC’s Medal of Excellence, CDC's highest award for distinguished scientific contributions (June 1978) and the Thomas Jefferson Award, Emory University's highest award, recognizing the faculty person who has contributed the most to institutional development (May 1991).
Like Dr. Frost, who “reinvented himself several times, Gene’s career began anew when he joined Emory University in 1983 serving for 18 years. At Emory, he has also made lasting contributions, beginning first as a professor and director of the Master of Public Health Program at the School of Medicine, serving from 1983-89. Then, he became the interim director for the Division of Public Health at Emory University (1989-90). In 1992-1993, he served as the Director of Emory’s Office of International Affairs in Emory University’s Office of the Provost. From 1990 to the present at Emory University‘s new School of Public Health, Gene remains involved as Professor Emeritus in the Department of International Health. Reminiscent of Dr. Frost ‘s experience at Johns Hopkins University, Gene was involved in founding Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health!
If that were not enough, through the endowments that Gene and Rosa, Gene’s lovely wife of many years from Rochester, N.Y. days, both quietly have set up, they continue to generously support students with international internships and incredibly two endowed faculty chairships at Emory.
“Reinventing” himself one more time, in 1994, Dr. Gangarosa struck out on his most recent career journey —
the private practice of public health. Since then, with his new venture, named “EJG Associates,” he has offered consultative services for food, water, and airborne diseases and disease prevention. Untiringly, he and Rosa founded the Gangarosa International Health Foundation where since 1993 he has served as the Chief Executive Officer.
Finally, let me take the last minutes to tell some personal stories offered by Gene’s colleagues that tell you a lot about the man and his passion for improving public health worldwide.
Dr. Godfrey Oakley, our Section's 1998 John Snow Award winner and one of Gene’s colleagues at CDC, shared this story: “….While he was at American University in Beruit, I got a call from Phil [a mutual colleague] that he wanted us to look at a young geneticist — Dr. Muin Khoury — as a possible candidate for EIS in our birth defects group. So we thought about it, and when it came time to rank our choices for officers, [we] ranked this person we did not know fairly low. [However], when the match was completed, Muin had been assigned to our unit! It became clear later on that Phil and Gene had cut a deal many months before that Muin [now the founder and Director of CDC′s National Office of Public Health Genomics]… would be coming to work with the birth defects group. Of course Muin was the world class geneticist, pediatrician, epidemiologist that Gene knew he was….having Muin shoved down our throats was the nicest thing I ever got told to do from above.
“Gene is a man of many talents. He is a great example of the remarkable, talented people who come to CDC to work, who have world class ability even if they did not become directors of CDC. You will have reviewed Gene's career both at CDC and afterwards and see what a world class contribution he has made to public health. He is certainly deserving of the award.” [Typical of his humility]…in November, when I met him and learned he was working on his “talk for APHA,” he did not tell us he was getting the Frost Award!”
Besides recruiting Dr. Khoury, in Lebanon, Gene also identified up and coming talented people in-training, then mentored and recruited them as the new, talented CDC leaders they remain -- Drs. Rimi Khabbaz and Hani Atrash.
From Dr. Roger Rochat, formerly of CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health and Director of Emory’s Graduate Program of the Department of International Health shared the following:
“Dr. Gangarosa has been one of my personal professional role models at several pivotal times in my life. First, in 1968 he sent me to Pakistan with Barth Reller to study oral therapy for cholera in the rural Matlab hospital. Second, in 1985, he asked me to develop the International Health Track of Emory's MPH program. Third, he has been a role model in philanthropic support for public health education. Gene and his wife Rosa are also a role model in family life. Gene's absolute commitment to one of the world's greatest public health issues -- safe water -- is inspirational. I hope others find as good role models in their lives.”
Here’s my own story. During my CDC EIS training in 1991, we discussed the classic Crater Lake, Oregon, waterborne illness outbreak in the late 1970s, still used as an EIS case study. One point of the case study was that sometimes public health has to respond before all the data are in. I still clearly remember Gene getting up, unprompted, in an open EIS forum to drive the point home. He was clearly still feeling the “sting” for decisions made by the team. Rather humbly and calmly, he told us that he was the Atlanta CDC back-up person for that investigating team. Impressively, he was still taking responsibility for CDC’s delay in "going public." Besides giving us a real life lesson in practical public health response, Gene modeled and taught us all about his integrity that day! That certainly IS the kind of person he is!
Please join me in welcoming, honoring, and listening to Dr. Eugene John Gangarosa, the 2009 APHA Epidemiology Section Wade Hampton Frost Lectureship Award winner. In a few minutes, he will be honored by sharing his career experiences and perspectives in his lecture entitled “The Evolution of My Passion and Decision to Invest in Global Safe Water: Wade Hampton Frost’s Input.”
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