Vaccinology.org began as a forum for information on infectious disease in 1998. Its focus has been on both prevention of disease by the development and use of vaccines, and response to infectious outbreaks with emphasis on diagnostics and therapeutics.

Dr. William Pewen began this site as he was in training at the University of Pittsburgh, where he completed doctoral studies in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, as well as an MPH in Epidemiology. He subsequently was awarded a 2003-04 ASM post-doctoral fellowship in the US Senate, where he continued work as a Senior Health Policy advisor until 2010. He subsequently led the establishment of the Graduate Program in Public Health at Marshall University, where he also held appointments as Associate Dean of Research (COHP), and Assistant Professor in Family and Community Health (SoM).

Since 2020, Dr. Pewen has been primarily engaged in outbreak prevention and response, first in the COVID pandemic and currently in addressing infectious disease in Ukraine. These efforts recognize the broad impacts of infectious disease on society which begin with critical concerns of illness, disability, and death – and extend to also encompass national security and development concerns. Most recently, that has been spent engaged in a cooperative Outbreak Prevention & Mitigation effort. That has been oriented to working to meet diagnostic and therapeutic needs to improve outbreak response – as well as helping to bolster immunization levels to reduce the risk of epidemic disease.

The lessons of the two recent pandemics of HIV and COVID have combined with a host of outbreaks and epidemics to counter the too-common assumption that the battle against infectious diseases had largely been won. While remarkable advances have been made in both vaccine development and clinical therapeutics, the challenge of implementing and sustaining these is proving daunting in an era of significant sociopolitical conflict. It is that challenge which we must meet head on.

On LinkedIn: William Pewen