R. Gordon Douglas, Jr.

Dr. Douglas has made outstanding contributions to the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in his leadership roles spanning academic medical research, industry, non-profit organizations and government. He was the founding President of the Merck Vaccines business unit in 1991. During his eight years in this role, Merck launched new pediatric combination vaccines, vaccines against Hemophilus influena type B, varicella and hepatitis A and initiated research efforts toward rotavirus, shingles and human papilloma virus vaccines. Prior to joining Merck, he was Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and Physician-in-Chief of the New York Presbyterian Hospital. He also served as head of the Infectious Disease Unit at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Dr. Douglas is currently Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, Chairman of the Board of Aeras and of Vical, Inc., and a Board member of Protein Sciences. He is author of over 200 scientific publications and was co-editor with Mandell and Bennett of Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases for the first three editions. Dr Douglas is a member of the Institute of Medicine, the Association of American Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Society of Clinical Investigation. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and an M.D. degree from Weill Cornell Medical College.