Professor Walter Orenstein

Dr. Walter Orenstein’s life work has been vanquishing infectious disease through vaccines. Currently professor of medicine, of pediatrics, of global health, and of epidemiology at Emory University School of Medicine and associate director of the Emory Vaccine Center, he spent 26 years with the U.S. Immunization Program for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including 16 years as program director.

His group developed the current method for assessing immunization coverage and a financing system to ensure that poor children could access vaccines. The work led to record-high levels of immunization and record-low levels of many vaccine-preventable diseases. His research focuses on vaccine effectiveness and uptake, and he co-edited the latest five editions of Plotkin’s Vaccines, the standard textbook on vaccinology. Dr. Orenstein also served as assistant surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service and as deputy director for immunization programs at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A member of the National Academy of Medicine, he received a Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award from the CDC and a Distinguished Service Award from the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. Dr. Orenstein earned a B.S. from the City College of New York and an MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Wake Forest University granted him an honorary D.Sc. in 2006.