Baylor Biologist Dr. Peter J. Hotez Receives Prestigious National Awards for Research and Scientific Contributions
Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D., an internationally recognized leader in tropical medicine and vaccine development who serves as University Professor of Biology in the Baylor University College of Arts & Sciences, has recently received two prestigious national awards for his research and contributions to science and global health.
Dr. Hotez is the 2024 recipient of the John P. McGovern Science and Society Award from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society. The McGovern Award “recognizes achievement by a scientist or engineer that transcends their career as a researcher by contributing to the public appreciation of science,” according to Sigma Xi. Past recipients include Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former NASA astronauts Bonnie J. Dunbar and Kathryn Sullivan. Hotez will be presented with the award at Sigma Xi’s International Forum on Research Excellence (IFoRE) conference in November 2024.
“I am thrilled to be recognized by Sigma Xi, an organization that has had such an important impact on American science,” Hotez said in a Sigma Xi news release. “My work on vaccine development for neglected diseases and global health, along with my efforts to combat accelerating antivaccine activism, are in strong alignment with the long-standing principles of Sigma Xi's important scientific mission.”
Hotez is also the 2024 recipient of the Mendel Medal, presented each year by Villanova University to “outstanding contemporary scientists in recognition of their accomplishments.” It is named for 19th century Augustinian friar and scientist Gregor Mendel, known as “the father of modern genetics.”
In a Villanova University news release, Fr. Kail Ellis, special assistant to the president and dean emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova, said Hotez’s contributions “have had a global impact, and in true Augustinian character are concentrated on helping communities devoid of certain medical necessities that are crucial to health. Additionally, his quest to educate the public on vaccine science are both an embodiment of this award, and Gregor Mendel himself.”
Hotez, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, is the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine. He also is the co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Texas Children’s Hospital endowed chair of tropical pediatrics.
The team Hotez has assembled at Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development “has developed new vaccines for hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and SARS/MERS/SARS-2 coronavirus. In December 2021, he co-led the development of low-cost recombinant protein COVID vaccine technologies for global health, resulting in emergency use authorization in India and Indonesia,” according to the Sigma Xi release.
During separate upcoming ceremonies where he will receive the McGovern Award and Mendel Medal, Hotez will deliver an address titled “Global Immunizations and the Antipoverty Vaccines: The Science vs. the Anti-science.”
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