An internationally recognized expert on viruses and vaccines will be the keynote speaker at the Waterbury Regional Chamber’s 2020 Health Care Council Virtual Annual Meeting & Awards event, to be conducted virtually in August.
Peter J. Hotez, MD is director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where he is also dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine. Connecticut native Hotez regularly provides expert commentary and analysis on Fox News, CNN and other networks, and has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and other national news organizations .
The event is set for Monday, Aug. 3 from 8:30 to10 a.m. The event will include the 16th annual meeting of the Chamber’s Health Care Council, while marking the 15th year the council will present its annual awards recognizing business professionals who demonstrate advocacy, organizational excellence, leadership and selflessness throughout the health-care community.
Recipients of the four awards — Leadership Award, Unsung Hero Award, Award for Organizational Excellence and the Stephen Sasala Health Advocate Award — will be announced later this month. Nominations are being accepted from Chamber members through June 12 and may be submitted via the chamber’s website (waterburychamber.com).
Known for his fight against the anti-vaccine movement, Hotez is the author of Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism, which tells the story of raising his now-adult daughter and explains in detail why vaccines cannot cause autism. He earned an undergraduate degree in molecular biophysics from Yale in 1980, followed by a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Rockefeller University in 1986 and an MD from Weill Cornell Medical College in 1987.
