Improving vaccination rates at top of Hill’s agenda for foundation
George C. Hill, Ph.D., associate dean and Levi Watkins Jr. Professor for Diversity in Medical Education and professor of Microbiology and Immunology, has begun a second term as president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), which is dedicated to raising awareness about the causes, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases.
“Currently the NFID is emphasizing the importance of vaccination for the seasonal flu and the H1N1 vaccine for the recommended populations,” Hill said. “Vaccination is critically important to the management of the flu pandemic.”
George C. Hill, Ph.D.
Under Hill's leadership, NFID is also focusing on another key issue: improving the vaccination rate among minority groups in the United States.
Hill says some populations, particularly the elderly and minority populations, do not take advantage of vaccination as much as they should.
“Through the NFID, there is an effort to reach out to physicians and impress upon them the importance of encouraging minority patients to get vaccinated as well as develop culturally sensitive messages to the populations themselves,” Hill said.
Hill served as vice president of the NFID, then president-elect before beginning his two-year term as president in 2008.
The current president-elect of the NFID is Vanderbilt's William Schaffner, M.D., chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine, who will become president next June.