Keynote Speakers

Representatives from the Michigan Department of Community Health, local health departments, and community providers will be presenting at the conferences. The keynote speakers are listed below.

William Atkinson, MD, MPH, is scheduled to speak at the conferences in Troy and Detroit (Nov. 12 & 13). He will give the Vaccine Update presentation and will participate in the Troubleshooting Panel session. Dr. Atkinson is a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He is the principle writer and presenter for numerous national satellite broadcasts on vaccine-preventable diseases, as well as the author or co-author of 38 publications on vaccine-preventable diseases, including the Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases textbook.

Sharon Humiston, MD, MPH, is scheduled to speak at the conference in East Lansing (Nov. 20). She will give the Vaccine Update presentation and will participate in the Troubleshooting Panel session. Dr. Humiston is an associate professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She works with a Rochester team to increase immunization rates for infants and adolescents in the inner city and serves as a member of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee. Formerly she was as an immunization educator for CDC National Immunization Program.

John Iskander, MD, MPH, Acting Director, Immunization Safety Office, CDC, is scheduled to speak at the conference in East Lansing (Nov. 20). He will give a vaccine safety presentation. Dr. Iskander joined CDC in 2000, serving as project officer and later team lead for the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) before being named in 2006 as associate director for science in the Immunization Safety Office (ISO). He has served as Acting Director of ISO since February 2007. Dr. Iskander is a steering committee member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an American Academy of Pediatrics fellow and a recipient of the PHS Citation and Commendation medal for his work with CDC’s Immunization Safety Office. He has over 25 published articles and has authored review articles and textbook chapters on vaccine safety surveillance, advanced signal detection in vaccine safety and pandemic influenza vaccine safety monitoring.

Andrew T. Kroger, MD, MPH, is scheduled to speak at the conferences in Kalamazoo and Ypsilanti (Oct. 28-30). He will give the Vaccine Update presentation and will participate in the Troubleshooting Panel session. Dr. Kroger is a medical epidemiologist with the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at CDC. As one of the traveling trainers in the Education, Information and Partnership Branch, Dr. Kroger has given over one hundred presentations that include immunization updates and pandemic influenza preparedness. He is also involved with some of the new distance learning activities of the branch, including the Current Issues in Immunization Series delivered through NetConferencing, and is the author of the newest edition of the CDC’s General Recommendations on Immunization.

Donna Weaver, RN, MN, is scheduled to speak at the conferences in Gaylord and Marquette (Oct. 14 & 16). She will give the Vaccine Update presentation and will participate in the Troubleshooting Panel session. Ms. Weaver is the Nurse Educator for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at CDC. As an immunization nurse educator, Donna travels nationally providing immunization training and information to the public and to healthcare professionals. Ms. Weaver also provides clinical consultation to immunization providers and assists in the development of immunization continuing education products offered by CDC, including the yearly CDC course: Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases.