OnCall+ Swine Flu Contributor: Gregory Poland, M.D.
Mayo Clinic
May 27, 2009 -- Dr. Gregory Poland is director of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group. He is also a professor of medicine and infectious diseases, as well as a professor of molecular pharmacology and experimental therapeutics. He directs both the immunization clinic and the program in translational immunovirology and biodefense at Mayo Clinic. He also serves as the American editor for the journal Vaccine.
Poland was awarded the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence in December 2008, the Hsu prize in International Infectious Disease Epidemiology in 2007 by the University of Iowa, and the Charles Merieux Lifetime Achievement Award in Vaccinology from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases in May 2006.
In December 2006, Poland was elected as the president of the Defense Health Board, serving two terms. He was appointed as the Mary Lowell Leary Professor in Medicine (the highest academic distinction for a faculty member) by Mayo Clinic's Board of Trustees in 2004. In May 2003, he was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.
Since 2004, Poland has also served on the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Taskforce on Pandemic Influenza. In 1998, he received a joint award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Health Care Financing Administration for his contribution to increasing adult immunization rates in the U.S., which was awarded by the Surgeon General of the United States. In 1997, Poland was honored as the "Outstanding Clinical Investigator of the Year" by Mayo Clinic.
Additionally, Poland participates on many national and academic review committees and actively peer-reviews journal articles for over 26 different publications such as The Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine and New England Journal of Medicine. A prolific writer, Poland has published over 300 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters.
Poland received his medical degree from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois, and completed his residency and advanced post-graduate work at the University of Minnesota/Abbott-Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis, Minn.
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