Gregory A. Poland | |
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Education | Illinois Wesleyan University (BA) Westminster Theological Seminary (MA) Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (MD) |
Occupation(s) | Physician, vaccinologist |
Medical career | |
Institutions | Mayo Clinic |
Awards |
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Gregory A. Poland is an American physician and vaccinologist. He is the Mary Lowell Leary professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota,[1] as well as the director of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group.[2] He is also the editor-in-chief of the medical journal Vaccine.[3]
Poland received his BA in biology from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1977 where he was a member of Sigma Pi fraternity.[4][5] He received his MD from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in 1981.[5][6] Poland also received an MA in theology from Westminster Theological Seminary.[5]
Poland is known for researching the immunogenetics of responses to certain vaccines,[3] including smallpox vaccines.[7] He has also written about the negative impacts of the false claim that the MMR vaccine might cause autism,[8] and is an outspoken advocate of mandatory influenza vaccination.[2]
In 2007, Poland was named by President George W. Bush to be president of the Health Defense Board.[4] This board answers to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.[9] Dr. Poland has also been president of the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board and worked for over ten years as a consultant to the department.[4]
Poland received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in 2004 and was named a Master of the American College of Physicians in 2008.[1][10]