Paul A. Offit

Virologist and immunologist who is the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq: a vaccine recommended by the WHO and CDC with the potential to save 2,000 lives a day. Over a period of 25 years, together with Drs. Plotkin and Clark, he conducted key research leading to development of the successful pentavalent rotavirus vaccine. He is an important voice in confronting the anti-vaccine movement that has caused a breakdown in population immunity, resulting in outbreaks of measles, mumps, whooping cough, and bacterial meningitis. He created the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, which distributes educational materials to clinicians and parents; wrote many scientific articles about vaccine safety, testified before congressional subcommittees, appeared in the national and international media, influenced the CDC in his advisory role, and published several medical narratives about vaccine safety, the most influential of which was Autism's False Prophets (2008), which exposed the myth behind the vaccine-autism controversy.