By (July 18, 2008)

Birkhead to Chair National Vaccine Advisory Committee 

Dr. Guthrie S. Birkhead, an associate professor of epidemiology at University at Albany-SUNY's School of Public Health, and deputy commissioner of the Office of Public Health for the New York State Department of Health, has been named chair of a national vaccine advisory committee.

Birkhead will chair the National Vaccine Advisory Committee of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The committee is the main federal advisory group on policies promoting safe and effective vaccines. 

"Vaccinations are among the most beneficial and successful public health measures," said Birkhead, the chief public health physician in the state health department. "Getting immunized is a life-protecting effort, beginning at birth and continuing throughout life. Infants and young children are particularly vulnerable to infection, so it's important that parents make sure their children are properly immunized."