The Irma and Leo Evers Lecture in Infectious Diseases is an annual lecture that features highly accomplished and renowned international experts in infectious diseases. Hosted by NYU Langone’s Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, this lectureship was established by the Evers family in memory of Leo M. Evers, a former patient of our faculty member, Eddie Louie, MD, to honor the outstanding care Dr. Louie provided.

Below is a list of speakers at the Irma and Leo Evers Lecture in Infectious Diseases since 2008.

2022: Drew Weissman, MD, PhD

Dr. Drew Weissman is the Roberts Family Professor in Vaccine Research at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. After years of laboratory investigation, in 2005 Dr. Weissman, with Dr. Katalin Karikó, made a seminal discovery about how to create useful messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. Dr. Weissman and team kept working over the ensuing 15 years, positioning the mRNA platform to respond successfully to the COVID-19 pandemic with the safe and effective vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna. For their scientific achievements, Dr. Weissman and Dr. Karikó received this year’s Lasker Award.

Dr. Weissman will speak about the exciting possibilities of mRNA therapeutics to battle cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic conditions.

2021: John R. Mascola, MD

Dr. John R. Mascola is the chief of the Virology Laboratory and director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He serves as an expert consultant both nationally and internationally on the development of novel vaccine and prevention strategies.

Dr. Mascola has contributed to the field of AIDS research focusing on antibody mediated protected responses that have led to novel strategies for HIV vaccine design. For his work, he has received numerous awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NIAID. He sits on the HIV Planning Committee in the NIH Office of AIDS Research as well as the HIV Scientific Network Advisory Board.

2018: David A. Relman, MD

Dr. David A. Relman is the Thomas C. and Joan M. Merigan Professor of Medicine and professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University. Dr. Relman discovered and implemented new strategies for identifying previously unrecognizable microbial agents of disease. His research focuses on the study of human indigenous microbiota.

2017: Julie McElrath, MD, PhD

Dr. Julie McElrath is one of the world’s leading researchers in the prevention and control of HIV, and of HIV vaccine development. Dr. McElrath is the director of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at Fred Hutch.

2016: Anne Schuchat, MD

Dr. Anne Schuchat is the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She is a highly accomplished global health advocate who has conducted meningitis, pneumonia, and Ebola vaccine trials in West Africa, worked on surveillance and prevention projects in South Africa, and was part of the SARS emergency response in Beijing. She also served as rear admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service.

2015: Paul A. Offit, MD

Dr. Paul A. Offit is the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He is the co-inventor of RotaTeq, the rotavirus vaccine that is recommended by the CDC for universal use in infants.

2014: Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH

Dr. Julie Gerberding is a well-known infectious diseases expert who served as the first female director of the CDC, where she led efforts on pandemic preparedness, including anthrax bioterrorism, SARS, food-borne disease outbreaks, and natural disasters. She is executive vice president and chief patient officer of strategic communications in global public policy and population health at Merck.

2013: John G. Bartlett, MD

Dr. John G. Bartlett is emeritus professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is a leader in clinical infectious diseases, and infectious diseases education, training, and research.

2012: F. Marc LaForce, MD

Dr. F. Marc LaForce is the director of the Meningitis Vaccine Project. He was responsible for developing, testing, and distributing a vaccine against group A meningococci to prevent outbreaks of lethal and crippling meningitis in sub-Saharan Africa.

2011: Myron S. Cohen, MD

Dr. Myron S. Cohen is director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases and distinguished professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Cohen established the principle that the treatment of HIV with antiretroviral therapy also prevents HIV transmission.

2010: Beatrice H. Hahn, MD, PhD

Dr. Beatrice H. Hahn is a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She discovered the primate origins of human AIDS viruses and malaria parasites.

2009: Stanley Falkow, PhD

Dr. Stanley Falkow was a professor emeritus of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He was a pioneer in the field of microbial pathogenesis and identified the mechanisms by which antibiotic resistance spreads.

2008: Anthony Fauci, MD

Dr. Anthony Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He is a leader in basic and applied research to prevent and treat infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, and other emerging diseases such as Ebola and Zika.