Biography
Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. is the Baker Institute fellow in disease and poverty. He is the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and professor of pediatrics and molecular virology & microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine where he is also the Co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics. He is also University Professor at Baylor University, senior fellow at the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at Texas A&M University, faculty fellow with the Hagler Institute for Advanced Studies at Texas A&M University, and a health policy scholar in the Baylor Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy.
Dr. Hotez is an internationally-recognized physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. Dr. Hotez served previously as President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; he is founding Editor-in-Chief of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2014-16, he served in the Obama Administration as US Envoy, focusing on vaccine diplomacy initiatives between the US Government and countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
He has authored more than 600 original papers and is the author of five single-author books, including Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases (ASM Press); Blue Marble Health: An Innovative Plan to Fight Diseases of the Poor amid Wealth; Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism; Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science (Johns Hopkins University Press); and “The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist’s Warning” (Johns Hopkins University Press). He obtained his undergraduate degree in molecular biophysics from Yale University in 1980 (Phi Beta Kappa), followed by a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Rockefeller University in 1986, and an M.D. from Weil Cornell Medical College in 1987.
Contact him at hotez@bcm.edu or (713) 798-1199.
Recent Publications
What You Need to Know About the New Omicron Boosters
The new omicron booster shot protects against the COVID-19 subvariant that’s currently prevalent in Texas and the United States. “The key is to be mindful of your own vaccination situation and keep up with your boosters," Dr. Peter Hotez, the Baker Institute fellow in disease and poverty, told Texas Standard. You should be able to get the new one — and you shouldn’t wait, he added.
Whatever Happened to the New No-Patent COVID Vaccine Touted as a Global Game Changer?
Developed by fellow Dr. Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Bottazzi, Corbevax has now been administered to 70 million adolescents in India. This low-cost, easy-to-make, and patent-free COVID-19 vaccine was recently authorized for use as a booster in adults.
Monkeypox Vaccine: Are the Side Effects Worth It?
"The best way to ensure you won't become infected is to get vaccinated," said Dr. Peter Hotez, the Baker Institute fellow in disease and poverty. "Monkeypox, although rarely fatal, is a serious and debilitating infectious disease, and could require hospitalization."
External Publications
Books
Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism: My Journey as a Vaccine Scientist, Pediatrician, and Autism Dad (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018).