January 27, 2010

David O. Freedman. Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Travelers' Clinic Director David O. Freedman, M.D., a preeminent travel-medicine physician and researcher, has been appointed to the World Health Organization International Health Regulations (IHR) Roster of Experts.

The IHR is a comprehensive set of rules and procedures endorsed by the 193 member states of the World Health Organization and designed to make the world more secure from public-health threats. Freedman will serve on the roster for a four-year term and be on call to go to Geneva, Switzerland, during a crisis to serve on review and emergency committees reporting directly to the World Health Organization director-general.

"The emergence of H1N1 influenza in 2009 and SARS in 2003 demonstrates how interconnected the world has become and how rapidly a new disease can spread," Freedman says. "The threat of a pandemic is always there, and implementation rules and procedures that draw upon the expertise of physicians, policy makers and international agencies help keep us better prepared."

A professor in the UAB departments of Medicine and Epidemiology, Freedman also co-directs GeoSentinel, a global online network of 48 travel- and tropical-medicine clinics spread across several continents. The network is a partnership of UAB, the International Society of Travel Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other groups.

Freedman is on the board of the International Society of Travel Medicine and has served as scientific program chair for two of the society's international conferences. He is co-editor of the Travel Medicine textbook and a co-author of the Infectious Diseases Society of America's clinical practice guidelines for travel medicine.

The World Health Organization IHR establish an agreed framework of commitments and responsibilities for states, nations and for WHO to invest in limiting the international spread of epidemics and other public health emergencies while minimizing disruption to travel, trade and economies.

About the UAB Traveler's Clinic

The UAB Travelers' Clinic is a leader in travel and tropical medicine staffed by specialized physicians who themselves work extensively in the tropics. It offers comprehensive and highly individualized pre- and post-travel consultation, and serves as the only clinic in the state to maintain a full in-house vaccine inventory.