| Biographical
Sketch:
Dr.
Bernier is Associate
Director for Science, National Immunization Program,
Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention and Editor, The Epidemiology Monitor.
He began working for CDC immediately after undergraduate school with
assignments to the Venereal Disease Program in New York City and to the
Smallpox Eradication and Measles Control program in Niger, West Africa.
Following these public health field assignments and his subsequent academic
training in epidemiology, Bernier rejoined CDC as part of CDC's Epidemic
Intelligence Service. He started in the National Immunization Program
where he has remained as a staff epidemiologist, then as Chief of the
Epidemiologic Research Section, and most recently as Associate Director
for Science.
Bernier's
career has focused on epidemiologic studies of the
safety and efficacy of new and existing vaccines,
factors linked to vaccine coverage and improving
vaccination coverage levels, and assessments of controversial
hypotheses about vaccine safety. In his present position,
Bernier is responsible for assuring the quality of
the scientific work carried out by scientists in
the National Immunization Program. As the senior
scientific advisor to the Director of the program,
he addresses a broad range of scientific, methodologic,
and science-related policy issues. Most recently,
he helped lead the Public Health Service's initial
assessment and wrote the HHS policy statement on
the controversy surrounding the relationship between
thimerosal, a mercury containing preservative in
vaccines, and neurodevelopmental health effects.
He has also envisioned and helped create a new type
of committee within the Institute of Medicine that
will be providing ongoing reviews of vaccine safety
issues of widespread public concern. Bernier has
received honors and awards for his work over the
years and he is currently a member of several epidemiology
associations (ACE, AES, APHA, IEA, ISEE, ISPE, and
SER).
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