Jeffrey P. Koplan, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Jeffrey P. Koplan has actively worked toward polio eradication for many years. He has provided leadership for the STOP (Stop Transmission of Polio) initiative, launched in January 1999, to provide technical field staff to assist local teams. He recently returned from a visit to Bangladesh where he worked alongside local health workers and field supervisors.

Born in 1945, Dr. Koplan was a medical student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and later earned a master's degree in public health at Harvard University. He began his public health career at Centers for Disease Control in the Epidemic Intelligence Service, investigating and controlling outbreaks. In two decades at CDC, his career has touched on virtually every major area of public health. Dr. Koplan shared in one of CDC's greatest triumphs when he joined the team that eradicated smallpox in the mid-70s. He became the first director of the new National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion within CDC in 1989. He also spent five years in the private sector as director and president of the Prudential Center for Health Care Research from 1994 to 1998. Dr. Koplan was named CDC Director in July 1998 and moved into the post in October of that year.