ROGER H. BERNIER

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).