William Foege

William Herbert Foege ( ; March 12, 1936 – January 24, 2026) was an American physician and epidemiologist who is credited with "devising the global strategy that led to the eradication of smallpox in the late 1970s". From May 1977 to 1983, Foege served as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Foege also "played a central role" in efforts that greatly increased immunization rates in developing countries in the 1980s.

Early life Foege was born in Decorah, Iowa, on March 12, 1936. He was the third of six children born to William A. Foege, a Lutheran minister, and Anne Erika Foege. The family lived in Eldorado, Iowa, in Fayette County, starting in 1936 and moved to Chewelah, Washington, in 1945. When he was a teenager, he expressed a desire to practice medicine in Africa. He attended medical school at the University of Washington, where he became interested in public health while working "after school and on Saturdays" at the Seattle–King County Health Department.

He participated in the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) between 1962 and 1964, assigned to Colorado. When Foege was with the EIS, he was inspired by Alexander Langmuir to pursue global health, and spent a short time with the Peace Corps in India under Charles Snead Houston. Upon reading a lecture on priorities in public health by Thomas Huckle Weller, Foege entered the Master of Public Health program at the Harvard School of Public Health where he studied with Weller, Foege also served as chief of the smallpox eradication program of the CDC.

For his efforts to eradicate smallpox, Foege was the co-winner of the 2020 Future of Life Award along with Viktor Zhdanov. "We're all indebted to Bill Foege and Viktor Zhdanov for their critical contributions to the eradication of smallpox, which demonstrated the immense value of science and international collaboration for fighting disease", said António Guterres, Secretary General, United Nations, quoted in a press release on the award. Dr. William MacAskill said, "Smallpox was one of the worst diseases to ever befall the human race, and its eradication is one of the greatest achievements of humanity. Bill Foege and Viktor Zhdanov should be celebrated for their contributions, and should inspire us today to take effective action to tackle the world's most pressing problems." In consideration of the achievements of Zhdanov and Foege, Bill Gates added, "They [Viktor and Bill] are phenomenal examples of what it means to harness science for global health".

Career Foege's research includes child survival and development, injury prevention, population, preventive medicine, and public health leadership—particularly in the developing world. He was a strong proponent of disease eradication and control and took an active role in the eradication of Guinea Worm Disease, polio and measles, and the elimination of river blindness.

In May 1977, he became the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and served until 1983.

Directorship aside, he also held various positions during his career:

President, co-founder, The Task Force for Global Health, 1984–1999 Senior Fellow, Global Health Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Advisory Board Member, Emory University Global Health Institute Professor Emeritus, Rollins School of Public Health Health Policy Fellow, The Carter Center, 1986–present Executive Director, The Carter Center, 1986–1992

In June 2011, Foege authored House on Fire: The Fight to Eradicate Smallpox, a book on the triumph of modern science, medicine, and public health over smallpox.

On September 23, 2020, Foege sent a private letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert R. Redfield urging him to acknowledge in writing that the CDC had responded poorly to COVID-19 and to set a new course for how CDC would lead the United States' response, calling the White House's approach "disastrous".

Personal life and death Foege and his wife Paula had three sons, the eldest of whom died in 2007. He has been described as a "religious man"; between 1997 and 2006 he served on the Board of Regents of Pacific Lutheran University.

Foege died from congestive heart failure in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 24, 2026, at the age of 89.

Awards and honors Abraham Lilienfeld Award, American College of Epidemiology, 1990 Fries Prize for Improving Health, James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation (formerly known as the Healthtrac Foundation), 1992 Sedgwick Memorial Medal, American Public Health Association, 1993 Frank A. Calderone Prize, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, 1996 Honorary Doctor of Science, Harvard University, 1997 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Pacific Lutheran University, 2000 Wittenberg Award, The Luther Institute, 2001 Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service, 2001 C.-E. A. Winslow Medal, Yale University, 2004 Thomas Francis, Jr. Medal in Global Public Health, University of Michigan, 2005 Public Welfare Medal, United States National Academy of Sciences, 2005 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal, Sabin Vaccine Institute, 2006 Julius B. Richmond Award, Harvard School of Public Health, 2006 The William H. Foege Building, named in his honor and dedicated in 2006, houses the University of Washington School of Medicine's Departments of Bioengineering and Genome Sciences. Chosen as one of "America's Best Leaders" by U.S. News & World Report, 2007 CDC Foundation Hero Award, 2009 Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2012 Richard and Barbara Hansen Leadership Award, University of Iowa College of Public Health, 2014 2020 Future of Life Award (Smallpox Eradication)

Selected publications Books and book chapters

Foege WH. "Foreword." In:

Journal articles