Shot of Prevention

A Tribute To Bob Keegan, by Amy Pisani

Bob Keegan at ECBT’s 20th Anniversary Gala in October – I was so thrilled to see him after many years.

This past Monday an my old friend, Bob Keegan, succumbed to his battle with cancer.  Since hearing the news, I’ve struggled to find the words to write about his incredibly selfless efforts to save the lives of literally millions of children; partly because I know that he’d be the first to demand that instead I should go out and take a hike with my bike…literally, or grab a beer and toast him instead.  Yet, I can’t help but wonder whether he was aware that in addition to dedicating his own life towards saving the lives of people throughout the world, that he inspired untold numbers of his peers to strive to also make a difference in the lives of others?  Bob Keegan was the type of man who always gave credit to others for the accomplishments that so often he himself envisioned and facilitated.

When Bob was in his early twenty’s he began his 30 year career with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the branch that is known as STD control (sexually transmittable disease control) working as a public health advisor in Newark, NJ, New York City and eventually Atlanta, GA – home of the CDC.  He helped to develop the first pre- and post-test counseling for HIV/AIDS during a time when the nation was first coming to grips with what would soon become a sexually transmitted disease epidemic.  He then spent five years coordinating CDC’s efforts to assure that refugees from Southeast Asia were properly immunized and treated for communicable diseases.

In 1991, Bob joined the newly formed Polio Eradication Activity Section of CDC along with five other dedicated individuals and a budget of only $3 million.  As the deputy director of what is now called the Global Immunization Division, the staff grew to 110 with a budget of $150 million.  Since 1988, the number of polio cases reported worldwide declined by 99 percent!  That translates into a disease that once infected 350,000 people every year in South Africa and Asia, now affects 1,000 children each year.  Yet, as I celebrate the writing of that number; I just felt Bob smack me over the head to tell me that 1,000 children is unacceptable when that number is zero here in the U.S.  Of course he is right, and so the charge continues on. Read more…