Joseph McCormick
Professor & James H. Steele, D.V.M. Professorship
956/755-0605
Regional Academic Health Center
One West University Blvd, SPH Building, S1.330, Brownsville, TX 78520
About
Raised on a farm in Indiana, I graduated from Florida Southern College in chemistry and mathematics and attended the Free University in Brussels in preparation for teaching sciences and mathematics in French in the Congo where I was also introduced to medicine. I obtained my MD at Duke in 1971 and an MS from Harvard (1970) under Dr. Weller (Nobel Laureate 1954). I trained at CHOP under Dr. Koop (later US Surgeon General). I joined the CDC EIS and worked in Brazil as a PAHO/CDC consultant for the meningitis outbreaks of 1974-6. In 1977 I founded the CDC Lassa fever project in Sierra Leone. I investigated the first Ebola epidemic in 1976 and led the one in 1979. In Sierra Leone I conducted definitive studies of the epidemiology and antiviral treatment of Lassa fever. As Chief, Special Pathogens Branch, Viral Diseases, CDC in 1982, I ran the Biosafety level 4 lab for 9 years. I organized and led the first AIDS investigation in Africa in 1983 and established the Project SIDA in Kinshasa, Congo. In 1983 I isolated the virus that causes Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (Hantavirus) at CDC. In 1993, I became Chairman, CHS at the Aga Khan University Medical School where I established a CDC EIS like program, an MS in Epidemiology, and a family Medicine Residency. I founded the UT Houston School of Public Health campus in Brownsville in 2001. The campus has published over300 peer reviewed articles characterizing the extraordinary level of health disparities in the region. I was instrumental in bringing in over $100 million in external funding. I now research chronic and infectious diseases in the LRGV in a cohort of 5000 people with over 30 research collaborators. I am featured in several books for the lay reader (e.g.,The Coming Plague, The Hot Zone). My wife, Sue Fisher-Hoch and I wrote a popular account (Level 4, Virus Hunters of the CDC) of our professional adventures translated into 7 languages. I am an amateur pianist, and enjoy many outdoor activities.
Center Affiliation
Hispanic Health Research Center
Research Interests
- Behavioral/Mental Health
- Border Health
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular and Chronic Diseases
- Clinical Trials
- Epidemiology
- Global Health
- Infectious Disease