Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work

SPEAKER BIOS 

Richard Besser, MD 

Dr. Besser is medical director of the Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work campaign. He 
also serves as acting chief of the Meningitis and Special Pathogens Branch in the National 
Center for Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Dr. Besser received his bachelor of arts degree in economics from Williams College in 
Williamstown, Massachusetts and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He 
completed a residency and chief residency in Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in 
Baltimore, Maryland. He trained in epidemiology as part of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence 
Service. Before joining the respiratory diseases branch, Dr. Besser was director of the 
combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency programs at the University of California, 
San Diego. 

Dr. Besser has authored and/or coauthored more than 50 research papers and book chapters. 
During the 2001 anthrax attack he worked as CDC liaison to the FBI in Florida and on the 
investigative team in Washington, DC. 

Peter J. Pitts 

Mr. Pitts is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s associate commissioner for External 
Relations. An author and expert in strategic communications and marketing, he most recently 
served as a managing partner of Wired World, a firm specializing in solving marketing problems, 
generating strategic ideas, and stimulating growth. Mr. Pitts is the senior communications 
adviser to FDA Commissioner Mark B. McClellan and provides executive-level policy and 
program direction for FDA's interactions, information exchanges, and liaison activities with the 
agency's stakeholders and other external audiences. He supervises FDA's Office of Public 
Affairs, Office of the Ombudsman, Office of Special Health Issues, Office of Executive 
Secretariat, and Advisory Committee Oversight and Management Staff. 

Mr. Pitts’ previous posts include vice president of Marketing and Communications at Hudson 
Institute, director of marketing for the Washington Times and Insight Magazine, director of 
marketing at the New York Post, creative services director at McCall's magazine, assistant 
creative director at Reader's Digest, and marketing manager for Cable Health Network. His 
most recent book, Become Strategic or Die, is a study of successful leadership based on 
strategic vision and ethical practice. 

A graduate of McGill University, in 1998 Mr. Pitts was selected one of Indianapolis' 40 Under 40 
by the Indianapolis Business Journal. 

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Michael Fleming, MD 

Dr. Fleming, a family physician in Shreveport, La., is president-elect of the American Academy 
of Family Physicians' (AAFP). AAFP's governing body, the Congress of Delegates, elected him 
to this position during the organization's October 2002 annual meeting. Previously, Dr. Fleming 
served for three years as speaker of the Congress of Delegates. AAFP represents more than 
94,300 physicians and medical students nationwide. 

In the private practice of family medicine, Dr. Fleming is managing senior partner for The Family 
Doctors in Shreveport, a group practice of ten family physicians. He also is assistant clinical 
professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the Louisiana State University Health 
Science Center and in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Tulane University 
Medical School. 

Active on numerous committees for AAFP, Dr. Fleming addresses issues in the areas of health 
education, finance and insurance, governance, and member participation. He previously served 
as AAFP's vice speaker and is a former chair of the Task Force on AAFP/Chapter Relations and 
the Committee on Public Relations and Marketing. 

Dr. Fleming is a past president of the Louisiana Academy of Family Physicians, a constituent 
chapter of AAFP. He also is past chair of the Board of Directors for the Louisiana Academy of 
Family Physicians Foundation, the charitable arm of the organization. Dr. Fleming was honored 
as Louisiana Family Doctor of the Year in 1996. 

Margaret B. Rennels, MD, FAAP 

Dr. Rennels, has been a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on 
Infectious Diseases since 1999 and is currently serving as Chair of the Committee. She is 
professor of pediatrics, clinical head of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical 
Pediatrics, and chief of the pediatric clinical studies section of the Center for Vaccine 
Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. 

Dr. Rennels has been involved in the clinical development of pediatric vaccines. Her current 
major interests are conjugate pneumococcal, conjugate meningococcal, and combination 
vaccines. She has served as principal investigator for more than 30 clinical trials of vaccines; 
written numerous articles and book chapters; and lectured widely on pediatric infectious 
diseases and immunization. 

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