Dr. Donald A. Henderson, dean emeritus, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and resident scholar, Center for Biosecurity, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, will discuss "Plagues for the 21st Century — A Communications Challenge," the 2004 Joseph Leiter Lecture sponsored by the National Library of Medicine and the Medical Library Association (MLA) on Monday, June 28, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in Lister Hill Auditorium, Bldg. 38A.

Dr. Donald Henderson New and emergent diseases — AIDS, mad cow disease, SARS — are an increasingly frequent occurrence. To know sooner and better about these diseases and to develop capabilities to deal with them are new challenges with potentially serious implications. Henderson, a world-renowned public health scientist and epidemiologist, is eminently qualified to address these and other issues related to the topic. From November 2001 through April 2003, he served as director of the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness, and later, as principal science advisor to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. His previous positions include associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (1990-1993) and dean of the faculty of Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (1977-1990).

The annual Leiter Lecture, whose purpose is to stimulate intellectual liaison between NLM and MLA on topics relating to biomedical communication, is held at NLM on alternating years.