U.S. Science Envoy Travels to Morocco

Office of the Spokesperson
Department of State
Washington, DC
February 9, 2015

U.S. Science Envoy Dr. Peter Hotez is travelling to Morocco February 8-14 in support of President Obama’s initiative to strengthen the United States’ science and education relationships overseas. Dr. Hotez will meet with representatives from the scientific, academic, and business communities to discuss ways to build and strengthen research collaboration networks between scientists and engineers in the United States and Morocco.

Dr. Hotez is the founding Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of the Departments of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, where he is also the Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics. He is also president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, Director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, and the Baker Institute Fellow in Disease and Poverty at Rice University.

Dr. Hotez is an internationally-recognized physician-scientist and investigator in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. He leads the only product development partnership for developing new vaccines for hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, and Chagas disease – diseases affecting hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide. In 2006, at the Clinton Global Initiative, he co-founded the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases to provide access to essential medicines for more than 100 million people who live in extreme poverty throughout the world. Simultaneously he has helped to pioneer the concept of ‘vaccine diplomacy’ for international scientific cooperation.

The U.S. Science Envoy Program is one element of the Administration’s commitment to global engagement in science and technology. President Obama announced the program in Cairo in June 2009. Since the program’s inception, Science Envoys have visited 25 countries.

The Science Envoys travel as private citizens and share the knowledge and insights they gain abroad with the U.S. scientific community upon their return. These exchanges contribute to further cooperation and dialogue with key partners.