At the Forefront of Disease Control

Professor Neil Pearce, Director of NZ’s Centre for Public Health Research, was elected President of the International Epidemiology Association (IEA) at the recent World Congress of Epidemiology held in Bangkok. The first ever president from the Southern Hemisphere, Pearce will president-elect for 3 years before assuming the presidency at the next World Congress in Brazil, 2008. “The IEA was originally founded in England in 1955, and for many years was centred on Europe and North America,” says Pearce in Massey News. “However, we are now particularly interested in building the work of the association in developing countries, while maintaining and supporting its current activities in Europe and North America.” Epidemiology is the branch of medical science dealing with the transmission and control of disease.