1. Katherine "Kate" L O'Brien was born on 1963 and is a Canadian American pediatric infectious disease physician, epidemiologist, and vaccinologist who specializes in the areas of pneumococcal epidemiology, pneumococcal vaccine trials and impact studies, and surveillance for pneumococcal disease.
Katherine O'Brien is known as an expert in infectious diseases in American Indian populations.
Katherine O'Brien grew up in Ottawa, in the province of Ontario, and graduated from Lisgar Collegiate Institute in 1980.
In 1984, Katherine O'Brien earned a BSc in chemistry from the University of Toronto.
In 1988, Katherine O'Brien received an MD from McGill University at the age of 25 years old.
Katherine O'Brien came to the United States to do her residency in pediatric at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1988 to 1991.
In 1991, Katherine O'Brien worked for a year in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on a children's health project on HIV transmission.
Katherine O'Brien said the experience was formative, and led her to view vaccines as being a social justice issue.
In 1996, as part of her job at the CDC, and given her previous experience in Haiti, Katherine O'Brien traveled to Haiti to investigate an outbreak of children who were dying.
In July 1998, Katherine O'Brien joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, eventually becoming a Professor of International Health and Epidemiology and Executive Director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Katherine O'Brien has worked extensively with American Indian populations and in Africa and south Asia, partnering with local scientists and country program staff to develop rigorous scientific evidence and bring it into the vaccine policy arena, thereby accelerating the use and access to life-saving vaccines for children living in low resource countries and settings.
In January 2019, Katherine O'Brien became the director of the Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals Department at the World Health Organization.
Katherine O'Brien has worked in close partnerships with GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, university colleagues, NGOs, and with countries to advance programs and policies on child health.