Scientific Hero: Dr. James E. K. Hildreth

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Note from the editor: This column was originally published in 2013. Currently, Dr. Hildreth serves as president and CEO of Meharry Medical College, leading the technological, academic, and clinical transformation of the nation's largest private historically Black academic health sciences center. Because of his standing as a world-class infectious disease expert, Hildreth emerged as an important national figure in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020, he was appointed to the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee that reviewed COVID-19 vaccine candidates for approval, and in February 2021, Dr. Hildreth was named to President Joseph Biden's Health Equity Task Force.