Peter Hotez

Peter Hotez
Hotez in 2019
Peter Hotez
Born	Peter Jay Hotez 5 5, 1958
Birthplace	Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Physician-scientist, academic, author
Title	Founding Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine; Director, Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development
Employer	Baylor College of Medicine
Known for	Neglected tropical disease research, vaccine development, science advocacy
Education	Ph.D., Rockefeller University; M.D., Weill Cornell Medical College
Awards	Bailey K. Ashford Medal, H.B. Ward Medal, B'nai B'rith Distinguished Achievement Award
Website	[http://www.peterhotez.org/ Official site]

Peter Jay Hotez (born May 5, 1958) is an American scientist, pediatrician, and author whose career has centered on the study and control of neglected tropical diseases, vaccine development, and global health policy. As the founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, Hotez has spent decades working to develop vaccines for diseases that disproportionately affect the world's poorest populations. He serves as Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine and as Director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, one of the largest academic vaccine development centers in the world. Hotez also holds the position of University Professor of Biology at Baylor University and has served as president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. A founding Editor-in-Chief of PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, he has authored numerous books and scientific publications. In recent years, Hotez has become a prominent public voice in debates surrounding vaccine hesitancy, anti-science movements, and the intersection of public health and political polarization, drawing both significant support and intense opposition for his outspoken advocacy.

Early Life

Peter Jay Hotez was born on May 5, 1958, in Hartford, Connecticut. He grew up in the northeastern United States during a period of significant advances in American public health and biomedical science. Details about his parents and family background during his formative years are limited in publicly available sources, though Hotez has spoken in various interviews and in his published works about the influences that drew him toward science and medicine at an early age.

Hotez developed an interest in parasitology and tropical medicine that would come to define his career. His early fascination with the biological sciences led him to pursue higher education in both research and clinical medicine, an unusual dual path that would later enable him to bridge the gap between laboratory discovery and clinical application in the field of neglected tropical diseases.

Education

Hotez pursued an extensive course of academic training that combined scientific research with medical practice. He earned his Ph.D. from Rockefeller University, where he focused on parasitology and the molecular biology of parasitic helminths. He also earned his M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College, equipping him with both the research expertise and clinical credentials to address tropical diseases from multiple angles. This dual-degree training positioned Hotez at the intersection of basic science and clinical application, a combination that would prove instrumental in his later work developing vaccines for diseases that had long been overlooked by the pharmaceutical industry and major research institutions.

Career

Early Academic Career and Focus on Neglected Tropical Diseases

Hotez built his early academic career around the study of parasitic diseases, particularly soil-transmitted helminths such as hookworm, which affect hundreds of millions of people in developing nations. He held academic positions at several institutions before arriving at Baylor College of Medicine, where he would establish the programs for which he is best known. His work at George Washington University, where he served on the faculty, helped establish his reputation in the field of tropical medicine and global health.

Throughout his career, Hotez has focused on what he and other researchers term "neglected tropical diseases" (NTDs) — a group of parasitic, bacterial, and viral infections that disproportionately affect impoverished populations in tropical and subtropical regions. These diseases, including hookworm, schistosomiasis, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis, receive comparatively little funding for research and drug development relative to their global burden. Hotez has argued that NTDs represent not only a medical challenge but a major contributor to cycles of poverty, as chronic infections can impair childhood development, reduce economic productivity, and perpetuate social inequality.

National School of Tropical Medicine

Hotez serves as the founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, which was established to train the next generation of researchers and clinicians in tropical medicine and to conduct research on diseases endemic to the Gulf Coast region and the developing world. Under his leadership, the school has focused on the recognition that neglected tropical diseases are not confined to distant countries but also affect populations within the United States, particularly in impoverished communities in the American South and along the Gulf Coast.

The establishment of a tropical medicine school within a major American academic medical center represented a significant institutional commitment to a field that had long been underfunded relative to other areas of biomedical research. The school offers training programs and conducts research in areas including helminth biology, vaccine development, and the epidemiology of tropical infections in the Americas.

Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development

As Director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, Hotez has led efforts to create low-cost vaccines for neglected tropical diseases — an endeavor he has described as filling a gap left by the commercial pharmaceutical industry, which has historically had limited financial incentive to develop vaccines for diseases that primarily affect the poorest populations.

One of the center's notable projects is the development of a recombinant vaccine for hookworm disease, which has undergone clinical trials. Hookworm infection affects an estimated 400 million or more people globally and is a leading cause of anemia and malnutrition in endemic areas. The center has also pursued vaccine candidates for schistosomiasis and other parasitic diseases.

Hotez and his colleagues have pursued a model of vaccine development that emphasizes low production costs and partnerships with manufacturers in developing countries, with the goal of making vaccines accessible and affordable to the populations most in need. This approach has been described as a form of "antipoverty" vaccine development, reflecting Hotez's broader argument that disease control is inseparable from economic development.

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Hotez co-founded and served as founding Editor-in-Chief of PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, an open-access scientific journal launched to provide a dedicated publication venue for research on diseases that had historically received insufficient attention in mainstream medical and scientific journals. The journal, part of the Public Library of Science (PLOS) family of open-access publications, has become a key resource in the NTD research community. By providing open-access publication, the journal ensures that research findings are freely available to scientists, public health officials, and policymakers in low-income countries where access to subscription-based scientific literature is often limited.

Parasites Without Borders

Hotez serves as co-director of Parasites Without Borders, a global nonprofit organization focused on those suffering from parasitic diseases in subtropical environments. The organization works to raise awareness of the global burden of parasitic infections and to support research and intervention programs aimed at controlling these diseases in endemic regions.

Professional Leadership

Hotez has held leadership positions in several major scientific and professional organizations. He served as president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), the principal professional society for tropical medicine and global health researchers in the United States.

He was named a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Council of Councils, an advisory body that provides recommendations to the NIH Director on matters related to the policies and activities of the NIH Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives.

Hotez was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine), one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine in the United States. He was also elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Science Advocacy and Opposition to Anti-Vaccine Movements

In addition to his laboratory and clinical work, Hotez has become one of the most prominent American scientists engaged in public advocacy for vaccination and against what he characterizes as organized anti-science and anti-vaccine movements. This dimension of his public career intensified significantly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, when debates over vaccination, public health mandates, and the role of scientific expertise in policymaking became deeply politicized.

Hotez has published extensively on what he describes as the convergence of anti-vaccine activism with broader political movements, arguing that opposition to vaccination has become intertwined with political polarization in the United States and globally. He has traced the historical roots of American anti-vaccine activism and its globalization in public lectures and published works.

In 2023, a widely publicized episode brought Hotez significant public attention when podcast host Joe Rogan invited him to debate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic, on Rogan's podcast. Hotez declined the debate format, arguing that scientific evidence should not be treated as a matter of equal debate between credentialed scientists and non-scientists. The episode generated substantial media coverage and both support and criticism of Hotez's position.

By 2025, Hotez had emerged as a vocal critic of what he described as a broader "war on science," encompassing not only anti-vaccine activism but also attacks on public health infrastructure, climate science, and federal research funding. He has discussed these themes at institutions including the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, where he participated in a conversation with climate scientist Michael Mann on the topic of "Science Under Siege."

Hotez has also spoken publicly about the impact of shifting U.S. health policy on childhood vaccination, federal public health funding, and disease surveillance, particularly in the context of policy changes in 2025.

In 2025, he published the book Science Under Siege, in which he addresses the threats posed by disinformation to global health and science. He discussed the book on Houston Public Media and other outlets, articulating his views on how to counter organized anti-science movements.

Hotez has appeared on numerous podcasts and media programs to discuss these themes, including at Yale School of Management's Health & Veritas podcast, where he discussed "Mapping the Anti-Science Machine."

Personal Life

Hotez resides in Houston, Texas, where he has been based for much of his career at Baylor College of Medicine. In a 2025 feature in the Houston Chronicle, Hotez described aspects of his daily life in the city, including walks in the Montrose neighborhood and shopping for blues records at Cactus Music, reflecting his long-standing connection to Houston's cultural life.

Hotez has spoken and written publicly about his experience as the father of a child with autism, a personal dimension that has informed his engagement with the debate over vaccines and autism. He has stated that scientific evidence does not support a link between vaccines and autism, and he has used his personal experience to counter claims made by anti-vaccine activists. His advocacy on this topic has been a subject of both praise and controversy.

Recognition

Hotez has received numerous awards and honors throughout his career in recognition of his contributions to tropical medicine, vaccine development, and global health.

He received the Bailey K. Ashford Medal from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, one of the society's highest honors, awarded for distinguished work in tropical medicine.

He was awarded the H.B. Ward Medal by the American Society of Parasitologists for his contributions to the field of parasitology.

Hotez received the B'nai B'rith Distinguished Achievement Award for his work in tropical medicine and global health.

His election to the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences represents recognition by two of the most prestigious learned societies in the United States.

In 2025, Hotez was honored by the Yale School of Public Health, which recognized him for his contributions to vaccine development and his role as a public advocate for science.

Legacy

Peter Hotez's career has spanned multiple dimensions of the global health enterprise — from laboratory research on the molecular biology of parasitic worms to the development and clinical testing of vaccines, the creation of scientific institutions and journals, and prominent public engagement on the role of science in society. His work on neglected tropical diseases has contributed to increased awareness of the burden these conditions place on impoverished populations and to the development of new tools for their control.

The establishment of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine represents an institutional legacy in the American academic landscape, reaffirming tropical medicine as a discipline relevant not only to international health but to health disparities within the United States. The Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, under his direction, has pursued a model of vaccine development specifically designed to serve populations neglected by conventional pharmaceutical markets.

As Editor-in-Chief of PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Hotez helped create a publication infrastructure that has elevated the visibility of NTD research in the global scientific community. The journal's open-access model has been particularly significant for researchers and health officials in low-income countries.

In the broader public sphere, Hotez has become a figure at the center of debates about the relationship between science, public health, and democratic governance. His insistence on engaging directly with anti-vaccine movements and his willingness to participate in public discourse — including through books, media appearances, and social media — have made him one of the most visible American scientists of his generation. Whether through his research contributions, institutional building, or public advocacy, Hotez has shaped conversations about how societies address infectious diseases and the threats posed by organized opposition to scientific expertise.