David Morens


David M. Morens is an American physician-scientist, medical historian and Senior Advisor to the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. A career officer in the United States Public Health Service, he has investigated outbreaks from Ebola and Lassa fever to COVID-19 and publishes widely on viral pathogenesis and the history of pandemics.

Early life and education

Morens earned an A.B. in psychology and an M.D. from the University of Michigan. He completed pediatrics residency at the UCSF School of Medicine and fellowship training in pediatric infectious diseases, becoming board-certified in Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine.

Career

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1976 – 1982)

Commissioned into the Epidemic Intelligence Service, Morens set up national surveillance for Reye syndrome and Kawasaki disease and co-discovered the Snow Mountain strain of norovirus. Stationed in Sierra Leone from 1979 to 1981, he ran clinical trials of ribavirin for Lassa fever and led epidemiologic field studies. He later headed CDC’s Respiratory & Special Pathogens Branch and directed the laboratory arm of the agency’s first national AIDS case-control study.

University of Hawaiʻi (1982 – 1998)

At the University of Hawaiʻi, Morens was Professor of Tropical Medicine, Chair of Epidemiology, and laboratory director of dengue-virus projects funded by WHO and NIH. His group developed a BHK-21 neutralization assay still used for flaviviruses. During this period he also published historical analyses of epidemics ranging from the Plague of Athens to 20th-century influenza.

NIAID (1998 – present)

Since 1998 Morens has advised successive NIAID directors on emerging-disease policy and pandemic preparedness. He co-authored influential papers advocating universal coronavirus vaccines and continues research on viral host-switching and disease pathogenesis in NIAID’s Viral Pathogenesis and Evolution Laboratory.

Selected works