David Sencer

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David Sencer
Edward I. Koch
Preceded byReinaldo Antonio Ferrer
Succeeded byStephen C. Joseph
Personal details
Born(1924-11-10)November 10, 1924
M.P.H.
)

David Judson Sencer (November 10, 1924 – May 2, 2011) was an American

swine flu. Between 1966 and 1977, he was the longest serving director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in this capacity, he did nothing to stop the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, in spite of ethical concerns raised internally. From 1981 to 1986, he was Commissioner of Health of the City of New York.[1]

Personal life and education

Sencer was born on November 10, 1924, in

Navy. Subsequently, the Navy "sent him to medical school at the University of Mississippi. He completed his medical degree at the University of Michigan."[1] During his stint at University of Michigan, tuberculosis consigned him to the hospital for a year and a half.[1] This incident motivated him to study public health.[2] Sencer would later go on to attain a Master's degree in public health at Harvard University.[1]

In 2009, he was awarded an honorary B.A. degree from Wesleyan.[3]

In 1951, Sencer married Jane Blood Sencer, with whom he had three children: Susan, a pediatric oncologist; Ann, an oncology nurse practitioner; and Stephen, chief legal officer for Emory University.[1]

U.S. Public Health Service career

Sencer points to a depiction of Triatomine sp., which transmits Chagas disease.

In 1955, Sencer joined the US Public Health Service.[4] In 1960, Sencer became the assistant director of the CDC, and in 1966, the director. In this capacity he played a major role in 1974 in establishing Emory University's public health department, which later became the Rollins School of Public Health.[1]

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study continued under Sencer. Even when ethical concerns were raised internally in 1966 and 1968, Sencer did nothing to stop the experiment until the press got involved in 1972.[5]

During Sencer's administration, the CDC grew considerably, addressing for the first time malaria, nutrition, tobacco control, as well as family planning, health education, and occupational safety and health.[4][1] Additionally, Sencer prepared instructions for the quarantine of astronauts returning from the Moon, which was suspected to harbor extraterrestrial pathogens.[4]

The agency's most successful undertaking was a

William H. Foege, who said: "I never asked [Sencer] for anything that he didn't deliver...He said you couldn’t protect U.S. citizens from smallpox without getting rid of it in the world, and that was a new approach. People in the field got all the praise, but he was the unsung hero. He just kept providing what we needed."[1]

After the

1918–1919 flu plague and by President Gerald Ford's incitement, the decision was later criticized as "rash and wasteful". It led the United States Public Health Service to request up to 200 million doses of vaccine. However, the anticipated pandemic did not emerge, and "rising percentages" of the 45 million vaccinated were afflicted with Guillain–Barré syndrome, which provoked over 24 deaths. Sencer was both condemned and supported. Having worked with Sencer at CDC, epidemiologist James W. Curran, explained, "Dave Sencer made a hard choice, and he did it for the right reason — to protect the American public... He was trying to protect Americans had there been [a swine flu epidemic], and absent one, there was bound to be criticism."[1] In 2006, Sencer wrote a report on the swine flu program: "When lives are at stake, it is better to err on the side of overreaction than underreaction... In 1976, the federal government wisely opted to put protection of the public first".[2][6]

That year,

William H. Foege.[7]

Later career

After a short stint in the

AIDS epidemic in New York City, rejoined the public sector as the health commissioner of the city,[note 1] whose mayor was Edward I. Koch. Although some appreciated his arrangement of weekly information-swapping sessions between doctors and public health officials, others, particularly those in the gay community, reprehended him for "dragging his feet". AIDS activist Larry Kramer contended, "He and his reign accounted for one of the most disastrous experiences of public health anywhere in the world... What did he do? He didn't do anything. He had a mayor who said, 'I don't want to know,' and Sencer fell into line." James Colgrove, however, acknowledged Sencer's "amending the city's codes so that AIDS cases were treated confidentially, defending the right of children with AIDS to attend public schools, and being an early advocate for a city-sponsored needle-exchange program". Colgrove agreed with critics that Sencer was a poor public educator. He neglected to disseminate information regarding sexual risk reduction for gay and bisexual men, and initially did not publicize that "casual contact" did not spread AIDS.[1] Sencer also supported "free clean needles for addicts and fought to keep gay bathhouses open, believing they were an ideal place to teach safe sex".[2]

Sencer (second from left) in 2008

Former CDC director

H1N1 pandemic of 2009, he was here full time, and I said, 'Can I pay you?' He said, 'No, this is a labor of love.'"[1]

Death

Sencer died from pneumonia[2] on May 2, 2011, at the age of 86, in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.

He is the namesake of the David J. Sencer CDC Museum.

References and notes

References

https://www.bitchute.com/video/KckFn6QczJGA/

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Weber, Bruce (May 4, 2011). "David J. Sencer, 86, Dies; Led Disease-Control Agency". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 4, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Dr. David Sencer dies at 86; CDC director from 1966 to '77". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. May 5, 2011. Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
  3. ^ Drake, Olivia (June 4, 2009). "Wesleyan Holds 177th Commencement Ceremony". The Wesleyan Connection. Wesleyan University. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d Miller, Stephen; McKay, Betsy (May 4, 2011). "Sencer, Who Pushed Troubled 1976 Flu Vaccine, Dies". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
  5. ^ Ouellette, Jennifer (May 5, 2022). "50 years on, the lessons of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study still reverberate". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
  6. PMID 16494713. Archived from the original
    on May 12, 2011.
  7. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved March 12, 2021.
Notes
  1. ^ According to the Associated Press, being health commissioner of NYC was "considered one of the top jobs in U.S. public health".[2]

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to David Sencer.


Government offices
Preceded by Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1966–1977 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Reinaldo Antonio Ferrer
 Commissioner of Health of the City of New York
1981–1986 		Succeeded by
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