William A. Haseltine, PhD
In Dr. Haseltine’s career at the forefront of medical research and application, he has educated a generation of doctors at Harvard Medical School, designed the strategy to develop the first treatment for HIV/AIDS, is well known for his groundbreaking work on cancer, and led the team that pioneered the development of new drugs based on information from the human genome. His relentless focus on delivering world-changing results led TIME magazine to name him one of the “25 Most Influential Global Business Executives.”
Today, as the Chair and President of ACCESS Health International and an internationally recognized expert on the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Haseltine is dedicated to ensuring that quantum advancements in medical technology translate to improved health outcomes around the world.
Dr. Haseltine has founded more than a dozen biotechnology companies, including Human Genome Sciences, Inc. Eight pharmaceutical products from companies he founded are currently approved by U.S. and international regulatory agencies. He is the author of more than two hundred peer reviewed manuscripts and eleven books, including two books on COVID: A Family Guide to Covid and A Covid Back to School Guide. His most recent book, My Lifelong Fight Against Disease: From Polio and AIDS to COVID-19, was published in October 2020. He is currently chair and president of the global health think tank ACCESS Health International.
Books
Variants!
As the world moves into the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 variants are now the fundamental issue at the root of many of our questions — Will the vaccines work? Will we need new shots each year? Will the pandemic end or can we expect a renewed surge of Covid-19 cases every year, like we see with the flu?
Understanding virus variation is critical to understanding how the pandemic will unfold and how Covid-19 may continue to affect our global economy, our societies, and all of us individually. Will the current decline in new infections in the United States, for example, be permanent or a case of seasonal population immunity? These are the questions and issues at the heart of a new book by William A. Haseltine, PhD, Variants! The Shape-Shifting Challenge of COVID-19.
My Lifelong Fight Against Disease
“Place this book at the top of your list. You will be inspired to make an impact on the world, with a remarkable guide to help show you the path.”
Sanjay Gupta, MD
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Emory; Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN
Anticipating a career in medicine, Dr. William A. Haseltine was in his first weeks of graduate studies at Harvard when a legendary physician-scientist offered this advice: “You can do more for human health through science than you ever could as a doctor.” That advice hit him “like a thunderbolt”—and he took it.
Since then, Dr. Haseltine has helped combat cancers, worked to contain the HIV/AIDS pandemic and unlocked the power of the human genome to develop dozens of new pharmaceutical cures. His discoveries in molecular biology and genomics, amplified through his counsel at the highest levels of government and in the public eye, have improved the health and lives of millions of people around the world.
For the first time, Dr. Haseltine tells his life story—which is still unfolding—in My Lifelong Fight Against Disease, including facing devastating public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlighting exhilarating moments of medical discovery. In writing the story of his wide-ranging career, Dr. Haseltine’s goals are simple: to encourage the next generation to make their own significant contribution to human life, and for all readers to appreciate science as a humanistic enterprise.
A compulsively readable and fast paced insider’s account of some of the most brilliant medical breakthroughs in modern history, My Lifelong Fight Against Disease is a candid, evocative and ultimately revelatory exploration into what it means to make science your life.
“This compelling personal and professional story offers a superbly insightful analysis of what it will take for humanity to keep combatting increasingly complex health challenges and their devastating impacts. A life and career guided by a purpose to improve the health and well being of people everywhere is a legacy that gives hope.”
—Michelle Williams, Dean of the Faculty, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
“Readers will be swept along by the excitement of discovery, the urgency of breakthrough treatment, the impact of policy and the thrill of success. I can well imagine future leaders in health science looking back on this book as formative to their own journeys.”
—Brian Greene, Director, Columbia Center for Theoretical Physics; Co-founder and Chairman, World Science Festival
”My Lifelong Fight Against Disease is a fascinating memoir from one of the greatest scientists of our time.”
★★★★★ Clarion Review
“Place this book at the top of your list. You will be inspired to make an impact on the world, with a remarkable guide to help show you the path.”
—Sanjay Gupta, MD, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Emory; Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN
“Enthusiasm in embracing the public context of science is all too rare in the science community. Bill models this in a joyful way, inspiring others to relish science and public engagement. This book is an instant classic!”
—Mary Woolley, President and CEO, Research!America
“This gripping autobiography is at once a study in the development of a scientific mind infused with humanist commitment and a candid revelation of a complex and many sided personality. Readers will get to know great scientists, political figures, activists and above all the author himself, whose careers in molecular biology research and biopharmaceutical entrepreneurship have been of immense benefit to humankind.”
—Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J., President Emeritus, Georgetown University
“A fascinating tale of growth and discovery of a medical scientist who thinks both deeply and broadly.”
—Alfred Sommer, MD
Dean Emeritus and Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
“…a timely account of how one individual can impact global health, especially related to viruses… Readers will find this dramatic, self-reflective autobiography an entertaining and enlightening antidote to today's healthcare news.”
—Starred Blue Ink Review
“A timely, moving and inspirational account of the difference that a curious man can make in the world. He combines his powerful personal story with easy-to-read explanations of his tussles with medical science, and thrilling accounts of the political battles he faced.”
—Gillian Tett, Chair Editorial Board and Editor-at-Large, The Financial Times
“...an elegantly recounted story of a singular life studded with achievements. An erudite, illuminating account of a scientist’s remarkable journey.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Press
Covid Commentaries: A Chronicle of a Plague
After a lifetime spent in science, medicine and pursuing better public health, Dr. Haseltine is once again logging eighteen hour days battling a new and still somewhat unknown disease. His opinions on the course of the pandemic are sought regularly by major broadcast news networks and print media. COVID Commentaries is a collection of Dr. Haseltine’s writings, research and interviews on COVID-19. It is a living eBook, updated regularly with new information on the disease and our response, as it unfolds.
COVID Commentaries: A Chronicle of a Plague Volume 1
Volume 1 contains his published commentaries and social media posts on the outbreak, providing a quick, spur of the moment glimpse into his thinking day to day. It also includes his interviews with scientists, economists, parents, grandparents and children that have informed his thinking and understanding of the virus and its disease.
COVID Commentaries: A Chronicle of a Plague Volume 2
Volume 2 provides links to his media interviews and mentions in news articles, in addition to a robust assemblage of links to COVID-related news, medical and scientific research papers, webinars and online resources from other organizations.
Writings
Variants: Forewarned Is Forearmed— For Those Who Listen
(Posted on Wednesday, March 3, 2021)
We now know the adaptive power of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Newly described Covid-19 variants isolated in the United Kingdom, South African, Brazil, the United States, and Nigeria appear to be more transmissible, resist neutralization. and may be more virulent. Now turn back the wheels of time. Were we to know about ... read more
(Posted on Tuesday, March 2, 2021)
Turn back the wheels of time to the medieval age when knights, kings, and guilds roamed the lands. Through all the endless faults of that societal architecture, the guild system is one I view in high esteem. In essence, the elder craftspeople take it upon themselves to train the ... read more
How COVID-19 could make us healthier
(Posted on Tuesday, March 2, 2021)
COVID-19 has exposed countless weaknesses and inequities in our health care systems, with long-term effects that will be felt for generations to come. Yet it has also given us an important opportunity to improve where we have failed. Public health is now deeply embedded in our consciousness as a top ... read more
Italian Scientists Create Live SARS-CoV-2 Neutralization Escape Variant
(Posted on Monday, March 1, 2021)
Variants spread rapidly through populations and become the dominant strains, at least locally. There has been an enormous effort to understand the extent, function, and epidemiological consequences of these variants. In the past few months, genome sequencing efforts isolated many SARS-CoV-2 variants throughout the world. Other variants were isolated in ... read more
Schools Must Reconsider Accelerating Plans To Reopen In Light Of Dangerous New Covid-19 Variants
(Posted on Monday, March 1, 2021)
Nearly a year has passed since schools across the country began shuttering their doors to protect students, educators, and their families from Covid-19. Since then, many parents juggling work and schooling duties have incurred more stress while making less money; a high percentage of kids ... read more