David Fraser, M.D., an epidemiologist and member of Newtown Quaker Meeting will speak via Zoom on “COVID-19: The Epidemiological Basis of Health Policy” to Newtown Friends Meeting adult class at 9:45 a.m. on First Day (Sunday), Sept. 20.
Fraser will focus on aspects of the science that are often under-appreciated: Bayes theorem, signal theory (based on WWII weapons research), immunity, and effectiveness of masks. The discussion period is also expected to cover such matters as: reopening schools, vaccine trials, antigen testing, and aspects of the national response to the virus.
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Fraser is an independent consultant with particular interest in epidemiology, international health and education and material culture.
Trained in internal medicine and infectious diseases, he led the Federal field investigation of the 1976 Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Philadelphia and oversaw the CDC team that discovered the role of tampons in toxic shock syndrome.
He was President of Swarthmore College from 1982 to 1991 and headed health, education and housing activities in South Asia and East Africa for the Aga Khan’s Secretariat from 1991 to 1995, before serving as Executive Director of the International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN) from 1996 to 2000. He serves as an Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania.
A graduate of George School, Fraser grew up in the area and he now lives in Lexington, Mass. He has been chair of the Board of Pennswood Village in Newtown.
