Gregory Poland, M.D., is Director of the Vaccine Research Group.

One Researcher's Heartfelt Battle

Dr. Gregory Poland is at once a warrior and a healer. He needs to be, he believes, because the war is real—too real—and the enemy is relentless.

In Dr. Poland's war, there are no rules of engagement; anything goes. The enemy is what Dr. Poland calls "unwarranted death." These are deaths caused by infectious diseases that could have been prevented by vaccinations. It is an enemy that is as ruthless as it is resourceful. Says Dr Poland:

"I was born into a Marine Corps family, and I spent my childhood growing up on military bases. As I went through medical school and residency, I knew right then and there that the warrior I was meant to be was the warrior taking on infectious diseases, to prevent them—because I just have a really hard time with death. Unwarranted death, the unexpected death."

The preventable death. Two events still burn in his memory:

Minneapolis, 1980 - An elderly Norwegian man suffers from tetanus. Dr. Poland is a resident in training. He admits now to "naive thoughts. My reaction was, 'What? Tetanus in the 1980s? In nice, clean Minneapolis?'"

Within two days, the man was dead.

Minneapolis, 1984 - Now Dr. Poland is chief resident at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. The junior resident arrives at work worried. His small son has Haemophilus influenzae type B, a bacterial infection of his brain and spinal cord. Dr. Poland feels the father's fear—and something more. The enemy, his enemy, is near. Says Dr. Poland: "The boy did almost die—of a disease that was preventable. He survived, but he’s deaf. And when that happened, I was again hit, full force. It is just such a tragedy that people continue to suffer and die of diseases that we already have vaccines for, and that we know are safe and effective.”

A world-renowned expert at designing vaccines to prevent infectious diseases, Dr. Poland embraces the warrior within to inspire and support the healer. He came to Mayo Clinic in 1988 because he felt that it was the medical center that fully understood and encouraged his work.

"In my warrior mentality, I think of Mayo as having what I need to rout the enemy: the technical, intellectual, experiential, creative and caring firepower needed to take on the prevention of infectious diseases," says Dr. Poland. "I have been at five other medical facilities, so I can say this with authority: the most distinctive thing about Mayo research is collaboration. Our peers here are eager to collaborate. When I was at other medical centers, it was competition against one another. Our research advances because of collaboration."

The Mayo Clinic practice of generous funding for research is another reason Mayo Clinic science is consistently in the lead.

"Benefactors are a big part of it," Dr. Poland says. "They give us an incredible opportunity, and I am so grateful for it. Because they facilitate our work, they have touched every human life—our research benefits the world."

While Dr. Poland works closely with many other research specialists and appreciates their advances—such as those developing medicines to treat diseases—he never loses sight of his mission, his war.

"Treatment is after the battle; it is taking care of the wounded. The battle is preventing infectious diseases," he says. "From a medical maneuver point of view, vaccines are the only thing that we do to every human being on the planet. We go to the remotest areas and we give people multiple vaccines. In our lifetimes, we will each receive 30 to 40 vaccines. What else is like that in all of medicine or science?"

To Dr. Poland, it is a war of epic proportions. "With Mayo's help, we may not win all the battles—but we will prevent significant suffering."