{{short description|Anthropologist and immunisation expert}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Heidi Larson | image = Heidi Larson for World Economic Forum.jpg | caption = Larson speaks to the World Economic Forum in 2021
| citizenship = American | fields = Anthropology | education = {{Unbulleted list|Harvard University (Visual and Environmental Studies)|University of California, Berkeley (PhD Anthropology)}} | alma_mater = | workplaces = {{Unbulleted list| London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine| Save the Children |UNICEF|World Health Organization|University of Washington}} | spouse = Peter Piot | website = {{URL|https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/larson.heidi}} }} '''Heidi J. Larson, Lady Piot''' is an American anthropologist and the founding director of the Vaccine Confidence Project.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vaccineconfidence.org/about/#team|title=About : The Vaccine Confidence Project|website=www.vaccineconfidence.org|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref><ref>Larson et al., ''EBioMedicine'', 2018.</ref> Larson headed Global Immunisation Communication at UNICEF<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wlghconference.org/speakerheidilarson|title=SpeakerHeidiLarson|website=Women Leaders in Global Health|language=en-US|access-date=August 6, 2018|archive-date=September 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901044522/https://www.wlghconference.org/speakerheidilarson|url-status=dead}}</ref> and she is the author of ''Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start and Why They Don't Go Away''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Stuck Heidi J. Larson|url=https://www.oupcanada.com/catalog/9780190077242.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019212007/https://www.oupcanada.com/catalog/9780190077242.html|archive-date=October 19, 2020|access-date=October 19, 2020|website=Oxford University Press}}</ref> She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=2021-12-07 |title=BBC 100 Women 2021: Who is on the list this year? |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59514598 |access-date=2022-12-16}}</ref>
==Education and early career== The daughter of a priest and civil rights advocate, Larson grew up in Massachusetts.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Das|first=Pamela|date=September 26, 2020|title=Heidi Larson: shifting the conversation about vaccine confidence|journal=The Lancet|volume=396|issue=10255|page=877|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31612-3|pmid=32919523|doi-access=free}}</ref>
Larson worked for Save the Children in the West Bank and in Nepal after college. Working abroad got her interested in anthropology and she eventually graduated from the University of California in that discipline. She earned a Ph.D. in 1990. She worked for several companies in the 1990s, including Apple and Xerox. <ref name=NYT>{{Cite news|last=Anderson|first=Jenny|date=October 13, 2020|title=She Hunts Viral Rumors About Real Viruses|work=The new York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/health/coronavirus-vaccine-hesitancy-larson.html|url-status=live|access-date=October 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019163949/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/health/coronavirus-vaccine-hesitancy-larson.html?action=click&module=Top%2520Stories&pgtype=Homepage|archive-date=October 19, 2020}}</ref>
==Work in immunisation== Larson went back to UNICEF in 2000, working on global communications for several of the agency's vaccination programs. She developed an expertise on working with local health workers to defuse rumors that threatened to derail vaccination initiatives. She founded the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, which she still runs as of 2020, in addition to teaching anthropology, Risk and Decision Science.<ref name=NYT/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/larson.heidi|title=Heidi Larson|website=London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine|language=en|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media| url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/vaccinescalling-the-shots/| title=Vaccines—Calling the Shots| publisher=PBS| date=August 26, 2015| access-date=August 12, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.jnj.com/health-and-wellness/the-director-of-the-vaccine-confidence-project-separates-vaccination-fact-from-fiction-unseen-enemy| title=The Director of The Vaccine Confidence Project Separates Vaccination Fact From Fiction| first=Camille| last=Chatterjee| date= August 2, 2017| publisher=Johnson & Johnson website| access-date=August 12, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=Rise in vaccine hesitancy related to pursuit of purity – Prof. Heidi Larson| date=April 26, 2018| first=Gary| last=Finnegan| url=https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/rise-vaccine-hesitancy-related-pursuit-purity-prof-heidi-larson_en.html| website=horizon-magazine.eu| access-date=August 12, 2018| archive-date=April 26, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426141144/https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/rise-vaccine-hesitancy-related-pursuit-purity-prof-heidi-larson_en.html| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Cohen">{{cite journal | last=Cohen | first=Jon | title=France most skeptical country about vaccine safety | journal=Science | publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | date=September 8, 2016 | issn=0036-8075 | doi=10.1126/science.aah7280}}</ref><ref name="Global Health NOW 2016">{{cite web | title=Vaccine Confidence Varies Widely: Q&A with Heidi Larson | website=Global Health NOW | date=September 9, 2016 | url=https://www.globalhealthnow.org/2016-09/vaccine-confidence-varies-widely-qa-heidi-larson | first=Dayna | last=Myers | access-date=August 12, 2018 | archive-date=August 12, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812083148/https://www.globalhealthnow.org/2016-09/vaccine-confidence-varies-widely-qa-heidi-larson | url-status=dead }}</ref>
Since 2015, Larson has been leading a European Union project to support vaccination efforts in Sierra Leone, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, identifying and countering rumours that may reduce the effectiveness of the campaign. After working on ebola vaccination, the group is now debunking myths about the flu and COVID-19.<ref name=NYT/>
Larson is Director of European Initiatives at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://depts.washington.edu/healthms/people/heidi-larson/|title=Heidi Larson {{!}} Department of Health Metrics Sciences|website=depts.washington.edu|language=en|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref> Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, she co-chaired (alongside J. Stephen Morrison) the CSIS-LSHTM High-Level Panel on Vaccine Confidence and Misinformation in 2020.<ref>[https://www.csis.org/analysis/call-action-csis-lshtm-high-level-panel-vaccine-confidence-and-misinformation Call to Action: CSIS-LSHTM High-Level Panel on Vaccine Confidence and Misinformation, October 19, 2020] Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).</ref>
Describing herself as "a patient optimist", Larson understood early that significant efforts had to be made to fight misinformation about vaccines. Former UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said Larson "wasn't yelling 'The sky is falling', she was yelling, 'The sky could fall if we don't do something'".<ref name=NYT/>
In a paper published in February 2021, Larson acknowledged extensive collaboration with, advisory board membership of, and funding from, vaccine manufacturers, especially the pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Merck & Co. Inc.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Loomba |first=Sahil |date=February 21, 2021 |title=Measuring the impact of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on vaccination intent in the UK and USA |journal=Nature Human Behaviour |volume=5 |issue=7 |page=960 |doi=10.1038/s41562-021-01172-y |pmid=34239082 |pmc=8264480 |s2cid=256703444 |language=en }}</ref> She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.<ref name=":32">{{Cite news |date=2021-12-07 |title=BBC 100 Women 2021: Who is on the list this year? |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59514598 |access-date=2022-12-16}}</ref> <!-- The following list of non-notable achievements reads like a resume:
==Fellowships and awards== 2011 – "Associate Fellow, Chatham House Centre for Global Health Security"
2006 – "Resident Senior Fellow, Cabot House, Harvard University"
1995 – "Visiting Fellow." Research on potential socio-economic impacts of HIV and AIDS on the Pacific. East-West Center, Honolulu.
1990–91 – "Post-doctoral Fellow on new immigration patterns in Europe." Center for German and European Studies U.C. Berkeley.
1986–88 – "Fulbright Fellow." Research on Pakistani Children's Acculturation in London.
1986–87 – "U.C. Regent's (U.C. Berkeley) Traveling Fellow." Dissertation Research.
1986 – "Outstanding Teaching Award", Department of Anthropology, U.C. Berkeley.
1984–86 – "Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow (Hindi-Urdu)", U.C. Berkeley.
1979–81 – "Sheldon Traveling (Research) Fellow", Harvard University.
1978 – "David McCord Arts Award", Harvard University. -->
==Other activities== * Virchow Prize for Global Health, Member of the Council (2022–present)<ref>[https://virchowprize.org/council/ Council] Virchow Prize for Global Health.</ref>
==Personal life== Larson is married to the Belgian virologist Peter Piot.<ref name="FT">{{cite web | title=Peter Piot - Out to stop the Ebola virus he found | website=Financial Times | date=October 3, 2014 | url=https://www.ft.com/content/da2cf694-4970-11e4-8d68-00144feab7de | access-date=September 29, 2018}}</ref>
== Selected publications == {{Scholia}} <!-- too many publications *Larson HJ, et al. A mixed-method pilot study to improve patient satisfaction in rural Uganda "Development in Practice" (CDIP) 2018 "(Accepted)" *Khalil I, et al. "Transport injuries and deaths in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: findings from the Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study". International Journal of Public Health(2018) *Tengbeh AF, Enria L, Smout E, Mooney T, Callaghan M, Ishola D, Leigh B, Watson-Jones D, Greenwood B, Larson HJ, Lees S. "“We are the heroes because we are ready to die for this country”: Participants' decision-making and grounded ethics in an Ebola vaccine clinical trial." Social Science & Medicine (2018) 203. *Larson HJ. "A global girl gang." The Lancet (2018) Volume 391(10120):527–528. *Barry M, Talib Z, Jowell A, Thompson K, Moyer C, Larson HJ, Burke K. "A new vision for global health leadership." The Lancet (2017) 390(10112) *Akinyemiju TF, et al. "The burden of primary liver cancer and underlying etiologies from 1990 to 2015 at the global, regional, and national level: Results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015." JAMA Oncology(2017). doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2017.3055 *Wang H, et al. "Global, regional, and national under-5 mortality, adult mortality, age-specific mortality, and life expectancy, 1970–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016". The Lancet (2017) 390(10100):1084-1150. *Tehrani-Banihashemi A, et al."Burden of cardiovascular diseases in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 1990–2015: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease 2015 study". International Journal of Public Health (2017) August 3 doi: 10.1007/s00038-017-1012-3. *Wilson RJ, Chantler T, Lees S, Larson HJ. "The Patient–Healthcare Worker Relationship: How Does it Affect Patient Views towards Vaccination during Pregnancy?"Research in the sociology of health care (2017) 35:59-77. (Also in book: "Health and Health Care Concerns Among Women and Racial and Ethnic Minorities)" *Eakle R, Bourne A , Jarrett C, Stadler J, Larson H. "Motivations and barriers to uptake and use of female-initiated, biomedical HIV prevention products in sub-Saharan Africa: an adapted meta-ethnography" BMC Public Health (2017) 17:968 *Francis MR, Nohynek H, "Larson H," Balraj V, Mohan VR, Kang G, Nuorti P. "Factors associated with routine childhood vaccine uptake and reasons for non-vaccination in India: 1998–2008"". Vaccine" 2017 "(in press)" *Paterson P,Tracey Chantler T, "Larson HJ". "Reasons for non-vaccination: Parental vaccine hesitancy and the childhood influenza vaccination school pilot programme in England." "Vaccine" 2017 ("in press)" *Karafillakis E, "Larson HJ". "The benefit of the doubt or doubts over benefits? A systematic literature review of perceived risks of vaccines in European populations". "Vaccine" 35 (2017) 4840–4850 *Kummervold PE, Schulz WS, Smout E, Luis Fernandez-Luque L, "Larson HJ". "Controversial Ebola vaccine trials in Ghana: A thematic analysis of critiques and rebuttals in digital news". "BMC Public Health" 2017; 17(1):642. *Pan XF, Li R, Pan A, "Larson HJ." "Human papillomavirus vaccine approval in China a major step forward but challenges ahead". "" "Lancet Infectious Diseases." 2016; 16:1322-23. *Larson HJ. "Japanese media and the HPV vaccine saga." "Clinical Infectious Diseases" 2016";" 64(4)"." *Wilson R, "Larson HJ", Paterson P. "Understanding factors influencing vaccination acceptance during pregnancy in Hackney, London". "The Lancet" 2016; 388:S112 *Forouzanfar MH, Afshin A, · Alexander LT ... "Larson HJ"…..Murray CJL. "Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioral, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015". "The Lancet" 388(10053):1659-1724. *Haidong W, Naghavi M, Allen C……"Larson HJ"…. Murray CJL. "Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015". "The Lancet" 388(10053):1459-1544. *Wang H, BhuttaZA,Coates MM…"Larson HJ"….Murray CJL. "Global, regional, national, and selected subnational levels of stillbirths, neonatal, infant, and under-5 mortality, 1980–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015". "The Lancet" 388(10053):1725-1774. --> *{{Cite book|last=Larson|first=Heidi J.|title=Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start and Why They Don't Go Away|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2020|isbn=9780190077242|location=Oxford}} *{{Cite journal|last1=de Figueiredo|first1=Alexandre|last2=Simas|first2=Clarissa|last3=Karafillakis|first3=Emilie|last4=Paterson|first4=Pauline|last5=Larson|first5=Heidi|date=September 10, 2020|title=Mapping global trends in vaccine confidence and investigating barriers to vaccine uptake: a large-scale retrospective temporal modelling study|url= |journal=The Lancet|volume=396|issue=10255|pages=898–908|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31558-0|pmid=32919524|pmc=7607345|doi-access=free}} *{{cite journal | last1=Larson | first1=Heidi J. | last2=Figueiredo | first2=Alexandre de | last3=Xiahong | first3=Zhao | last4=Schulz | first4=William S. | last5=Verger | first5=Pierre | last6=Johnston | first6=Iain G. | last7=Cook | first7=Alex R. | last8=Jones | first8=Nick S. | title=The State of Vaccine Confidence 2016: Global Insights Through a 67-Country Survey | journal=eBioMedicine | volume=12 | date=October 1, 2016 | issn=2352-3964 | pmid=27658738 | doi=10.1016/j.ebiom.2016.08.042 | pages=295–301 | url=https://www.ebiomedicine.com/article/S2352-3964(16)30398-X/abstract | ref=EBM | pmc=5078590 | access-date=August 6, 2018 | archive-date=June 2, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602233426/https://www.ebiomedicine.com/article/S2352-3964(16)30398-X/abstract | url-status=dead }}
==References== <references />
==External links== *{{cite web | last=Morrison | first=J. Stephen | title=Transcript: Interview with Dr. Heidi Larson, Executive Director of the aids2031 Project | website=Center for Strategic and International Studies | date=September 17, 2010 | url=https://www.csis.org/blogs/smart-global-health/transcript-interview-dr-heidi-larson-executive-director-aids2031-project }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Larson, Heidi}} Category:1957 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American anthropologists Category:21st-century American anthropologists Category:21st-century American women Category:Academics of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Category:American women anthropologists Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Harvard College alumni Category:American women academics Category:Kent School alumni Category:Vaccination advocates