WOODSTOCK — The Woodstock Academy will honor alumnus John Vertefeuille ’91 with a Distinguished Service to Society Award at a reception at 3 p.m. Oct. 7 in Founders Court as part of The Academy’s Homecoming Weekend celebration.

After graduating from The Academy, Vertefeuille went on to earn three degrees from Johns Hopkins University and is now the Polio Eradication Branch Chief & Incident Manager at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He and his team are working alongside the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Rotary International, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to completely eradicate polio.

“What I love most about my job is the real opportunity to work with so many diverse populations,” Vertefeuille has said. “I’ve lived in and traveled to several countries outside of the United States. I find that everywhere I go there is this common belief that people want to see their children healthy and have opportunities to grow up and do amazing things.”

Some of his prior work includes leading the CDC’s team in Tanzania, leading the Global AIDS effort in Nigeria, leading a CDC team in Haiti after the earthquake, and battling an Ebola outbreak in Nigeria. Together with a group of local epidemiologists in Nigeria, Vertefeuille’s team worked with the local government to quickly bring in medical teams and set-up an emergency operation center. Rather than a large outbreak in a city with more than 20 million inhabitants, the team’s effort helped limit the infection to just 20 cases.

Vertefeuille will be speaking with students throughout the day and discussing his work at the 3 p.m. award reception. For a full listing of Homecoming Weekend events, visit: www.woodstockacademy/homecoming2016