Hugh H. Tilson, M.D., Dr.PH. is an internationally acclaimed epidemiologist and outcomes researcher, whose career in public health and preventive medicine spans more than 35 years. He spent fifteen years with the Wellcome Foundation (now GlaxoSmithKline) where he is widely recognized for his pioneering work with the safe use of acyclovir and zidovudine, and he is also credited for introducing many epidemiologic principles and innovations. He later joined the clinical faculty of UNC School of Public Health in Chapel Hill. He served on the original IOM Report on the Future of Public Health and the recent report: "The Future of the Public's Health", and has worked with and chaired several IOM Committees, most recently advising on the landmark “Future of Drug Safety” study.   He is a Lifetime National Associate of the National Academies of Science.   His work in therapeutics has continued through his ten year chairmanship of the national Steering Committee for the Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (the CERTs, 1999-2009) and his recent election to the Board of Directors of Public Responsibility in Medicine & Research (PRIM&R). A founding member of the UNC Institute for Public Health, he is also a Senior Fellow for Maine's Center for Public Health, where he is credited for helping to create the Sagadahoc County (Bath) Maine Public Health Department, Maine's first County public health agency, which he still serves as a volunteer County Health Officer. A founding member of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) and of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Physicians and Investigators (APPI) he has received the highest honors from each and continues as a lifetime (honorary) Fellow. He is a co-editor of the first textbook of Pharmacoepidemiology, now in its fourth edition as “Pharmacoepidemiology and Therapeutic Risk Management”.

Dr Tilson received his medical degree from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, and his Dr.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health. He initially spent fifteen years in public service including City/County Public Health Officer and Human Services Director for Multnomah County (Portland), Oregon (NACHO President, 1976), and State Public Health Director for North Carolina. His pioneering work in Portland, Oregon's "Project Health" is widely cited as a prototype for national healthcare financing under a "managed competition" model. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Public Health Leadership, Epidemiology and Health Policy UNC School of Public Health and Adjunct Professor of Medicine Duke University.