Vaccine recommendations revisions by federal officials: Our response is here.

Philadelphia resident, Jefferson grad named as Hepatitis B Foundation’s first Global Health Fellow

Doylestown, Pa., Feb. 3, 2026 – The Hepatitis B Foundation, the world’s leading advocacy and research organization in hepatitis B, has named its first Global Health Fellow, thanks to a six-figure gift from Lu-Yu Hwang, MD, a prominent public health scientist and member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

The Foundation’s leadership has chosen Catherine Freeland, PhD, MPH, who is the nonprofit’s associate director of public health research, for this new role. Her title will be Hepatitis B Foundation Lu-Yu Hwang & R. Palmer Beasley Global Public Health Fellow, honoring Dr. Hwang and her late husband, R. Palmer Beasley, MD.

Freeland C 2026

Catherine Freeland, PhD, MPH

Dr. Beasley was a prominent epidemiologist who made major contributions to the field of hepatitis B, including establishing that hepatitis B is perinatally transmitted, and linking hepatitis B and liver cancer. He was awarded the Hepatitis B Foundation Baruch S. Blumberg Prize in 2010.

Dr. Hwang is a professor emerita of epidemiology with the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. She has made prominent scientific contributions through leading cohort and clinical studies and vaccine research that have advanced public health understanding and preventive practices for viral infections. Dr. Beasley also was with the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, where he was dean emeritus, Ashbel Smith Professor and director of the Center for International Training and Research.

Chari A. Cohen, DrPH, MPH, president of the Hepatitis B Foundation, said: “It is our pleasure to name Dr. Freeland as the inaugural fellow in honor of these two outstanding scientists. She continues the legacy of Dr. Beasley and Dr. Hwang through her excellence in research and key contributions towards hepatitis B elimination globally.”

Dr. Freeland leads the Foundation’s African Hepatitis B Advocacy Coalition (ABAC), launched in 2025, which is a major, multiyear investment supporting elimination of the disease on that continent.

A Philadelphia resident, Dr. Freeland earned her doctorate in Population Health Sciences from Thomas Jefferson University in 2023. She joined the Hepatitis B Foundation 10 years ago.