This year's Guyer lecturer will be Dr. F. Marc LaForce, speaking on the topic "A Vaccine Meets a Strategy: Eliminating Epidemic Meningitis From Sub-Saharan Africa." Dr. LaForce served as the Physician-in-Chief at The Genesee Hospital in Rochester from 1987 to 1999. Following his time in Rochester, Dr. LaForce oversaw all aspects of the USAID-funded Child Survival Project. From 2001-2012, he directed the Meningitis Vaccine Project, a partnership between the World Health Organization and PATH that developed, tested, licensed, and in 2010, introduced a new and affordable Group A  meningococcal conjugate vaccine in Sub-Saharan Africa. This vaccine has eliminated Group A meningococcal infections wherever it has been introduced and as of December 2017, over 280 million Africans have received the vaccine.