Bernard Gonik is a tenured professor and the Fann Srere Endowed Chair of Perinatal Medicine in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. He completed his undergraduate studies with honors in Zoology at the University of Michigan. His medical school training was at Michigan State University. He completed residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Texas Health Science Center. He undertook advanced fellowship training in Maternal-Fetal Medicine, with an emphasis on infectious diseases, at this same institution. Dr. Gonik began his professional career at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, and in 1994 moved to the Wayne State University School of Medicine. He has dedicated his career to academic medicine, basic and clinical research, medical education, and most importantly, advocating for women’s and children’s health. He has prior NIH, private sector and industry funding in basic science and clinical research pertaining to his specialty. He has served as an expert advisor on adult and maternal vaccination to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Vaccine Advisory Committee, and internationally with the Brighton GAIA Collaborative related to vaccine safety and clinical vaccine trials. Earlier in his career, he was awarded a Berlex International Research Fellowship and spent a sabbatical year abroad as the Lady Davis Visiting Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Immunology at the Hebrew University studying placental trophoblast immunologic function. He was also a visiting professor on the clinical obstetric service at Chubu Hospital in Okinawa, Japan. In the recent past, he helped fund and co-chaired an international NIH sponsored conference with the School of Engineering at Wayne State University on a biomedical engineering interest of his, the forces of labor and obstetric antecedents to neonatal brachial plexus palsy. Later this year, along with three other international editors, Cambridge University Press will be publishing the 5th edition of his textbook High Risk Pregnancy: Management Options.

USAID Profile

Bureau of Global Health
Division of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition
Division of Childhood Health and Immunization 

Bernard Gonik is assigned at USAID to the Bureau of Global Health (GH), Divisions of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition/Childhood Health and Immunization. In this capacity he is active in a number of advisory activities related to the maternal vaccination platform, the utility of obstetric ultrasound in developing countries, novel therapies for postpartum hemorrhage and examining women's cancers and approaches to prevention, diagnosis and treatment. As a representative of GH/USAID, he participates in discussions related to RSV vaccine development and potential implementation with outside partners. He is also part of the USAID delegation attending the Africa Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group.