Tamara Pilishvili BS, PhD, MPH

Tamara Pilishvili is an epidemiologist at the Respiratory Diseases Branch, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and a CDC lead for the Pneumococcal Vaccines Working Group of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices tasked with developing recommendations for the use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in adults and children. She joined CDC in 1996 and has worked on studies evaluating immunogenicity and effectiveness of bacterial vaccines, particularly Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccines.

She has led studies evaluating the effectiveness of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in the U.S., provided technical expertise to developing countries to document the impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on meningitis and pneumonia, and helped establish and evaluate surveillance for bacterial respiratory and pneumococcal diseases. Her research interests include bacterial respiratory diseases and vaccines for bacterial pathogens, particularly the pneumococcus. She has authored and co-authored publications on this topic.