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William A. Fischer, II, MD | Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases

William A. Fischer, II, MD

Director of Emerging Pathogens, Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases

Co-Director, UNC Regional Special Pathogens Treatment Center

Co-director, UNC Project-Liberia

Co-Director, Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Research

Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care

William-Fischer-IGHID-Profile

Contact Information

Address

Office:
130 Mason Farm Rd
Suite 2111
Chapel Hill, NC 27599

Resources

William A. Fischer, II, MD

Director of Emerging Pathogens, Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases

Co-Director, UNC Regional Special Pathogens Treatment Center

Co-director, UNC Project-Liberia

Co-Director, Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Research

Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care

Areas of Interest

Emerging pathogens, severe viral infections, critical illness, outbreak response

About

Dr. Fischer is a pulmonary and critical care trained physician-scientist and an EPA full-time permanent faculty member of the UNC Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine with specific expertise in severe emerging viral pathogens including Ebola virus disease, Lassa fever, and SARS-CoV-2. He has hands-on experience in providing care to patients with Ebola virus disease and Lassa fever, is a member of the WHO Health Emergencies Clinical Team, served as a content-matter expert on call with the CDC Ebola Response Team, and has served as the lead consultant to the WHO for the last two Ebola outbreaks in the DRC and the most recent Ebola Sudan outbreak in Uganda. He is an experienced clinical researcher with expertise in designing and implementing clinical research studies, including therapeutic trials and observational studies. Dr. Fischer co-founded and co-directs UNC Project-Liberia, which was established in 2014 to provide a research response to the West African Ebola outbreak. Since then, the project has grown to include two research sites in Liberia with a staff of over 30, that serve as a clinical research platform. These include three NIAID R01-funded studies for which Dr. Fischer is PI including a longitudinal cohort study of Ebola survivors to examine long-term complications of EVD, viral persistence of Ebola virus in genital fluids, and lingering mental health issues (R01AI123535), the protective and pathologic features of the EVD survivor immune response (R01AI175698) as well as an investigation of the prevalence and incidence of Lassa fever in febrile patients admitted to Phebe Hospital in rural Liberia (R01AI135105). Dr. Fischer also served as co-PI of PREVAIL IV evaluating Remdesivir treatment in EVD survivors with seminal persistence of EBOV. Currently, Dr. Fischer serves as co-PI of a 5,000-participant community surveillance study of the incidence, seroprevalence, and natural history of Lassa fever, funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) that will inform future vaccine and therapeutics trials. He has weekly calls with the Liberia-based staff, separate weekly calls with the Liberia-based laboratory team, and has traveled to the research sites every quarter since 2014. Domestically, Dr. Fischer has been actively researching therapeutics for COVID-19 including as the PI for the Phase 2 study of Molnupiravir and as a co-I on ACTIV-2, is PI of a North Carolina state-funding study examining the short and long-term complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and Vice-Chair of the Study of Tecovirimat for Mpox (STOMP) trial sponsored by the NIH.

Awards and Honors

  • Jefferson-Pilot Fellowship Award- (2020)
  • Order of the Golden Fleece – UNC’s oldest and highest honorary society- (2019)
  • Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Leadership Award- (2019)
  • James Woods Junior Faculty Award, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill- (2015)
  • UNC Internal Medicine Housestaff Faculty Teaching Award- (2015)
  • UNC Internal Medicine Housestaff Faculty Teaching Award- (2014)
  • Alpha Omega Alpha, the Johns Hopkins Hospital- (2009)
  • Assistant Chief of Service, Department of Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Hospital- (2008)

In the news

  • Fischer-Eron-mpox-trial-thumbnail

    Key International Mpox Trial Finds No Clinical Benefit from Tecovirimat 

    William A. Fischer II, MD, Director of Emerging Pathogens at UNC’s Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases and Joe Eron, MD, UNC Chief of Infectious Diseases and chair of the ACTG, co-authored a study that found tecovirimat used to treat mpox does not shorten time to lesion resolution, reduce pain, or speed viral clearance … Read more

  • Wohl-Fischer-lassa-fever

    Study Warns of Underrecognized Lassa Fever Threat with Global Implications

    Chapel Hill, NC—A new study led by researchers at the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill shows an urgent need for improved detection and treatment of Lassa fever, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Lassa fever–a severe Ebola-like illness designated by the … Read more

  • Marburg-Billy-Fischer

    Fischer, WHO Clinical Team Demonstrate Critical Care Can Be Delivered Safely for Marburg Patients

    Landmark research led by William Fischer II, MD, director of emerging pathogens for the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, describes the successful delivery of advanced care to patients with Marburg virus disease during Rwanda’s third largest outbreak on record, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseasesand The New England Journal of Medicine.   … Read more

  • SPARC-Taking-Patient-Inside

    Testing UNC’s Special Pathogen Readiness Ahead of the FIFA World Cup

    North Carolina directly benefits from the work of global health researchers working in other countries, monitoring disease and containing outbreaks. For years, Fischer and David Wohl, MD, have contained diseases like Ebola virus, Marburg virus, Lassa virus, in West Africa, setting up field treatment units during outbreak settings to isolate and effectively care for patients. Their work in … Read more

Education

  • Undergraduate

    Bates College

  • MD

    University of North Carolina School of Medicine

  • Residency

    John Hopkins Hospital

  • Fellowship

    John Hopkins Hospital

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