H. (Horton) Corwin Hinshaw was a physician and pulmonary specialist; the high point of his career was his work with streptomycin, the first anti-microbial drug developed after penicillin. Streptomycin has proven to be effective in combating a variety of bacterial infections, including those that are penicillin-resistant. It was also the first drug used to treat tuberculosis successfully, although the high rate of mutation in the tuberculosis baccilli causes it to build up a resistance to the drug over time. Hinshaw and his collaborator, William H. Feldman, were nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1952, but lost out to their colleague, Selman A. Waksman, who first extracted streptomycin in the laboratory. Hinshaw subsequently had a long and distinguished career in medical research, private practice, teaching, and writing. The H. Corwin Hinshaw Papers (1925-1993) contain correspondence, research notes, and manuscripts of published and unpublished works by Hinshaw and his colleagues, as well as published papers by Hinshaw and his colleagues, particularly William H. Feldman. Also included are several videotapes of expert witness testimony and an audiotape of reminiscences. The collection covers much of Hinshaw's career, but is most particularly focused on the development of streptomycin and the treatment of tuberculosis.

Baruch S. Blumberg was a biomedical researcher at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, in Philadelphia, PA, during the second half of the 20th century. His research into Australia Antigen and the Hepatitis B Virus led to a vaccine for the virus and a share of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Dr. Blumberg also served as chief of the Geographic Medicine and Genetics Section at the NIH (1957-1964), Master of Balliol College (1989-1994), the first Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute (1999-2002), and President of the American Philosophical Society (2005-2011).

Victor George Heiser, who was a preeminent public health physician, created a rich archive of material documenting all phases of his career, especially the international health work of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1915-1934. There are voluminous, detailed, and interesting diaries for the whole course of his adult life (1890-1972). There are notebooks reflecting on his early training and work (1890-1907), and lectures he attended at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia (1897).