| 1 | Name: | Dr. Maurice R. Hilleman | |
| Institution: | Merck Institute for Vaccinology & University of Pennsylvania | ||
| Year Elected: | 1997 | ||
| Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 205. Microbiology | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1919 | ||
| Death Date: | April 11, 2005 | ||
Dr. Maurice R. Hilleman is Director, Merck Institute for Vaccinology and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania. His past career of six decades of medical research included the Squibb Research Labs, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, and the Merck Institute for Medical Research. His bibliography includes more than 500 original publications in virology, immunology, epidemiology, and infectious diseases. Dr. Hilleman is a senior statesman and authority in the medical sciences for basic discoveries and vaccine developments. He has received numerous awards and accolades from academia, government, and industry. Among the most significant, he is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences; the Institute of Medicine of the Academy; the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Distinctive honors include the Lasker Medical Research Award; Award of the National Medal of Science by President Reagan; the Robert Koch Gold Medal (Berlin); the Prince Mahidol Award presented by the King of Thailand; the Maxwell Finland Award; the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal; Decoration for Distinguished Science Achievement by the U.S. Secretary of Defense, and numerous lifetime achievement awards. Dr. Hilleman received his B.S. degree from Montana State University (1941), and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1944). He holds honorary doctorate degrees from U.S. and foreign universities. Dr. Hilleman’s career has been devoted to both basic and applied research with breakthrough discoveries and developments in virology, cancer, immunology, epidemiology, and vaccinology. Basic research examples include the discoveries of SV40 virus and its oncogenicity, the codiscoveries of the Adenoviruses and the Rhinoviruses, purification and characterization of interferon and it’s induction by double-stranded RNA, pioneering propagation of hepatitis A virus and its growth in cell culture. He pioneered the development of numerous live, killed and recombinant vaccines including measles, mumps, rubella, MMR, varicella, Marek’s Disease, hepatitis A; both plasma-derived and recombinant hepatitis B, and the commercial evolution of vaccines against meningococci and pneumococci. He has been credited with developing more vaccines than any person and is recognized for having changed the face of the world in providing means to prevent and control a number of its most important diseases. Many consider him a living legend! | |||