Maurice Hilleman
Encyclopedia
Maurice Ralph Hilleman was an American
microbiologist
who specialized in vaccinology and developed over three dozen vaccine
s, more than any other scientist. Of the fourteen vaccines routinely recommended in current vaccine schedules, he developed eight: those for measles
, mumps
, hepatitis A
, hepatitis B, chickenpox
, meningitis
, pneumonia
and Haemophilus influenzae
bacteria. He also played a role in the discovery of the cold
-producing adenoviruses
, the hepatitis viruses, and the cancer
-causing virus SV40
.
He is credited with saving more lives than any other scientist of the 20th century. Robert Gallo
described him as "the most successful vaccinologist in history".
town of Miles City, Montana
. His parents were Anna and Gustav Hillemann, and he was their eighth child. His twin sister died when he was born, and his mother died two days later. He was raised in the nearby house hold of his uncle, Robert Hilleman, and worked in his youth on the family farm. He credits much of his success to his work with chicken
s as a boy. Chicken eggs are used to develop vaccines based on weakened viruses.
His family belonged to the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. When he was in the eighth grade
, he discovered Charles Darwin
, and was caught reading The Origin of Species
in church. Due to lack of money, he almost failed to attend college. His eldest brother interceded, and Hilleman graduated first in his class from Montana State University
on a scholarship. He won a fellowship to the University of Chicago
and received his doctoral degree in microbiology in 1941. His doctoral thesis was on chlamydia which was then thought to be caused by a virus. He showed that it was an unusual bacteria that grew only inside of cells.
), he developed a vaccine against Japanese B encephalitis, a disease that threatened American troops in the Pacific Theater
during World War II
. As chief of the Department of Respiratory Diseases, Army Medical Center
(now the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
) from 1948 to 1958, he discovered the genetic changes that occur when the influenza
virus mutates
, known as shift and drift
. That helped him to recognize that an outbreak of flu in Hong Kong
could become a huge pandemic
. Working on a hunch, he and a colleague found (after nine 14-hour days) that it was a new strain of flu that could kill millions. Forty million doses of vaccines were prepared and distributed. Although 69,000 Americans died, the pandemic
could have resulted in many more US deaths. Hilleman was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal
from the American military for his work.
In 1957, Hilleman joined Merck & Co.
(Whitehouse Station, New Jersey), as head of its new virus
and cell biology
research department in West Point, Pennsylvania. It was while with Merck that Hilleman developed most of the forty experimental and licensed animal and human vaccines he is credited with, working both at the laboratory bench as well as providing scientific leadership.
In 1963, his daughter Jeryl Lynn came down with the mumps
. He cultivated material from her, and used it as the basis of a mumps vaccine
. The Jeryl Lynn
strain of the mumps vaccine
is still used today. The strain is currently used in the trivalent (measles, mumps and rubella) MMR vaccine
that he also developed, the first vaccine ever approved incorporating multiple live virus strains.
He and his group invented a vaccine for Hepatitis B by treating blood serum with pepsin
, urea
and formaldehyde
. This was licensed in 1981, but withdrawn in 1986 in the US when it was replaced by a vaccine that was produced in yeast. This vaccine is still in use today. By 2003 150 countries were using it and the incidence of the disease in the US in young people had decreased by 95%. Maurice considered his work on this vaccine to be his single greatest achievement.
Maurice was one of the early vaccine pioneers to warn about the possibility that simian viruses might contaminate vaccines. The best-known of these viruses became SV40
, a viral contaminant of the polio vaccine, whose discovery led to the recall of Salk
's vaccine in 1961 and its replacement with Albert Sabin
's oral vaccine. The contamination actually occurred in both vaccines at very low levels, and, because they were ingested rather than injected, did not result in infections or any harm.
Hilleman served on numerous national and international advisory boards and committees, academic, governmental and private, including the National Institutes of Health
's Office of AIDS Research Program Evaluation and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
of the National Immunization Program
. In his later life, Hilleman was an adviser to the World Health Organization
. He retired as senior vice president of the Merck Research Labs in 1984 at the mandatory retirement age of 65. He then directed the newly created Merck Institute for Vaccinology where he worked for the next twenty years.
At the time of his death on April 11, 2005, at the age of 85, Hilleman was Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
, in Philadelphia.
, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
, and the American Philosophical Society
. In 1988 President
Ronald Reagan
presented him with the National Medal of Science
, the nation's highest scientific honor. He received the Prince Mahidol Award from the King of Thailand for the advancement of public health, as well as a special lifetime achievement award from the World Health Organization
, the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service
and the Sabin Gold Medal and Lifetime Achievement Awards.
In March 2005 the University of Pennsylvania
School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics
and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
, in collaboration with The Merck Company Foundation, announced the creation of The Maurice R. Hilleman Chair in Vaccinology.
Robert Gallo
, co-discoverer of the virus that causes AIDS, once said "If I had to name a person who has done more for the benefit of human health, with less recognition than anyone else, it would be Maurice Hilleman. Maurice should be recognized as the most successful vaccinologist in history."
After Hilleman's death Ralph Nader
wrote, "Yet almost no one knew about him, saw him on television, or read about him in newspapers or magazines. His anonymity, in comparison with Madonna, Michael Jackson, Jose Canseco, or an assortment of grade B actors, tells something about our society's and media's concepts of celebrity; much less of the heroic."
In 2007, Paul Offit
published a biography of Hilleman, entitled Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases.
On October 15, 2008, Merck named its Durham, North Carolina
vaccine manufacturing facility in memory of Hilleman.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
microbiologist
Microbiologist
A microbiologist is a scientist who works in the field of microbiology. Microbiologists study organisms called microbes. Microbes can take the form of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists...
who specialized in vaccinology and developed over three dozen vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
s, more than any other scientist. Of the fourteen vaccines routinely recommended in current vaccine schedules, he developed eight: those for measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
, mumps
Mumps
Mumps is a viral disease of the human species, caused by the mumps virus. Before the development of vaccination and the introduction of a vaccine, it was a common childhood disease worldwide...
, hepatitis A
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis A is an acute infectious disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis A virus , an RNA virus, usually spread the fecal-oral route; transmitted person-to-person by ingestion of contaminated food or water or through direct contact with an infectious person...
, hepatitis B, chickenpox
Chickenpox
Chickenpox or chicken pox is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus . It usually starts with vesicular skin rash mainly on the body and head rather than at the periphery and becomes itchy, raw pockmarks, which mostly heal without scarring...
, meningitis
Meningitis
Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...
, pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
and Haemophilus influenzae
Haemophilus influenzae
Haemophilus influenzae, formerly called Pfeiffer's bacillus or Bacillus influenzae, Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium first described in 1892 by Richard Pfeiffer during an influenza pandemic. A member of the Pasteurellaceae family, it is generally aerobic, but can grow as a facultative anaerobe. H...
bacteria. He also played a role in the discovery of the cold
Common cold
The common cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, caused primarily by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Common symptoms include a cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever...
-producing adenoviruses
Adenoviridae
Adenoviruses are medium-sized , nonenveloped icosahedral viruses composed of a nucleocapsid and a double-stranded linear DNA genome...
, the hepatitis viruses, and the cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
-causing virus SV40
SV40
SV40 is an abbreviation for Simian vacuolating virus 40 or Simian virus 40, a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans...
.
He is credited with saving more lives than any other scientist of the 20th century. Robert Gallo
Robert Gallo
Robert Charles Gallo is an American biomedical researcher. He is best known for his role in the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus , the infectious agent responsible for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome , and he has been a major contributor to subsequent HIV research.Gallo is the...
described him as "the most successful vaccinologist in history".
Early life and education
Hilleman was born on a farm near the high plainsGreat Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
town of Miles City, Montana
Miles City, Montana
Miles City is a city in and the county seat of Custer County, Montana, United States. The population was 8,123 at the 2010 census.- History :...
. His parents were Anna and Gustav Hillemann, and he was their eighth child. His twin sister died when he was born, and his mother died two days later. He was raised in the nearby house hold of his uncle, Robert Hilleman, and worked in his youth on the family farm. He credits much of his success to his work with chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s as a boy. Chicken eggs are used to develop vaccines based on weakened viruses.
His family belonged to the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. When he was in the eighth grade
Eighth grade
Eighth grade is a year of education in the United States, Canada, Australia and other nations. Students are usually 13 - 14 years old. The eighth grade is typically the final grade before high school, and the ninth grade of public and private education, following kindergarten and subsequent grades...
, he discovered Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, and was caught reading The Origin of Species
The Origin of Species
Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, published on 24 November 1859, is a work of scientific literature which is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Its full title was On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the...
in church. Due to lack of money, he almost failed to attend college. His eldest brother interceded, and Hilleman graduated first in his class from Montana State University
Montana State University - Bozeman
Montana State University – Bozeman is a public university located in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's land-grant university and primary campus in the Montana State University System, which is part of the Montana University System...
on a scholarship. He won a fellowship to the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
and received his doctoral degree in microbiology in 1941. His doctoral thesis was on chlamydia which was then thought to be caused by a virus. He showed that it was an unusual bacteria that grew only inside of cells.
Career
After joining E.R. Squibb & Sons (now Bristol-Myers SquibbBristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb , often referred to as BMS, is a pharmaceutical company, headquartered in New York City. The company was formed in 1989, following the merger of its predecessors Bristol-Myers and the Squibb Corporation...
), he developed a vaccine against Japanese B encephalitis, a disease that threatened American troops in the Pacific Theater
Pacific Ocean theater of World War II
The Pacific Ocean theatre was one of four major naval theatres of war of World War II, which pitted the forces of Japan against those of the United States, the British Commonwealth, the Netherlands and France....
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. As chief of the Department of Respiratory Diseases, Army Medical Center
Army Medical School
Founded by U.S. Army Brigadier General George Miller Sternberg, MD in 1893, the Army Medical School was by some reckonings the world's first school of public health and preventive medicine...
(now the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
This article is about the U.S. Army medical research institute . Otherwise, see Walter Reed .The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research is the largest biomedical research facility administered by the U.S. Department of Defense...
) from 1948 to 1958, he discovered the genetic changes that occur when the influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
virus mutates
Mutation
In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...
, known as shift and drift
Genetic drift
Genetic drift or allelic drift is the change in the frequency of a gene variant in a population due to random sampling.The alleles in the offspring are a sample of those in the parents, and chance has a role in determining whether a given individual survives and reproduces...
. That helped him to recognize that an outbreak of flu in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
could become a huge pandemic
Pandemic
A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic...
. Working on a hunch, he and a colleague found (after nine 14-hour days) that it was a new strain of flu that could kill millions. Forty million doses of vaccines were prepared and distributed. Although 69,000 Americans died, the pandemic
Pandemic
A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that is spreading through human populations across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or even worldwide. A widespread endemic disease that is stable in terms of how many people are getting sick from it is not a pandemic...
could have resulted in many more US deaths. Hilleman was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal
Distinguished Service Medal (United States)
The Distinguished Service Medal is the highest non-valorous military and civilian decoration of the United States military which is issued for exceptionally meritorious service to the government of the United States in either a senior government service position or as a senior officer of the United...
from the American military for his work.
In 1957, Hilleman joined Merck & Co.
Merck & Co.
Merck & Co., Inc. , also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada, is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The Merck headquarters is located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, an unincorporated area in Readington Township...
(Whitehouse Station, New Jersey), as head of its new virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
and cell biology
Cell biology
Cell biology is a scientific discipline that studies cells – their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division and death. This is done both on a microscopic and molecular level...
research department in West Point, Pennsylvania. It was while with Merck that Hilleman developed most of the forty experimental and licensed animal and human vaccines he is credited with, working both at the laboratory bench as well as providing scientific leadership.
In 1963, his daughter Jeryl Lynn came down with the mumps
Mumps
Mumps is a viral disease of the human species, caused by the mumps virus. Before the development of vaccination and the introduction of a vaccine, it was a common childhood disease worldwide...
. He cultivated material from her, and used it as the basis of a mumps vaccine
Mumps vaccine
Several varieties of mumps vaccine have been used since 1949, and at least 10 strains were in use in 2006:The first vaccine was a killed mumps virus vaccine developed in 1948 and used in the United States from 1950-1978. This vaccine produced little immune memory, thus had a short duration of...
. The Jeryl Lynn
Jeryl Lynn
Jeryl Lynn are strains of mumps virus used in the Mumpsvax mumps vaccine made by Merck. The strains are named after Jeryl Lynn Hilleman. In 1963 Ms. Hilleman's father Dr. Maurice Hilleman, was leading efforts to produce a mumps vaccine for Merck...
strain of the mumps vaccine
Mumpsvax
Mumpsvax is a mumps vaccine made of mumps virus. Mumpsvax is a product of Merck & Co.,Inc. The vaccine is a component of Merck's three-virus MMR vaccine....
is still used today. The strain is currently used in the trivalent (measles, mumps and rubella) MMR vaccine
MMR vaccine
The MMR vaccine is an immunization shot against measles, mumps, and rubella . It was first developed by Maurice Hilleman while at Merck in the late 1960s....
that he also developed, the first vaccine ever approved incorporating multiple live virus strains.
He and his group invented a vaccine for Hepatitis B by treating blood serum with pepsin
Pepsin
Pepsin is an enzyme whose precursor form is released by the chief cells in the stomach and that degrades food proteins into peptides. It was discovered in 1836 by Theodor Schwann who also coined its name from the Greek word pepsis, meaning digestion...
, urea
Urea
Urea or carbamide is an organic compound with the chemical formula CO2. The molecule has two —NH2 groups joined by a carbonyl functional group....
and formaldehyde
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest aldehyde, hence its systematic name methanal.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor. It is an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, especially for polymers...
. This was licensed in 1981, but withdrawn in 1986 in the US when it was replaced by a vaccine that was produced in yeast. This vaccine is still in use today. By 2003 150 countries were using it and the incidence of the disease in the US in young people had decreased by 95%. Maurice considered his work on this vaccine to be his single greatest achievement.
Maurice was one of the early vaccine pioneers to warn about the possibility that simian viruses might contaminate vaccines. The best-known of these viruses became SV40
SV40
SV40 is an abbreviation for Simian vacuolating virus 40 or Simian virus 40, a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans...
, a viral contaminant of the polio vaccine, whose discovery led to the recall of Salk
Jonas Salk
Jonas Edward Salk was an American medical researcher and virologist, best known for his discovery and development of the first safe and effective polio vaccine. He was born in New York City to parents from Ashkenazi Jewish Russian immigrant families...
's vaccine in 1961 and its replacement with Albert Sabin
Albert Sabin
Albert Bruce Sabin was an American medical researcher best known for having developed an oral polio vaccine.-Life:...
's oral vaccine. The contamination actually occurred in both vaccines at very low levels, and, because they were ingested rather than injected, did not result in infections or any harm.
Hilleman served on numerous national and international advisory boards and committees, academic, governmental and private, including the National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
's Office of AIDS Research Program Evaluation and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices provides advice and guidance on effective control of vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S. civilian population. The ACIP develops written recommendations for routine administration of vaccines to the pediatric and adult populations, along with...
of the National Immunization Program
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
The National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases , formerly known as the National Immunization Program until April, 2006, is charged with responsibility for the planning, coordination, and conduct of immunization activities in the United States...
. In his later life, Hilleman was an adviser to the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
. He retired as senior vice president of the Merck Research Labs in 1984 at the mandatory retirement age of 65. He then directed the newly created Merck Institute for Vaccinology where he worked for the next twenty years.
At the time of his death on April 11, 2005, at the age of 85, Hilleman was Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, in Philadelphia.
Method and personality
Maurice was a forceful man who was at the same time modest in his claims. None of his vaccines or discoveries are named after him. He ran his laboratory like a military unit, and he was the one in command. He terminated every subordinate that did not measure up to his standards. For a time he kept a row of "shrunken heads" (actually fakes made by one of his children) in his office as trophies that represented each of his fired employees. He used profanity and tirades freely to drive his arguments home, and once, famously, refused to attend a mandatory "charm school" course intended to make Merck middle managers more civil. His men were fiercely loyal to him.Recognition
Hilleman was an elected member of the US National Academy of Science, the Institute of MedicineInstitute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...
, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, and the American Philosophical Society
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
. In 1988 President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
presented him with the National Medal of Science
National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...
, the nation's highest scientific honor. He received the Prince Mahidol Award from the King of Thailand for the advancement of public health, as well as a special lifetime achievement award from the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
, the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service
Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service
The Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service is awarded by the Lasker Foundation. It was previously known as the Albert Lasker Public Service Award, but was renamed in 2000 in honour of his wife. Past Winners include:*2009 Michael Bloomberg...
and the Sabin Gold Medal and Lifetime Achievement Awards.
In March 2005 the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics
Pediatrics
Pediatrics or paediatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents. A medical practitioner who specializes in this area is known as a pediatrician or paediatrician...
and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is one of the largest and oldest children's hospitals in the world. CHOP has been ranked as the best children's hospital in the United States by U.S. News & World Report and Parents Magazine in recent years. As of 2008, it was ranked #1 in the nation for...
, in collaboration with The Merck Company Foundation, announced the creation of The Maurice R. Hilleman Chair in Vaccinology.
Robert Gallo
Robert Gallo
Robert Charles Gallo is an American biomedical researcher. He is best known for his role in the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus , the infectious agent responsible for the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome , and he has been a major contributor to subsequent HIV research.Gallo is the...
, co-discoverer of the virus that causes AIDS, once said "If I had to name a person who has done more for the benefit of human health, with less recognition than anyone else, it would be Maurice Hilleman. Maurice should be recognized as the most successful vaccinologist in history."
After Hilleman's death Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
wrote, "Yet almost no one knew about him, saw him on television, or read about him in newspapers or magazines. His anonymity, in comparison with Madonna, Michael Jackson, Jose Canseco, or an assortment of grade B actors, tells something about our society's and media's concepts of celebrity; much less of the heroic."
In 2007, Paul Offit
Paul Offit
Paul A. Offit, M.D., is an American pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases and an expert on vaccines, immunology, and virology. He is the co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine that has been credited with saving hundreds of lives every day. Offit is the Maurice R...
published a biography of Hilleman, entitled Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases.
On October 15, 2008, Merck named its Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
vaccine manufacturing facility in memory of Hilleman.