Stanley Plotkin is an American physician who currently works as an adviser at pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Pasteur

Sanofi pasteur

Sanofi Pasteur is the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group. It is the largest company in the world devoted entirely to vaccines.- History :...

. In the 1960s, he played a pivotal role in discovery of a 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...

 against rubella

Rubella

Rubella, commonly known as German measles, is a disease caused by the rubella virus. The name "rubella" is derived from the Latin, meaning little red. Rubella is also known as German measles because the disease was first described by German physicians in the mid-eighteenth century. This disease is...

 virus while working at Wistar Institute

Wistar Institute

The Wistar Institute is a biomedical center, with a focus on cancer research and vaccine development. It is located in the University City section of Philadelphia, Pa...

 in Philadelphia. Plotkin was a member of Wistar’s active research faculty from 1960 to 1991. Today, in addition to his emeritus appointment at Wistar, he is emeritus professor of pediatrics at 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...

. His book, "Vaccines", is the standard reference. He is currently an editor with Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, which is published by the American Society of Microbiology in Washington, DC.

Plotkin has developed many vaccines, including the rubella vaccine, RA27/3 strain, developed during his time at Wistar and now exclusively used in the United States and throughout the world. He also developed experimental vaccines against cytomegalovirus

Cytomegalovirus

Cytomegalovirus is a viral genus of the viral group known as Herpesviridae or herpesviruses. It is typically abbreviated as CMV: The species that infects humans is commonly known as human CMV or human herpesvirus-5 , and is the most studied of all cytomegaloviruses...

, polio, and varicella and collaborated with former Wistar scientists Hilary Koprowski

Hilary Koprowski

Hilary Koprowski is a Polish virologist and immunologist, and inventor of the world's first effective live polio vaccine.-Life:...

 and Tadeusz Wiktor on a vaccine against rabies

Rabies

Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...

 and with H. Fred Clark on another against rotavirus

Rotavirus

Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children, and is one of several viruses that cause infections often called stomach flu, despite having no relation to influenza. It is a genus of double-stranded RNA virus in the family Reoviridae. By the age of five,...

.

Over the course of his career he has served as senior assistant surgeon with the Epidemic Intelligence Service, United States Public Health Service

United States Public Health Service

The Public Health Service Act of 1944 structured the United States Public Health Service as the primary division of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare , which later became the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The PHS comprises all Agency Divisions of Health and...

; director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at 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...

; associate chairman of the Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania; and medical and scientific director of Aventis Pasteur.

Plotkin’s professional awards include the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.(2005); the Sabin Foundation Medal (2002); the French Legion Medal of Honor (1998); the Clinical Virology Award, Pan American Group for Rapid Viral Diagnosis (1995); the Distinguished Physician Award, Pediatric Infectious Disease Society (1993); and the Bruce Medal of the American College of Physicians (1987).