HILLEMAN TO RECEIVE SABIN GOLD MEDAL

Top Vaccine Scientist Responsible for More Vaccines than any Other to Receive Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal and Award for Lifetime Achievement Source: PR Newswire

NEW CANAAN, Conn., April 11 -- Dr. Maurice R. Hilleman, the scientist credited with the development of more vaccines than any other person, and recognized for saving tens of millions of lives worldwide, will receive the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal in a special ceremony next month in Washington, D.C.

Considered by many to have contributed more to disease prevention than such notable pioneer vaccine scientists as Jenner, Pasteur and Salk, Dr. Hilleman, Director of the Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research, will receive the Sabin Gold Medal and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Foundation at a tribute May 13 at the Four Seasons Hotel. The Foundation honors the medical scientist that created the oral polio vaccine, and is dedicated to preventing deadly diseases through advances in vaccine development and delivery. The timing of the award ceremony coincides with the 25th anniversary of Dr. Hilleman's development of the first conjugate vaccine, one which protects infants from measles, mumps and rubella (MMR).

According to Foundation Chairman H.R. Shepherd, the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal is awarded annually to honor and recognize a person who has made exemplary contributions to the field of vaccinology. He said the Sabin Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award is presented periodically to honor an individual -- who over the course of their life's work -- has "transcended standards of excellence, achieving extraordinary and exemplary accomplishments that confer distinguished status amongst his or her colleagues." Dr. Hilleman is the first person to ever receive the two awards concurrently, Shepherd noted.

"Dr. Maurice Hilleman is one man who has likely saved more lives than any other living scientist," said Shepherd. "His contributions to science and his fellow man are extraordinary, his accomplishments astounding and his dedication to disease prevention unprecedented. He perhaps more than anyone else, has dedicated his life to the same principle that Dr. Sabin so gloriously achieved: to fully realize the enormous potential of vaccination to prevent disease." In a 50-year career which includes ten years in
government and 40 years in the private sector, Dr. Hilleman, a Montana native, pioneered the development of numerous live, killed and combined vaccines including those for measles, mumps, rubella, Marek's Disease, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, adenoviruses and the commercial evolution of vaccines for meningococci and pneumococci. He is the author of 460 original articles in the fields of virology, immunology, epidemiology and infectious
diseases. Dr. Hilleman serves on numerous national and international advisory boards and committees, and has been a member of the Expert Advisory Panel of the World Health Organization since 1952.

In addition, Dr. Hilleman is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. In the 1980s, he received the National Medal of Science from President Ronald Reagan, and is also an appointed member of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee of the National Vaccine Program. Dr. Hilleman has been honored by
numerous foreign governments and public and private sector organizations and foundations. He received his B.S. degree from Montana State University in 1941 and his
Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1944.

Dr. Hilleman will receive the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal from presenters Dr. Philip K. Russell of Johns Hopkins University and Founding President of the Sabin Foundation, and the late Dr. Sabin's widow, Mrs. Heloisa Sabin. The Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented by Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health. Also speaking at the ceremony will be Dr. David Satcher, Director for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Foundation, headquartered in New Canaan, Connecticut, honors the medical scientist that created the oral polio vaccine. The Foundation's unique mission is to prevent deadly disease by promoting advances in vaccines and immunization. In its work, the Sabin Foundation connects caring people with the understanding and resources to save lives.

SOURCE Sabin Foundation
CONTACT: Rick Curran, Director, Communications of the Sabin Foundation, 203-972-7907 or rcurran@sabin.org

Karin Schumacher

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