Hilleman, Maurice Ralph

▪ 2006

      American microbiologist (b. Aug. 30, 1919, Miles City, Mont.—d. April 11, 2005, Philadelphia, Pa.), developed some 40 vaccines, including those for chicken pox, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, measles, meningitis, mumps, and rubella. His work was credited with having saved tens of millions of lives by making possible the virtual elimination from many countries of once-common deadly childhood diseases and by serving as the basis for public health measures against many other infectious diseases. His accomplishments included the development of vaccinations that combine vaccines against more than one disease, the discovery of patterns of genetic change in the influenza virus relating to its ability to infect persons, and the discovery or co-discovery of several viruses, including the hepatitis A virus and the rhinoviruses that cause colds. The animal vaccine he developed against Marek disease, which causes a cancer in chickens, became of great economic importance to the poultry industry. Hilleman received a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Chicago in 1944. As a researcher at E.R. Squibb & Sons, he developed his first vaccine, which was used to protect U.S. troops in World War II from the Japanese B encephalitis virus. He was chief of respiratory diseases (1949–57) at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., where he began research on the influenza virus. In 1957 he joined what became Merck & Co., Inc. Following his retirement (1984) Hilleman was an adviser to public health organizations, notably the World Health Organization.

* * *