Wistar Institute - Notable Members

Notable Members

• Peter C. Doherty, Ph.D.: Doherty, an Australian veterinary surgeon and researcher in the field of medicine, has worked with the Institute since 1975, and is currently an emeritus member of the Institute's Board of Trustees. Doherty has received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1995), the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Rolf M. Zinkernagel (1996), and was named Australian of the Year (1997).

• Leonard Hayflick, Ph.D.: Hayflick is known for discovering that human cells divide for a limited number of times in vitro. This is known as the Hayflick limit.

• Hilary Koprowski, M.D.: Koprowski, a Polish virologist and immunologist, is the inventor of the world's first effective live polio vaccine. He served as director of the Institute from 1957 to 1991, a period during which Wistar achieved international recognition for its vaccine research and became a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center. He holds the title of Professor Laureate at Wistar and also serves on its Board of Trustees. Koprowski's numerous awards and distinctions include a Fulbright Scholarship, the Alvarenga Prize of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (1959), Belgium's Royal Order of the Lion, the French Order of Merit for Research and Invention, the San Marino Award for Medicine (1989), the Nicolaus Copernicus Medal of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Philadelphia Cancer Research Award, the John Scott Award, the Philadelphia Award (May 1990), the title of "Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland" (1995), the Legion d'Honneur (1997), the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1998), and the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal (2007).

• Ruth Patrick, Ph.D.: Patrick is an American botanist and limnologist specializing in diatoms and freshwater ecology, who developed ways to measure the health of freshwater ecosystems and established a number of research facilities. Her work has been widely published and she has received numerous awards for her scientific achievements, including the National Medal of Science in 1996 and the Heinz Award Chairman's Medal in 2002. Patrick is currently an emeritus member of the Institute's Board of Trustees.

• Stanley Plotkin, M.D.: Plotkin is an American physician, who, in the 1960s, played a pivotal role in discovery of a vaccine against the rubella virus while working at Wistar. Plotkin was a member of Wistar’s active research faculty from 1960 to 1991. Plotkin’s professional awards include the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies(2005); the Albert B. Sabin Gold 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).

• Tadeusz J. Wiktor, DVM: a veterinarian and part of the team which developed the human diploid cell vaccine for use protecting humans against rabies. Former head of the Institute's rabies unit.