Dr. Albert B. Sabin (1906-1993) holds a
preeminent position in the history of twentieth century medicine.
Throughout the world his is one of the most recognizable and revered
names in the medical sciences.
Distinguished
service professor of research pediatrics at the University of
Cincinnati College of Medicine and fellow of the Cincinnati Children's
Hospital Research Foundation, Sabin developed the world’s first oral
live-virus vaccine to be
used in the battle against poliomyelitis.
He
successfully first tested the vaccine on humans in 1954 and by the
early 1960s, the continued achievements of his studies and vaccine
trials eventually led the medical, and public health, community in the
United States to switch from using the
inactivated vaccine to Sabin’s live attenuated one. Much more
effective and economical to produce, and easier to administer, the
“Sabin Vaccine” soon became the world’s weapon against polio and
effectively eradicated the
virus around the globe.