Dr. Hilary Koprowski dies

Dr. Hilary Koprowski, a pioneering virologist, died after a short illness on April 11th at his home in Philadelphia, USA aged 96.

Dr. Christopher Koprowski said that his father was a talented musician, with degrees in music and medicine from Poland. As a penniless immigrant in Rio de Janeiro, he made money teaching piano. He began working in a laboratory in Rio and eventually moving to the United States where his work became of international significance.

Together with fellow researchers Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, Dr. Koprowski's 1950 clinical trial with a live-virus oral vaccine was the first to show that it was possible to vaccinate against polio. Thanks in part to his work, polio is now almost eradicated.

Dr. Koprowski was the Director of The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia from 1957 to 1991, and over his distinguished career contributed to more than 875 scientific papers and gained many distinguished honors and degrees. Under his leadership, the Wistar Institute developed a rubella vaccine that helped eliminate the disease in much of the world, and pioneered the development of monoclonal antibodies, now used to diagnose rabies, and to detect cancer antigens, and in cancer immunotherapy.

Dr. Koprowski made significant contributions to rabies prevention and control , developing the first human diploid cell rabies vaccine, based on tissue culture, which was more effective and safer than the traditional Pasteur technique, and the first recombinant rabies vaccine for animals.

Dr. Charles Rupprecht, Director of Research for GARC, worked at the Wistar Institute under Dr. Koprowski, and will host a tribute to him at the Rabies in the Americas conference in Canada during October; “Hilary was a true Renaissance man, and his wisdom and guidance will be sorely missed personally and professionally in the rabies field, especially when such leadership is in high demand but short supply.”

Contributed by Louise Taylor and Charles Rupprecht based on a news report in The Huffington Post, and Dr. Koprowski’s and The Wistar Institute’s websites