Robert M. Chanock

Robert M. Chanock (born July 8, 1924 in Chicago , Illinois , † July 30, 2010 in Sykesville , Maryland ) was an American virologist and pediatrician . He discovered the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in 1956 .

Life

Chanock was born in 1924 as the son of the manufacturer Theodore Chanock and his wife Frances. In 1943 he was drafted into the US Army , which helped him study medicine at the University of Chicago . After graduating in 1947, he trained as a pediatrician at Highland Hospital in Oakland and at the University of Chicago. During the Korean War he was drafted again in 1952, but due to an illness he was only used for infectious research in Tokyo . After returning to the USA, he worked with Albert Sabin at the Children's Hospital Research Foundation in Cincinnati from 1954 . Chanock has held research and teaching positions at the University of Cincinnati and Johns Hopkins University . From 1957 he worked at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda , where he headed the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases from 1968 to 2001 . In 2008 he finally retired from research.

Robert M. Chanock was married to Catherine Elizabeth Chanock (née Osgood; † 2009). The couple had two sons.

plant

The virologist discovered the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in 1956 . His research group identified four serotypes of the parainfluenza viruses and in 1962 demonstrated that the bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae was the cause of atypical pneumonia . Under Chanock's direction, the Norwalk virus was identified at the Laboratory of Infectious Disease . He and his working group played a key role in the development of the first nasally administered flu vaccine . A vaccine for the prevention of severe respiratory infections from human adenovirus infection in recruits to the US armed forces was also developed by his group. The vaccines developed against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) discovered by Chanock were not effective in clinical studies. A monoclonal antibody developed in the working group for newborns with risk factors is used in RSV prevention.

Honors and memberships

Chanock has received numerous awards for his academic work, including the following:

• 1969: Squibb Award for General Excellence in the Field of Infectious Diseases
• 1973: Member of the National Academy of Sciences
• 1980: Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences
• 1981: Robert Koch Prize
• 1990: ICN International Prize in Virology
• 1993: Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Infectious Disease Research
• 1995: Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal

The University of Chicago awarded Chanock an honorary doctorate . Other awards include the Distinguished Service Medal and the US Public Health Service Meritorious Service Award .

literature

• Lawrence K. Altman: Dr. Robert M. Chanock, Prominent Virologist, Dies at 86 . In: The New York Times , August 4, 2010
• Emma Brown: Robert M. Chanock, virologist who studied children's diseases, dies at 86 . In: The Washington Post , August 4, 2010.
• B. Lee Ligon: Robert M. Chanock, MD: A living legend in the war against viruses. In: Seminars in Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 9, 1998, pp. 258-269, doi : 10.1016 / S1045-1870 (98) 80040-X .
• AZ Kapikian, DM Morens, AS Fauci: In Memoriam: Robert M. Chanock, MD, 1924-2010. In: Journal of Infectious Diseases. 203, 2011, pp. 3–5, doi : 10.1093 / infdis / jiq019 .

Web links

• On the Death of Dr. Robert M. Chanock. ( Memento of October 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Announcement from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on the death of Robert M. Chanock, August 3, 2010.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ RM Chanock: Association of a new type of cytopathogenic myxovirus with infantile croup. In: Journal of experimental medicine . Volume 104, Number 4, October 1956, pp. 555-576, ISSN  0022-1007 . PMID 13367330 . PMC 2136605 (free full text).