Thomas Francis Junior

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Thomas Francis Jr.

Thomas Francis Jr. (born July 15, 1900 in Gas City , Indiana , † October 1, 1969 in Ann Arbor (Michigan) ) was an American doctor, virologist and epidemiologist . Francis was the first American to isolate the flu virus. In 1940 he showed that there are other types of influenza and was involved in the development of flu vaccinations, as well as poliomyelitis vaccinations.

Life and scientific achievement

Francis grew up in western Pennsylvania . He graduated from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA with a scholarship in 1921 , and earned a doctorate in medicine from Yale University in 1925. He then joined a research team at the Rockefeller Institute , initially researching bacterial vaccines Pneumonia , later he took up influenza research . He became the first American to isolate the human flu virus .

From 1938 to 1941 he was professor and department head of bacteriology at the College of Medicine at New York University .

In 1941, Francis was appointed head of the United States Armed Forces Epidemiological Board (AFEB) Influenza Commission, a position which enabled him to participate in the successful development, field trials and evaluation of influenza vaccinations. Later that year he was invited by Henry F. Vaughan to work at the newly formed School of Public Health at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. At the University of Michigan, Francis set up a virus laboratory and epidemiology department that dealt with a variety of contagious diseases. When Jonas Salk came to Ann Arbor University to graduate in virology in 1941, Francis became his teacher and taught him the methods of vaccine development. Salk's work in Michigan eventually led to his polio vaccination.

In 1947 Francis was awarded the title of Henry Sewall University Professor of Epidemiology . In addition to his work in the School of Public Health , Francis also worked in the Faculty of Medicine in the Department of Teething . He also served as President of the American Association of Immunologists in 1949/1950 . As director of the Center for Polio Vaccination Assessment at the University of Michigan, Francis planned and directed an entirely new area-wide field trial that cost $ 17.5 million to test the vaccine. With the participation of more than a hundred University of Michigan staff, the year-long trial enrolled 1.8 million children in the United States, Canada and Finland and required an extensive network of local volunteers. On April 12, 1955, Francis announced that the Salk vaccine was "safe, effective and potent".

In 1933 Thomas Francis married Dorothy Packard Otton and they had two children.

“Epidemiology must constantly be on the lookout for imaginative and talented teachers and researchers in order to produce a new breed of medical ecologist who, with the delicate sensitivity of the scientific artist and the rough perception of the sculptor, explain the interplay of the forces that cause disease can. "

- Francis about his work

Honors

Thomas Francis in the Polio Hall of Fame

literature

  • van Helvoort: T. Francis, Thomas, Jr. In: American National Biography Online , Feb. 2000.
  • Jonas Salk: The restless spirit of Thomas Francis, Jr., still lives: the unsolved problems of recurrent influenza epidemics . In: Archives of Environmental Health , Vol. 21, 1970, pp. 273-275, PMID 4926858
  • HE Griffin: Thomas Francis, Jr., MD: epidemiologist to the military . In: Archives of Environmental Health , Vol. 31, 1970, pp. 252-255, PMID 4926854
  • JR Paul: Thomas Francis, Jr., MD, as a clinician - 1900-1969 . In: Archives of Environmental Health , Vol. 21, 1970, pp. 247-241, PMID 4926853
  • CM MacLeod: Thomas Francis, Jr., MD, 1900-1969. In: Archives of Environmental Health , Vol. 21, 1970, pp. 226-229, PMID 492685
  • JR Paul: Thomas Francis, Jr. In: Biographical memoirs . National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 44, 1974, pp. 57-110, PMID 11615644
  • JS Smith: Suspended judgment. Remembering the role of Thomas Francis, Jr. in the design of the 1954 Salk Vaccine Trial . In: Controlled Clinical Trials , Vol. 13, 1992, pp. 181-184, PMID 1320555
  • SM Lambert, H. Markel: Making history: Thomas Francis, Jr, MD, and the 1954 Salk Poliomyelitis Vaccine Field Trial. In: Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine , Vol. 154, 2000, pp. 512-517, PMID 10807305

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Description of the medal francismedal.umich.edu
  2. ↑ Laudation here

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Francis, Thomas Jr.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American doctor, virologist, and epidemiologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Gas City , Indiana
DATE OF DEATH 1st October 1969
Place of death Ann Arbor (Michigan)