Stanley A. Plotkin, M.D.

Professor emeritus

Professor emeritus of virology Stanley A. Plotkin, M.D., was a member of Wistar’s active research faculty from 1960 to 1991. Today, in addition to his emeritus appointment at Wistar, he is emeritus professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Plotkin has developed many vaccines, including the Rubella vaccine, RA27/3 strain, developed during his time at Wistar and now exclusively used in the United States and throughout the world. He also developed experimental vaccines against cytomegalovirus, polio, and varicella and collaborated with former Wistar scientists Hilary Koprowski and Tadeusz Wiktor on a vaccine against rabies and with H. Fred Clark on another against rotavirus.

Over the course of his career he has served as senior assistant surgeon with the Epidemic Intelligence Service, U.S. Public Health Service; director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; associate chairman of the Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania; and medical and scientific director of Aventis Pasteur.

Plotkin’s professional awards include the Sabin Foundation 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).