By Joseph Collins, Staff Writer

We are fortunate to live at a time when the poliovirus has nearly been eradicated from the planet. Just a few decades ago, the word “polio” struck fear in the hearts of parents all across the globe. This highly infectious disease would strike suddenly, infecting children under the age of 5, often leaving them paralyzed for life. The disease targeted the central nervous system and – for years – was essentially untreatable. About 10% of those who were paralyzed would actually die from the disease, as their breathing muscles eventually stopped functioning. At its height, the disease affected nearly 1 million children worldwide each year. The sudden and untreatable nature of the disease was especially terrifying for parents.

And yet all of that changed, thanks to the dedication and insight of one especially bright, hardworking doctor – Jonas Salk. One of the 20th centuries most renowned and respected physicians, Dr. Salk was a medical researcher and humanitarian who dedicated his life to helping others. He not only worked tirelessly to find vaccines for this and other diseases, but did so without any interest in personal gain. Salk was a true humanitarian who worked for the good of all simply for the sake of contributing to society in a positive way. This Wednesday, October 28th, 2015, marked 101 years since his birth, and we thought we would d honor him with a quick overview of this amazing man and his work.

A HUMANITARIAN AT HEART

Jonas Salk was born in New York City on October 28th in 1914. He was the son of two Jewish immigrants who came to the US in the mass European migration of the early 20th century. For most of his childhood, Salk lived in Queens and the Bronx – two outer boroughs of NYC.

Salk was a bright child who read everything he could get his hands on, and was known as “a perfectionist.” He went to Townsend Harris High School, a school for especially gifted children, where students were expected to learn four years of curriculum in three years. After graduating high school at the young age of just fifteen, Salk entered the City College of New York where he went on to earn a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Chemistry in 1934. Interestingly, he initially had no interest in medicine. But his mother urged him to pursue the field instead of his actual interest – law. Over time, however, he developed a strong interest in the field, as he realized the field’s potential for helping humanity.

After graduating CCNY, Salk attended New York University to study medicine, where he stood out as an exceptional student. Rather than becoming a general practitioner, however, Salk became immersed in medical research, as he wanted to help humankind on a large scale, rather than one patient at a time. It was laboratory work in particular that sparked his interest, and this set the course for the rest of his life.

WORKING ON VACCINES

In 1941, Dr. Salk’s post-graduate work in virology gave him a chance to do research at the University of Michigan, where he worked with Dr. Thomas Francis, the man who isolated the virus for Influenza (the flu). Salk found the work fascinating, and was quickly hooked. Upon graduating from medical school, Salk began his residency at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he again worked in a laboratory under Dr. Francis’s direction.

After completing his residency, Salk applied for a permanent research position at numerous places, but found that many of his desired jobs were closed to him due to Jewish quotas, which limited the number of Jews that could work at a given establishment. However, Dr. Francis offered Salk a job working on a project in Michigan to develop a vaccine for the flu. Salk happily took the position, and he and Francis soon perfected a vaccine, which was used widely on army bases and, later, throughout the world. At the time, the flu was still a very serious and potentially devastating disease, as evidenced by the “Spanish Flu” pandemic of 1918, which killed more than 50 million people worldwide.

By 1947, Salk decided he wanted a laboratory of his own to run, and accepted an offer from the dean of the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine. Although that laboratory turned out to be substandard and not to his liking, Salk stayed on and started applying for grants to improve the lab. Eventually, he was able to turn it into an above standard research establishment. While there, Salk continued his research on vaccines – realizing the power of preventative medicine.

Several years later, an offer came that would set him on a course that would change both his life and history forever. When he was approached by the director of research at the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (which later became the March of Dimes) and asked to contribute to their Polio vaccine research, Salk agreed, saying he “would be happy to work on this important project.”

CONQUERING POLIO

Polio was a strange disease that baffled researchers for the longest time. The years of 1914 to 1919 saw the first of several epidemics to plague the U.S., and some felt it was one of the most serious and frightening diseases of the post war era. It was especially dangerous to children, often leaving them with nerve damage that made it impossible to walk. Each outbreak kept getting worse, and scientists were in a frantic race to find a cure.

When Salk was offered his own lab from the Foundation, one considerably larger and better than the one he had in Pittsburgh, he accepted and started work on a vaccine right away. Countless hours of research by Dr. Salk and his colleagues followed, as they worked to secure a vaccine for an increasingly fearful public.

Salk was able to come up with a vaccine for polio using the same principal that he had used for the flu vaccine—introducing a harmless, “dead” form of a virus that caused the body to produce antibodies that would fight and kill the dangerous, “active” form. Preliminary testing began in 1952, and it quickly became one of the largest medical trials in history – yielding positive results. On April 12, 1955 the results were in: the vaccine was both safe and effective, and Dr. Salk’s breakthrough discovery would go on to vaccinate millions around the world, from China and India to Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, saving countless lives.

VICTORY AND FAME

Before the vaccine, it’s estimated that there were more than 45,000 cases of polio in the U.S., yet after Salk’s vaccine, the numbers fell to less than 1,000. With this victory, Salk was hailed a national hero, and President Eisenhower awarded him a Gold Medal for his service.

Although Salk never sought out recognition, he became something of a medical superstar. When airplane pilots announced he was on board their plane, the passengers would erupt into applause. Hotels were happy to accommodate him with penthouse suites. And dinners out were often interrupted for autographs.

The Polio vaccine is estimated to be worth 7 billion dollars, but Dr. Salk never patented it, as he had no interest in personal gain or fortune. When Salk was asked who owned the patent, he replied simply: “There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?”

Ten years after the Polio vaccine was put to public use, the White House initiated a 10th anniversary celebration, where Salk was guest of honor. Dr. Luther Terry, the Secretary General of the U.S. at the time, expressed his own gratitude with the quote, “This represents an historic triumph of preventive medicine—unparalleled in history.”

REALIZING HIS DREAM

After spending several more years perfecting the polio vaccine, Salk was ready to move on to other projects. His dream of creating and directing an independent research center of his own came to fruition in 1963, when the Salk Institute for Biological Studies was founded in San Diego, California. As he scoured the country for the right location, he was actively courted by San Diego’s Mayor Charles Dail, a polio survivor. And when its citizens overwhelmingly voted in favor of the center, Salk knew he had found his home.

Having finally fulfilled his dream – an establishment of his own – Salk proceeded to conduct research in many areas, including cancer immunology, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune diseases, such as AIDS, as well as additional work modifying the polio vaccine. His many years of research and development have added important knowledge to the field of immunization and the understanding of disease.

In addition to research, he wrote several philosophical books, including Man Unfolding (1972) and The Survival of the Wisest (1973), which expressed, among other things, his strong conviction that Humankind’s best interests lay in cooperation, rather than confrontation, in addressing human needs .

Over the years, as more facilities were added to the building, it grew, until it reached its present size. The center’s work covers everything from researching Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, to birth defects and plant biology. By 1991, the building was declared an historic landmark and continues, to this day, to carry out research and development of vaccines and cures for illnesses.

LEGACY

For his polio vaccine and other contributions to medical science, Dr. Salk received many awards throughout his life, including the Academy of Achievements Golden Plate Award (1976) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977), given to him by President Jimmy Carter.

Over the years, there have been countless books and documentaries about Salk and his great achievement in conquering polio. He is regarded as an international hero and has firmly secured his place in history.

Jonas Salk died of heart failure at the age of 80 on June 23, 1995, at his home in La Jolla, California. A true humanitarian, he worked solely for the good of others, never worrying about personal fame or fortune. And a memorial at his Institute, with a statement from Salk, perfectly captures his vision: “Hope lies in dreams, in imagination and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.”

Dr. Jonas Salk dared to dream. And his altruistic dream of unselfishly helping others became a triumphant reality for both him and the entire world.