Public release date: 6-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Garth Hogan ghogan@asmusa.org American Society for Microbiology

Washington, DCJune 6, 2012 Myron M. Levine, M.D., D.T.P.H. has been honored with the Maurice Hilleman/Merck Award, ASM’s premier award for major contributions to pathogenesis, vaccine discovery, vaccine development, and control of vaccine-preventable diseases. “Levine pioneered molecular approaches to develop attenuated recombinant Salmonella Typhi and Shigella as live oral vaccines and as live vectors,” described his nominator, Harriet Robinson of GeoVax, Inc. “For decades he has engaged in the gamut of vaccine research, including epidemiologic field studies that quantify disease burden, basic laboratory efforts to engineer candidate vaccines, early clinical trials to assess vaccine safety and immunogenicity, large-scale controlled field trials to assess vaccine efficacy, and measurement of public health impact following the introduction of vaccines.”

Levine is currently Director of the Center for Vaccine Development (CVD), which he co-founded in 1974, of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is also Head of the Division of Geographic Medicine and Betsy & Simon Grollman Distinguished Professor, both in the Department of Medicine, and a Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics, Microbiology & Immunology, and Epidemiology & Public Health.

Levine received his M.D. from the Medical College of Virginia and his D.T.P.H. from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and is board certified in pediatrics and preventive medicine. His extensive time at the University of Maryland includes over twenty years (1984-2005) as Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases & Tropical Pediatrics.

Levine, an advocate for mucosal immunization, has made seminal contributions in basic vaccinology, bacterial pathogenesis, clinical research, field epidemiology and public health. His laboratory research has focused on construction and characterization of attenuated strains of Salmonella Typhi, S. Paratyphi A, non-typhoidal Salmonella serovars and Shigella to serve as live oral vaccines and as live vectors for the expression of foreign antigens. He has applied his extensive experience working on the epidemiology and prevention of infectious diseases in developing countries to his research on pathogenesis and the development and testing of vaccines. He has 42 years of involvement in the conduct of Phase 1, 2, 3 and 4 clinical trials to evaluate the safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of a wide array of vaccines and has pioneered clinical trials in developing countries, including vaccines developed at the CVD. He designed and supervised the performance of large-scale, randomized, controlled field trials investigating the efficacy of live oral typhoid vaccines (which led to licensure of Ty21a by the FDA). His post-licensure work with Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccine led to early introductions into the routine infant immunization schedule in Chile and Mali (West Africa).

In addition to his research accomplishments, “Levine is an outstanding colleague and leader,” says Gary Nabel, Vaccine Research Center, NIAID. “His advice as an external scientific adviser has been invaluable to me personally as an external scientific adviser, and his recommendations have been critical in shaping the direction of our efforts at the Vaccine Research Center.” Levine has a long track record in training individuals to pursue careers in basic, clinical and field vaccinology, and many have themselves since made major contributions to vaccinology.

Levine is a member on editorial boards of several journals and consults for many organizations including the World Health Organization, NIH, the Vaccine Research Center, Institute of Medicine, the U.S. Department of Defense, and multiple vaccine biotech companies and vaccine manufacturers. He was a member of the first Working Group of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI Alliance) and was Co-Chair of the GAVI Task Force on Research and Development. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the Association of American Physicians, the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the American Academy of Microbiology. He is past President of the American Epidemiological Society and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Levine’s many honors include the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award for lifetime achievement in vaccinology, selection by the editors of Baltimore Magazine as “Baltimorean of the Year,” and award of the rank of “Grand Officer of the National Order of Mali” by the President of Mali for efforts in introducing new vaccines to the country’s children. “More than any individual accomplishments, what stands out is the focus of Levine’s work on the world’s most vulnerable populations,” Nabel further explains. “His efforts have focused on vaccine discovery for diseases that take their highest toll among children.”

Among the 100 most cited researchers in immunology, Levine has 518 publications in refereed journals, 114 book chapters and is Senior Editor of the 4th edition of New Generation Vaccines, a textbook of research vaccinology. Rino Rappuoli, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, describes Levine as “a giant in the field of vaccinology.” He continues, “I cannot think of another person today that can match his lifetime contribution to vaccine discovery, vaccine development, and implementation of vaccination. He is not only a great scientist, but also a great entrepreneur of science that uses his science and passion to discover, develop, and make available to people new vaccines.”

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