1947

Jonas Salk leaves Univ. Michigan and mentorship of Thomas Francisis to head newly launched virus research program at Univ. Pittsburgh Medical School at a time when Pitt “was off the map as a research institution. . . The faith in a killed-virus vaccine, the experiments with formaldehyde, the use of adjuvants, the mass testing technique – all had come from his association with Tommy Francis” (Oshinsky II, 153). The NFIP gave Pitt $30k in seed money, and Salk was given two bare rooms in basement of Municipal Hospital. At the time of his appointment, Salk’s primary area of expertise was influenza, and the Army allowed him to take his influenza grant to Pitt. In 1947, the possibility of a polio vaccine was still very much in doubt (156-158). It was only when Salk agreed to undertake the enormous (and lower-level) research task of determining how many different types of poliovirus existed and developing a steady supply of each virus type to be used in a vaccine that the extra-institutional funding flowed in. The typing program lasted from 1949 to1951 (163-167).