Maurice Hilleman (1919–2005) Saving Millions of Lives via Breakthroughs “ blood runs very thick. And blood runs even thicker with me.” —Maurice Hilleman ioneering vaccinologist Maurice scientists’ ability to produce and prevent Hilleman dedicated himself to . For example, during the 1957 pan- developing microbiology re- demic, Hilleman helped save countless lives through early search into life-saving products. detection of the strain. One of the most important, yet least known, figures in public In 1957, Hilleman joined Merck as director of the new health, he developed over forty Department of Virus and . Under his vision- vaccines, including eight of ary, efficient, and commanding leadership, Hilleman and the fourteen vaccines recom- his team developed vaccines for ; meningitis; Pmended by the pneumonia; Haemophilus Center for Disease Control and influenza bacteria; and Prevention. , , and rubella (MMR). An MMR vaccine Hilleman was born on August administered today still uses 30, 1919, in Miles City, the strain that Montana. He described the Hilleman sampled from his value of his Montana child- daughter when she had the hood: “Life on a farm in an mumps in 1963. economically underdeveloped area of the western frontier dur- Hilleman’s work extended ing the Great Depression was beyond public health to the not easy. But it was of immense poultry industry. He devel- value in providing hands-on oped a vaccine for Marek’s experience in the worlds of biol- disease, a viral ogy and mechanics, and creating which causes cancerous sobriety and an intensive work tumors in . The ethic.” Hilleman received a disease results in lowered full scholarship to Montana productivity, unsuitability of State University, then known animals for commercial use, as Montana State College—a and accompanying economic school that he praised as a losses. Licensed in 1971, Dr. Maurice Hilleman in his laboratory, ca. 1962, Merck Archives; Merck, Sharp & Dohme Corp., 2014 “no-nonsense institution where Hilleman’s vaccine was the professors taught.” After receiving his Ph.D. from the first vaccine against viral . in microbiology and virology, After retiring from Merck at the company’s mandatory Hilleman eschewed a traditional academic career and age of sixty-five, Hilleman continued consulting until his went to work for the pharmaceutical company E.R. death in 2005. Emphasizing the life-saving and economic Squibb & Sons. values of prevention, he sought to use science for the While working at the Walter Reed Army Institute of public good. Hilleman’s behind-the-scenes accomplish- from 1948 to 1957, Hilleman identified the ments are a testament to the work ethic, curiosity, and “drift and shift” process of how undergo minor perseverance instilled in him growing up on a Montana and major changes. Understanding this process improved farm.