Frederick C. Robbins, M.D., shared the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering a method of growing poliovirus in a test tube. This led to the development of effective poliomyelitis vaccines and paved the way for the development of vaccines for other diseases.
Dr. Robbins joined the medical school faculty in 1952 and was dean from 1966 to 1980. After serving as president of the Case Western Reserve University Institute of Medicine from 1980 to 1985, Dr. Robbins returned to the School of Medicine. He helped establish the medical school's collaboration with the government of Uganda and Makerere University, which has been associated with a decrease in the incidence of HIV infection in Uganda. He also helped launch CWRU's Center for Adolescent Health in 1990 and became its director in 1992. He stepped down as director in 2000 but continued to remain involved with the activities at the school until his death in 2003.
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