Robbins, John Bennet, 1932–2019, American physician and microbiologist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., M.D. New York Univ., 1959. He did research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and taught at the Albert Einstein Medical School in New York before joining the National Institutes of Health (1970–2012). With Rachel Schneerson, Robbins developed a vaccine against bacterial meningitis (Haemophilus influenzae b, or Hib). Before the introduction of the Hib vaccine in 1989, the infection had affected thousands of infants and young children every year, leading to severe nerve system damage and often death. The Hib vaccine also was notable for being the first conjugate vaccine for human use; in it, a protein carrier from another bacteria is bonded with a Hib polysccharide to increase the immune system's response. He and Schneerson received the Albert Lasker Medical Research Award in 1996 for their work. They also contributed to the development of vaccines against typhoid fever, whooping cough, anthrax, and malaria.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Medicine: Biographies
