Remembering Polio: The History and Future of Vaccine Development

A Scientific Symposium Commemorating
the 50th Anniversary of the Development of
the Polio Vaccine

April 11 and 12, 2005
Alumni Hall, University of Pittsburgh

David M. Oshinsky, Ph.D.

David M. Oshinsky, Ph.D.

George Littlefield Professor of American History
University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Oshinsky is the author of Polio: An American Story, a book soon to be released by Oxford University Press. Drawing on newly available papers of Jonas Salk, Albert Sabin, and other key players, Dr. Oshinsky chronicles the nation’s campaign against polio and the race for a cure in the early 1950s when it seemed that all Americans were taking a personal interest in the outcome. Dr. Oshinsky, who specializes in 20th century U.S. political and cultural history, taught for nearly 30 years at Rutgers University before moving to the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the author of A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy (1983) and Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice (1996), both of which won major prizes and were New York Times notable books.