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

Peter L. Salk, M.D.

Peter L. Salk, M.D.

Vice President and Scientific Director
Jonas Salk Foundation

Dr. Salk, eldest son of Dr. Jonas Salk, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University in 1965 and Alpha Omega Alpha from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1969. Following two years of house staff training in internal medicine at the University Hospitals of Cleveland, he worked in his father’s laboratory at the Salk Institute from 1972 to 1984, conducting research on immunotherapy of cancer and autoimmune diseases. He worked again with his father from 1991 to 1995 on a project to develop an inactivated vaccine for prevention and treatment of HIV infection, which is still under way. Dr. Salk has also been engaged in the introduction of antiretroviral drug treatment for HIV infection and AIDS in Africa and Asia. He currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Immune Response Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company co-founded by his father and dedicated to developing immune-based therapeutic vaccines for HIV and AIDS.