Found in the Sabin Archives - Dr. Sabin receives “Rotary Award for World Understanding” at the 1985 RI Convention in Kansas City, Missouri.

October 24 is World Polio Day, which is sponsored by Rotary International. Since 1985, with the implementation of the PolioPlus program, this organization has been working to end polio throughout the world. As I had mentioned in my first blog post, there are only four countries in the whole world – Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan – where polio is still considered “endemic.” Due to the massive effort of Rotary International and its partners, through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, less than 1,700 polio cases were reported in 2009. World Polio Day is an effort to bring attention to the fight against polio. Rotary International’s “End Polio Now” website states, “As long as polio threatens even one child anywhere in the world, children everywhere remain at risk.” Continue reading →

The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now known as the March of Dimes) played an important role in the research and development of Dr. Sabin’s oral polio vaccine. According to the March of Dimes, Dr. Sabin received around $1.5 million to support his research on polio from 1952 to 1961. Our collection has a couple of boxes labeled “NFIP,” as well as letters scattered throughout the collection from notables such as Basil O’Connor, Donald W. Gudakunst, and Thomas Rivers. I thought I’d share a little about the NFIP and some material we have.

Photograph of President Franklin Roosevelt and Mr. Basil O’Connor, 1944. Courtesy of the March of Dimes.

Founded in 1938 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis’s mission was to “‘lead, direct, and unify’ the fight against polio, a paralyzing viral disease.” The leader of this organization was Basil O’Connor, who was president for over 30 years. (Both of these men can be seen in the photo to the right.) The NFIP was created to raise funds for poliomyelitis research for every stage of the disease, unlike the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation (also founded by Roosevelt), which worked to improve the quality of life of those who had already been affected by polio. One of the major NFIP fundraisers was the “March of Dimes,” which urged all people to send at least a dime to support President Roosevelt in the fight against polio. Researchers such as Dr. Sabin and Dr. Jonas Salk benefited from fundraising efforts such as this because of the grant money they received from the NFIP. Over the years since the NFIP was founded, its name has changed to the March of Dimes, and its mission has evolved to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. (See the History of the March of Dimes for more information.) Continue reading →

I was recently processing a binder that contained letters and photographs from a ceremony where Dr. Sabin was awarded the Spirit of Life Award from the City of Hope for his “contributions to mankind” for developing the oral polio vaccine. This banquet was held on September 3, 1986, and the proceeds went to establish a research fellowship in Dr. Sabin’s name at the City of Hope National Pilot Medical Center and the Beckman Research Institute. When accepting the award, Dr. Sabin spoke of the need for compassion in medicine and suggested the idea of a “total care physician” who could provide both medicine and compassion to their patients. Continue reading →