[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 11 (Wednesday, February 9, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S553-S554]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO DR. HILARY KOPROWSKI

 Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, on the 50th anniversary of Dr. 
Hilary Koprowski's feeding a child the very first dose of oral polio 
vaccine, I am pleased to offer this tribute so that America and the 
world can know more about this extraordinarily distinguished scientist. 
I have come to know Dr. Koprowski as a friend, a counselor and a 
constituent. The world owes Dr. Koprowski an enormous debt of gratitude 
for his scientific achievements as he will celebrate on February 27, 
2000 the 50th anniversary of the first application of his oral polio 
vaccine.
  Vaccination of children in the United States, and mass vaccination 
trials with oral vaccine in Africa and Poland, paved the way for the 
eradication of paralytic polio in the Americas since 1991 and, 
hopefully, the elimination of polio from the rest of the world this 
year. Prior to the discovery of the oral vaccine, polio, a crippling 
disease, claimed numerous victims throughout the world. In the period 
from 1951 through 1953, here in the United States, 26 cases of polio 
were recorded for every 100,000 people.
  Dr. Hilary Koprowski is one of the most distinguished and respected 
biomedical researchers in the world recognized for his many 
achievements including the development of the first oral polio vaccine, 
in 1950, and the development of the genetically engineered oral rabies 
vaccine used all over the world. Dr. Koprowski pioneered the 
development of monoclonal antibodies for the detection and treatment of 
cancer. Dr. Koprowski continues his important work on gene-related 
vaccine using his wide scientific experience and profound scientific 
knowledge combined with strong organizational insight. Dr. Koprowski is 
the Director of the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories and the 
Center for Neurovirology at Thomas Jefferson University and is 
Professor Laureate at the Wistar Institute. From 1957 to 1991, as 
Director, Dr. Koprowski led the Wistar Institute, where he is currently 
on the Board, to become one of the nation's leading biomedical research 
institutions with a staff of more than 600 people.
  Dr. Koprowski is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the New York Academy of Sciences 
and twenty-eight other learned institutions. He is a recipient of more 
than

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eighteen major awards, including the Order of the Lion, awarded by the 
King of Belgium, the Legion of Honor of France and the Nicolaus 
Copernicus Medal of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 1990, he 
received the most prestigious honor of his home city, the Philadelphia 
Award. He is the author or co-author of more than 850 scientific 
papers.
  In addition to his truly outstanding career in medicine, Dr. 
Koprowski holds degrees in Music from the Warsaw Conservatory as well 
as the Santa Cecilia Academy of Music in Rome. His compositions are 
published and are currently being played by various orchestras.
  His biography, ``Listening to Music'', by Roger Voughan, was recently 
published by Springer-Verlag.

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