Stanley A. Plotkin honored by infectious diseases society.

2003 NOV 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS) has established the Stanley A. Plotkin Lecture in Vaccinology to honor Dr. Plotkin, the Society's "Founding Father."

The lecture, which will take place at the annual PIDS meeting in May 2004, is sponsored by Aventis' vaccines business, Aventis Pasteur. Dr. Plotkin was medical director at Aventis Pasteur and remains a medical and scientific advisor.

"We want to honor Stan's remarkable career and his contributions to immunization and, at the same time, open a window to provide significant insight into where the field is going. We expect that the Plotkin Lecture will become an important moment for the field each year as it will capture the state-of-vaccinology," said Sheldon Kaplan, MD, president of PIDS.

"Stanley Plotkin has contributed so much to controlling infectious diseases through immunization - as author, inventor, policy maker, educator and scientist. We wanted to memorialize his myriad accomplishments in a way that would year in and year out enlighten all who care about immunization," said David J. Williams, chairman and chief executive officer of Aventis Pasteur.

"We have been proud to be associated with him for nearly 15 years." The first recipient of the Plotkin Lecture Award will be Stanley Plotkin. The inaugural lecture will take place at the PIDS meeting as part of the Pediatric Academic Societies in San Francisco, California.

Dr. Plotkin was professor of pediatrics and microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania as well as professor at the Wistar Institute and served as director of infectious disease and senior physician at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In December 1990, Dr. Plotkin became emeritus professor, leaving the University to join a predecessor company of Aventis Pasteur.

He had previously served in the epidemic intelligence service of the Centers for Disease Control of the U.S. Public Health Service, where he investigated, in 1957, the last known outbreak of inhalation anthrax in the U.S. prior to the events of ...