Stanley Alan Plotkin is an American physician who works as a consultant to vaccine manufacturers, such as Sanofi Pasteur, as well as biotechnology firms, non-profits and governments. In the 1960s, he played a pivotal role in discovery of a vaccine against rubella virus while working at Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. Plotkin was a member of Wistar’s active research faculty from 1960 to 1991. Today, in addition to his emeritus appointment at Wistar, he is emeritus professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania. His book, Vaccines, is the standard reference on the subject. He is an editor with Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, which is published by the American Society for Microbiology in Washington, D.C..
Early life and education
Dr. Plotkin was born and raised in New York City, the son of Jewish parents, Lee and Joseph Plotkin, who emigrated from England. He attended The Bronx High School of Science in New York City. While attending Bronx Science, at the age of 15, he read a pair of books that greatly influenced his future education and career choices: Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis and Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif. Deciding to dedicate his life to being a physician and research scientist, Plotkin graduated from Bronx Science in 1948. He then earned his bachelor's degree from New York University in 1952 and went on to earn his MD at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in 1956. Plotkin received his GME from the School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania in 1963.
During his time at Wistar, Plotkin worked on several vaccines; chief among them are vaccines for rubella, rabies, rotavirus, and cytomegalovirus. He developed a vaccine for rubella, based upon the RA 27/3 strain of the virus, which was released to the public in 1969. This vaccine led to the eradication of the disease in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2005. Plotkin, working with Tadeusz Wiktor and Hilary Koprowski, produced a human vaccine for rabies during the 1960s and 1970s. This vaccine can be used as a preventative measure for people who have an increased risk of contracting rabies, as well as a treatment for those who have been exposed recently to the disease, preventing infection in nearly 100 percent of cases. Another vaccine that Plotkin co-developed, working with H. Fred Clark and Paul Offit, is for rotavirus. In 2006, the team's vaccine became part of the U.S. recommended vaccine schedule for babies. In the 1970s, Plotkin led the development of an experimental vaccine against CMV. This vaccine, developed using attenuated CMV, has yet to make it into commercial production.
2014: Dr. Charles Mérieux Award for Achievement in Vaccinology and Immunology
Personal life
Plotkin and his wife, Susan, have two children, Michael and Alec. In 1957, Plotkin wanted to join the US Air Force so that he could learn to fly, but instead he went to work for the Epidemic Intelligence Service. He eventually realized his dream of learning to fly at the age of 74.
