John Franklin Enders belongs to the medical record as a figure whose work changed what could be treated.
The record lists John Franklin Enders as American medical researcher (1897-1985).
John Franklin Enders was born at West Hartford in 1897. His recorded nationality is United States. He trained at Harvard University and Yale University.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, laboratory medicine, vaccines and public health began to change mortality at population scale.
His posts were held at Harvard University.
The recorded fields of work are medicine and biology.
Medicine advances against a moving target, and its successes are counted in lives rather than papers.
Recognition followed: Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1954), Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1954), Howard Taylor Ricketts Prize (1962) and Presidential Medal of Freedom (1963).
That the work was done from United States matters: hospitals, training and research funding are unevenly distributed, and they decide which questions can be asked.
John Franklin Enders died in 1985, aged 88. What survives is the change in practice, which is how a medical life is actually measured.
Achievements
- Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research — 1954
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine — 1954
- Howard Taylor Ricketts Prize — 1962
- Presidential Medal of Freedom — 1963
- Robert Koch Prize — 1962
- Held posts at Harvard University
- Fields: medicine and biology
