Robert M. Chanock

When he was drafted by the United States Army in 1943, he was given the choice of attending medical school with his course of study paid for by the military or going to the front lines.

[1] After completing his medical training, he did a fellowship at Cincinnati's Children's Hospital, where he worked under Albert Sabin, who called Chanock his "star scientific son.

"[3] He was drafted by the Army in 1952 and was sent to Korea to help deal with an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis, but a ruptured appendix forced him to Tokyo, where he did research on infectious disease.

Hayflick grew a mycoplasma, the smallest free-living microorganism, on a unique agar growth medium that he developed.

This vaccine has been used in the world's military where the virus produces a disease similar to the flu and forces recruits to enter clinics for many days.

NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci called Chanock "an outstanding scientist whose innumerable contributions to the understanding of viral diseases helped make the world a healthier place for millions of people".