Dr. Harry M. Meyer, Jr., was one of the inventors of the rubella vaccine. Rubella is a contagious viral infection best known by its distinctive red rash.
Harry M. Meyer, Jr., grew up in Palestine, Texas, attended Hendrix College, and then the University of Arkansas School of Medicine.
He worked as a researcher in the Army Medical Corps at Walter Reed Army Hospital after graduation. Dr. Meyer was recruited to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to be head of the Virus Research Section in the Laboratory of Virology and Rickettsiology in the Division of Biologics Standards (DBS) in 1959 and moved into Building 29, third floor, when it opened in 1960.
Dr. Meyer worked on the Measles vaccine with Dr. John Enders of Harvard where they conducted trials in West Africa from 1961 to 1964.
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FDA History Office
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Dr. Harry M. Meyer, Jr., at left, Hope Hopps at center, and Dr. Paul Parkman at right, working in the rubella lab.
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National Library of Medicine
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Dr. Harry M. Meyer, Jr. portrait from FDA Personnel Directory
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FDA History Office
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Dr. Harry M. Meyer, Jr. at left, Dr. Daniel Hostetler at center, and Barbara Bernheim at right, in lab at NIH. They were all part of the measles team who went to Upper Volta for vaccine trials.
