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Dr. Murray came to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1947 as a commissioned Public Health Services (PHS) officer in the Laboratory of Biologics Controls, which later became the Division of Biological Standards (DBS). He was Director of DBS from 1955 to 1972. According to Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, this was not a position he wanted or for which he was particularly well-suited. He had been in the Army during World War II and built a reputable career studying hepatitis. He was a member of Commissioned Corps of the PHS , however, so , he did not have much say in taking the position or not.

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He recruited Dr. Samuel Baron, one of the leading virologists of that era and a polio expert, to DBS to help sort out the aftermath of the Cutter polio incident. He worked with Drs. Kirschstein, Baron, and Van Hoosier on the live attenuated poliovirus vaccine. Did studies with Rhesus monkeys (from The Record article February 1960).

In February 1961, Dr. Murray informed Dr. Bernice Eddy that her research interests conflicted with her control work on respiratory viruses, and that going forward she would be asked to spend time solely on research, and that her staff would be reduced. It seemed that as long as Dr. Eddy was engaged in basic research with only minor relevance to her control activities, she was allowed to continue her work. But if her research began to identify factors which might require changes in regulatory control of vaccines, her work was to stop. In July 1961, Dr. Eddy began her new role in research only. Much of the treatment of Dr. Eddy was revealed in the hearings in Congress as part of the Consumer Safety Act of 1972. Although there wasn’t immediate fallout for Dr. Murray as there had been for his predecessor, Dr. William Workman with the Cutter incident, Dr. Murray was likely keenly aware of the scrutiny his role would continue to have.

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two older men in suits, stand for their photo to be taken.

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Dr. Roderick Murray at left, with Dr. Joseph Smadel, at right, the 1962 Lasker Award winner.

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National Library of Medicine

When DBS became administratively part of the FDA in 1972, Dr. Murray was appointed special assistant Special Assistant to the Director at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He requested this transfer himself, wanting to stay within NIH. He was also in poor health at this point and had been relying on Dr. Kirschstein to make decisions for many products under review by DBS , in addition to helping and help him with his administrative duties. 

He was the author or coauthor of more than 50 scientific papers, and he received the U.S. Public Health Service Distinguished Service Medal in 1965. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Public Health Association and a member of the American Association of Immunologists and the American Medical Association. Dr. Murray retired in 1973 as an assistant surgeon generalAssistant Surgeon General. He died in 1980.

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Dr. Murray worked in Building 8, Room 224 prior to construction of Building 29. He then worked on the first floor of Building 29, Room 129.

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