Roderick Murray, M.D. (1910-1980)
Dr. Roderick Murray Portrait in Building 29 National Library of Medicine
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.
Dr. Roderick Murray at left, with Dr. Joseph Smadel, at right, the 1962 Lasker Award winner. National Library of Medicine
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 general. He died in 1980.
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.
Publications:
- “Viral hepatitis” by Roderick Murray in Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine (1955). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1804570/.
- “Biologics for the Control and Therapy of Virus Diseases” by Roderick Murray in Bacteriology Reviews (1964). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC441250/.
- “Human and animal antibody responses to commercial poliomyelitis vaccine” by U. Pentti Kokko and Roderick Murray in the Bulletin, World Health Organization (1960). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2555319/.
- “Production and testing in the USA of influenza virus vaccine made from the Hong Kong variant in 1968-69” by Roderick Murray in the Bulletin, World Health Organization (1969). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2427701/.