ACIP voted to withdraw their recommendation for rotavirus vaccine
On Oct. 22, 1999, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), after a review of scientific data from…
Wyeth Lederle Vaccines voluntarily withdrew Rotashield from the market
On Oct. 15, 1999, Wyeth-Lederle Vaccines announced that it was withdrawing the Rotashield vaccine from the market and…
FDA approved a 2-dose schedule of hepatitis B vaccination for adolescents
On Aug. 29, 1999, Merck, West Point, Pennsylvania) received approval from the FDA of a supplement to Merck’s…
Rotavirus vaccine, live, oral, tetravalent was licensed
On Aug. 31, 1998, Rotashield (Wyeth Laboratories, Marietta, Pennsylvania) was licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration…
Stanley B. Prusiner was awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine
In 1997, Stanley B. Prusiner (University of Pennsylvania, A.B. 1964, M.D. 1968) was awarded the 1997 Nobel Prize…
A combined Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate and hepatitis B vaccine was licensed
On Oct. 2, 1996, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed a combined Hib conjugate and hepatitis B…
The first inactivated hepatitis A vaccine was licensed
On Feb. 22, 1995, the first inactivated hepatitis A vaccine, distributed by SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), was…
The FDA approved the first US HIV test system using oral fluid samples
On Dec. 23, 1994, the FDA announced the approval of the first U.S. HIV test system using oral…
OncoLink, the first cancer information website, was formed at Penn Medicine
In Mar. 1994, Penn Medicine’s Dr. Joel Goldwein established OncoLink, the first cancer information site on the Internet,…
The FDA approved use of a new haemophilus b conjugate vaccine for infants and children
On Mar. 30, 1993, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new Haemophilus b conjugate vaccine,…
Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine licensed for use
On Aug. 21, 1992, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved licensure of a second DTaP product, prepared…
Stormie Jones, the world’s first recipient of a successful simultaneous heart and liver organ transplant, died at Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital
On Nov. 11, 1990, Stormie Jones, the world’s first recipient of a successful simultaneous heart and liver organ…
The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute received NCI Comprehensive designation
In 1990, the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute received National Cancer Institute (NCI) Comprehensive designation. The University of…
Dr. KC Nicolaou joined the Research Institute of Scripps Clinic faculty
On May 24, 1989, Dr. Kyriacos Costa “K.C.” Nicolaou joined the Research Institute of Scripps Clinic faculty. Dr. Nicolaou…
Doctors at Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania performed the world’s first heart-liver transplant
On Feb. 14, 1984, the world’s first successful combined heart-liver transplant was performed in Pittsburgh at UPMC Children’s…
University of Washington scientists created first “transgenic mouse”
In 1982, Richard D. Palmiter at the University of Washington scientists created first “transgenic mouse” in collaboration with…
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Washington injected purified DNA into a single-cell mouse embryo
In 1981, Frank Ruddle from Yale University, Frank Costantini and Elizabeth Lacy from Oxford, and Ralph L. Brinster…
Disease | Medicine | Neurology | Therapeutics
Dr. Alexa Canady became the first African American woman in the U.S. to become a neurosurgeon
In 1981, Dr. Alexa Canady became the first African American woman in the U.S. to become a neurosurgeon,…
The Chemical Heritage Foundation was established
In 1980, a group of scientists and industrialists concluded that the time had come to found a national…
The last cases of wild type 1 poliovirus occurred in the U.S.
On Jul. 27, 1979, the last cases of wild type 1 poliovirus occurred in the U.S. among unvaccinated…
The Three Mile Island nuclear emergency plan was launched
Om Mar. 28, 1979,the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor, near Middletown, Pa., partially melted down resulting…
CDC | Diagnostics | Disease | Environmental | EPA | Life Science History | Oncology | Radiology | Therapeutics
The CDC investigated health effects related to the Three-Mile Island nuclear accident
On Mar. 28, 1979, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigated health effects related to…
The University of Pennsylvania’s Institute on Aging was created
In 1979, the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute on Aging (IOA) was created to improve the health of the…
The CDC held its first international conference on Legionnaires’ disease
In 1978, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) held its first international conference on Legionnaires’…
The first pneumococcal vaccine was licensed
On Nov. 21, 1977, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed the first pneumococcal vaccine containing 14…
The CDC isolated Legionella pneumophila, which caused Legionnaires’ disease in Philadelphia
In 1977, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) isolated Legionella pneumophila, which caused a deadly…
Baruch Samuel Blumberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine
In 1976, Baruch Samuel Blumberg from the Institute for Cancer Research in Philadelphia was awarded the Nobel Prize…
Penn Medicine’s Cancer Center (Abramson Cancer Center) was founded
In 1973, Penn Medicine’s Cancer Center was formally established by a dedicated group of cancer specialists committed to…
PA Assn for Retarded Children v Commonwealth of PA established right of developmentally disabled children to free public education
In 1972, the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Mills v. Board of Education…
The Wistar Institute was designated a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center
In 1972, The Wistar Institute was designated the first National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Center in basic research…