Albert Kapikian

Who is Albert Kapikian?

Dr. Albert Kapikian was an Armenian-American virologist who developed the first licensed vaccine against rotavirus, the most common cause of severe diarrhea in infants. He was awarded the Sabin Gold Medal for his pioneering work on the vaccine. He is the 13th recipient of this recognition, awarded annually by the Sabin Vaccine Institute. Called the father of human gastroenteritis virus research, Kapikian identified the first norovirus, initially called Norwalk virus, in 1972; and he and his colleagues at the National Institutes of Health identified the hepatitis A virus in 1973.

Kapikian graduated from Cornell Medical College in 1956 and began a career with the National Institutes of Health in 1957. He was chief of the epidemiology section of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a position he held for 45 years. In 1998 he was appointed Deputy Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Kapikian died on February 24, 2014, at the age of 83.