John B. Robbins
John Bennett Robbins was a senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health, best known for his development of the vaccine against bacterial meningitis with his colleague Rachel Schneerson.
Bacterial meningitis is the leading cause of acquired mental retardation in children.
Robbins was a recipient of the 1996 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, the Pasteur Award from the World Health Organization and the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal in 2001 which he received for playing a major role in the development of Hib conjugate vaccine that is now used throughout the world and has led to a dramatic decline in the number of infants and children suffering from meningitis and other systemic infections such as osteomyelitis and pneumonia. In 2017 he, and his colleagues, also received the Prince Mahidol Award in Thailand for this work. He was a member of the National Academy of Science.
