Albert Lasker
Clinical Medical Research Award

Acceptance Remarks by Emil Gotschlich

Bacterial meningitis is a terrifying disease, and many people at home and abroad have worked hard and long to bring us to the point where an effective vaccine against epidemic meningococcal meningitis exists. On behalf of all, I gratefully accept this high award. I am certain that this recognition will add further impetus to this area of research and fervently hope that other forms of this ugly disease will soon be preventable.

The development of polysaccharide vaccines to prevent pneumonia and meningitis, while clearly an example of so-called applied research, is, however, immediately dependent on free-ranging basic investigations. This moment, which so clearly illustrates the intimate connection of basic research to clinical advances, is a fitting time to give recognition as well to the public at large and to the private sources which support the biomedical research community. In my own instance, I would like to acknowledge the generous support of the United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, the World Health Organization and the Hochschild Foundation. Lastly, I wish to draw attention to the entrepreneurial spirit and warm support of the pharmaceutical industry; notably, the Merieux Institute and Merck, Sharp, and Dohme, which played a major role in the successful development of the meningococcal vaccine.