ANN ARBOR—When the University of Michigan commemorates the 50th anniversary of the polio vaccine next week, many people with Michigan connections will have their own special memories. Some remember with pride their role as polio pioneers, others the terror of being polio’s victim.

The anniversary commemoration at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in Rackham Auditorium on the U-M campus will center on the role of Thomas Francis, Jr., the U-M epidemiologist who designed and led field trials involving 1.8 million subjects to test the effectiveness of the Salk vaccine.

In recognition of Francis, and to call attention to today’s continuing needs, the University has created the Thomas Francis Jr. Medal in Global Public Health, that carries with it a $50,000 prize. The medal will be awarded Tuesday to Dr. William Foege, who was instrumental in the eradication of smallpox. Polio pioneer memories

• Hal Morgenstern, chair of epidemiology, U-M School of Public Health. "I still have the card issued by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, certifying that I was a Polio Pioneer in the 1954 vaccine trial directed by Thomas Francis, Jr. I had not seen the card in many years, but it turned up unexpectedly when my wife and I moved to Ann Arbor in late 2003. Even a cynic might see this as a sign that I had made the right move, because Dr. Francis’ position as Chair of Epidemiology and his U-M office in the 1950s are mine today." Morgenstern can be reached at (734) 764-5435 or halm@umich.edu

• Barbara Kolekamp, information resources specialist at the Shapiro Undergraduate Library. "Being a polio pioneer really had a big effect on my life. I always had the sense that I was part of something that was really big for humanity…my mother said I asked where the covered wagons were because I had one sense of what a pioneer was. I always think of my being a polio pioneer as the time my parents donated my body for science. "Kolekamp can be reached at (734) 764-4479 or kolekamp@umich.edu.

• Rich Lichtenstein, associate dean, U-M School of Public Health. "You had to go back for a series of shots, and one time during the vaccine trials, the syringe broke while the needle was in my arm and all of the liquid spilled out. Of course I didn”t understand this then, but because it was a double-blind trial, they didn”t know what to do. They didn’t know if I was getting the real vaccine or the placebo, and I had to sit there for about an hour, probably while they called Michigan to get instructions. Ultimately I remember my parents getting the letter saying that I had gotten the placebo, not the real vaccine. So I would have to go back again to get the real shots. To say the least, that was not my favorite piece of mail ever!" Lichtenstein can be reached at (734) 936-1253 or lichto@umich.edu

• Nancy Murray, administrative assistant at industrial and operations engineering. "My sister and I both were in the study. I got the vaccine so I didn’t have to get the shots again, but my sister had gotten the placebo so she had to go get the real shots the following year. We went to parochial school and I think we were just schooled in sacrifice. They made a big deal about how important it was for us to be involved and I remember feeling very proud. I’ve bragged about it to friends a few times over the years." Murray can be reached at (734) 764-5657 or nmurray@umich.edu

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For more polio memories

Thomas Francis, the medal, William Foege and the anniversary commemoration