Biography: Dr. Maurice R. Hilleman

Companion lessons located in handouts section and under "Additional Resources"

• K-6

Lesson 3: Who was Maurice Hilleman?

Lesson 4: What were Hilleman's contributions to science?

• 9-12

Introductory background for all lessons, with particular reference to Lesson 1.

Maurice Ralph Hilleman (1919-2005)

Maurice Ralph Hilleman was born August 30, 1919 in Miles City, Montana during the second phase of the so-called Spanish Influenza Pandemic. His mother, along with his twin sister became sick and died soon after his birth. Her dying wish was that Maurice would be raised by his aunt and uncle who lived nearby and had no children. From a young age, Maurice was interested in science and became a fan of the writings of Charles Darwin. He graduated from Custer County High School in 1937. 

Maurice Hilleman was awarded a scholarship and attended Montana State College, now known as Montana State University-Bozeman. While at MSC, Hilleman was a member of several honors societies, including Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Eta Sigma, and earned the coveted “A Flush” perfect record. In 1941, he graduated first in his class and went to the University of Chicago for his doctorate in Microbiology. In June 1966, after developing several vaccines including one that reduces respiratory illness, Hilleman received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Montana State University. 

Upon graduation from Montana State, Maurice Hilleman received fellowship offers from10 universities and decided to attend the University of Chicago, where he studied microbiology and graduated with his PhD in 1944. His prize-winning dissertation on chlamydia determined the disease was actually caused by a bacteria and not a virus, which meant it could be treated with antibiotics. 

Against the recommendations of his advisors, who wanted him to pursue a career in academic research, Hilleman chose to work in the pharmaceutical industry. Hilleman recognized that viruses can be used to stimulate antibodies in a vaccinated person and developed his first vaccine, against Japanese B encephalitis, which was put into immediate use to immunize troops at the Pacific front during World War II. 

In 1954, Hilleman joined Merck Laboratories, where he directed the research and development of vaccines against Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Meningococci, Pneumococci, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A, Polio, and Chickenpox. 

Hilleman created these vaccines and others through critical thinking, use of the resources at Merck including rapid movement to clinical trials, and having a thorough, well-researched plan in place, which he presented to regulatory authorities. 

In 1999, Dr. Maurice Hilleman was invited to contribute something of science to the National Millennium Time Capsule under the theme “Honor the Past -- Imagine the Future.” 

As a past recipient of the National Medal of Science, Hilleman proposed the topic of recognizing major contributions of 20th century vaccines for preventing disease, disability and death among the peoples of the 21st century. 

Hilleman chose six vaccines and embedded them in a special clear plastic box. He gave the following speech at the December 31, 1999 National Millennium Time Capsule Ceremony in Washington, DC: 

“The pediatric vaccines prevent more than four million deaths per year worldwide. Other vaccines prevent respiratory illness, hepatitis A and B, and even cancer. The principal diseases of children are no longer significant in the USA and in much of the developed world. 

My contribution consists of eight vaccines of the Twentieth Century which prevent illness, disability and death and have changed the face of the world!” 

Dr. Hilleman retired from Merck in 1984 at the age of 65 per the mandated company rule. He continued to keep busy and worked as a consultant, including serving as an advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO). In 1998, President Regan awarded him the National Medal of Science, the highest science award given in the U. S. Maurice Hilleman passed away on April 11, 2005. 

A Few of Dr. Hilleman's Vaccines

Influenza 

More than 5,000 Montanans, or 1 percent of the population, died of influenza during the 1918-19 pandemic. This was a time when medical science and public health were ill equipped to deal with the Pandemic as a vaccine for influenza had not been developed, which was the case for other diseases at the time, such as measles, diphtheria, typhoid and scarlet fever. 

In the 1930s, scientists isolated the influenza virus and developed vaccines. Among these scientists was Dr. Hilleman, who found the influenza A viruses underwent gradual and progressive changes in antigenic characteristics called “drift and shift.” Drift is a result of slow continuous changes and what vaccines are generally made against. Shift is an abrupt, major change in an influenza A virus, which cannot be predicted. However, vaccines can rapidly be made to the shift versions once they are detected in the population. 

Dr. Hilleman actually predicted the next influenza pandemic. After noticing a report in the April 17, 1957 edition of the New York Times regarding a respiratory disease in Hong Kong, Hilleman was able to get a sample of the virus and lead the development of the H2N2 Asian Influenza vaccine in just 4 months. 

Measles

Children with the measles develop high fever, a red rash and pink eye. The virus can also infect the lungs, causing pneumonia, and the brain, causing permanent damage. Dr. Hilleman used a technique where the virus is grown inside a chicken egg and weakened by passing it through the embryo cells 40 times to make the vaccine. 

During the 1960s, about 20 percent of chickens in the United States carried a chicken leukemia virus. Dr. Hilleman would have to find chickens that did not have this strain in order to make a vaccine he felt would be completely safe from passing the cancer on to humans. Hilleman’s friend Wendell Stanley directed him to Kimber Farms in Fremont, California, which had managed to breed a flock of virus-free chickens. 

John Kimber founded the farm in the early 1930s, and developed disease-free eggs, disease-resistant chickens, and hens that could lay 250 eggs per year through scientific breeding. After arriving at Kimber Farms, Dr. Hilleman asked to meet with the director of poultry research, W. F. Lamoreaux. At first, he refused to sell the disease free chickens, but after finding out that Hilleman was from Miles City, Lamoreaux, who was from Helena, told him to “take them all.” Hilleman set up the flock of chickens at Merck and used them to make the Moraten strain measles vaccine, which brought the number of measles cases down from 4 million to fewer than 50. 

Today, vaccines at Merck are still made from the descendants of the Kimber flock.

Mumps

In 1963, Dr. Hilleman’s daughter, Jeryl Lynn, came down with the mumps. By weakening the mumps virus he had obtained from swabs of her throat, he was able to make a safe and effective mumps vaccine. The same strain of mumps virus is used to make the mumps vaccine today. It is called the Jeryl Lynn strain. 

Prior to the vaccine, mumps was the most common cause of meningitis (swelling of the lining of the brain and spinal cord in children). It was the leading cause of acquired deafness among children in the United States. 

Rubella 

Children infected with the rubella virus suffered from a mild rash and swelling of the glands behind the ear. Rubella can pass from mother to child in the womb and cause birth defects, including blindness and deafness, heart defects or mental deficits. 

In Montana, women are asked to get a blood test for Rubella before a marriage certificate is issued to the couple. In 2007, this law was modified to offer a waiver option, and further legislation was introduced against it in 2019 because widespread use of the MMR vaccine has nearly eradicated this disease. 

Dr. Hilleman developed the combined MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine in 1971. 

VACCINE SPOTLIGHTS 

During his lifetime, Dr. Hilleman developed over 40 vaccines, including eight of the 14 vaccines commonly recommended for children. The pediatric vaccines prevent more than four million deaths per year worldwide. Other vaccines prevent respiratory illness, hepatitis A and B, and even cancer. Thanks to these vaccines, the principal diseases of children are no longer significant in the USA and in much of the developed world. Some of these vaccines and their associated diseases are described in the infographic below.