Dr. Albert Kapikian is an Armenian-American virologist who developed the first licensed vaccine

Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...

 against rotavirus

Rotavirus

Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children, and is one of several viruses that cause infections often called stomach flu, despite having no relation to influenza. It is a genus of double-stranded RNA virus in the family Reoviridae. By the age of five,...

, the most common cause of severe diarrhea

Diarrhea

Diarrhea , also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having three or more loose or liquid bowel movements per day. It is a common cause of death in developing countries and the second most common cause of infant deaths worldwide. The loss of fluids through diarrhea can cause dehydration and...

 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. He graduated from Cornell Medical College in 1956 and began a career with the National Institutes of Health

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...

 in 1957. In 1998 he was appointed Deputy Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health , an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services...

where he continues to work on rotavirus vaccines.H e is the head of epidemiology section.