THE THOMAS FRANCIS, JR. MEDAL IN GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH

Media Relations

Media contacts for the 50th anniversary of the polio vaccine announcement are:

Colleen Newvine
Information officer, U-M News Service
(734) 647-4411
email cnewvine@umich.edu

Karl Leif Bates
Director, life sciences communications, U-M News Service
(734) 647-1842
email batesk@umich.edu

Photos from the polio trials, all held by the Bentley Historical Library at U-M.

The Bentley Historical Library has myriad resources on polio and the vaccine trials, including numerous boxes of Francis’ papers. These range from the program for the 1955 announcement to photos and films produced about the vaccine by U-M to the papers of former Michigan governor G. Mennen Williams relations to polio and its effects on Michigan.

Visit the Bentley’s polio page >>>

Background on the polio vaccine announcement, from the U-M’s Center for the History of Medicine website.