Washington Post Profiles HPV Vaccine Discoverers Lowy, Schiller

Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Article Date: 12 Sep 2007 - 4:00 PDT

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Washington Post columnist Stephen Barr on Monday profiled Douglas Lowy and John Schiller, the co-discoverers of the human papillomavirus vaccine. Lowy, a lab chief at NIH, and Schiller, senior investigator in the Laboratory of Cellular Oncology at NIH's National Cancer Institute, are among 31 finalists for Service to America Medals, the award sponsored by the not-for-profit Partnership for Public Service that recognizes civil employees, according to Barr.

Lowy and Schiller are being recognized for a series of scientific discoveries that began in 1992, Barr writes. They began their research with a "broad interest" in the role viruses play in forcing cells to develop abnormally and began to focus their research on HPV when other evidence showed the virus' link to cervical cancer, according to Barr. Lowy and Schiller collaborated with scientists at Johns Hopkins University to conduct early clinical trials and confirm their findings that the vaccine was safe and effective, Barr writes, adding that Merck and GlaxoSmithKline then undertook large-scale trials of the vaccine. The National Cancer Institute is conducting independent trials of the vaccine, and Lowy and Schiller say they hope the vaccine eventually will be manufactured at a lower cost so it can be distributed in developing countries, where fewer women receive annual Pap tests, according to Barr. The researchers "emphasize" that their work is built upon years of research by other scientists and facilitated by improvements in technology and the "freedom" provided by NIH, Barr writes. "You are given wide latitude on what you work on," Lowy said, adding, "The assumption is that you will work on important problems." The Service to America Medals winners will be announced Sept. 19 in Washington, D.C., according to Barr (Barr, Washington Post, 9/10).

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