In 1958 Art Began his post high school education at Brooklyn College. He knew he wanted to work in the sciences and in his sophomore year he decided to study Virology. In 1962 he and Sue moved to Buffalo to study for his PHD. In 1967 Art received his PHD and for the next 35 years he worked for Merck as a virologist in vaccine development. Think about this..there were unexplained outbreaks of a neurological disease in Muzaffarpur, India beginning in 1995. Generally, this was a seasonal event affecting children. Still in 2013-14 no cause had been determined but it was postulated that there is a connection with the Litchi fruit. For a researcher, wouldn't you want to find the cause AND develop a vaccine to prevent this?? Do researchers experiment on each other....Well not really but they do (and Art did) take experimental vaccines that he and his staff made. So no, Art didn't try to infect himself but did try to expose himself to influenza and other pathogens.
Here are some of the vaccines that Art helped develop that are currently in use: rubella; original Adult Pneumonia; Hepatitis B; HIB (Hemophilus B) Middle ear infections, pneumonia, meningitis and septicemia in young children. It takes a lot of study, experimentation, trial and error before a vaccine is developed. Some may take up to 20 years or longer to develop. On the other end of the spectrum, he has also worked on many (Chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea, Herpes, HIV) that researchers have not yet figured out. When a vaccine is developed and licensed for use, there is follow-up such as required reporting to VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Eveny Reporting System; VICP National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program; NVSN New Vaccine Surveillance Network; as well as the Detection of New Strains.
Many thanks to Art for this presentation. It was interesting and informative.