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The untold story of Albert Sabin, who developed the oral polio vaccine and became a controversial public health advocate for children worldwide.A Cappella Books is welcomes epidemiologist and historian Karen Torghele to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library to celebrate the release of her new book “Albert Sabin: The Life of a Polio Vaccine Pioneer.” Torghele will appear in conversation with global health expert Roger Glass.
This event is free and open to the public. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the venue.
About the Book
Jonas Salk may be the name most associated with the polio vaccine, but it was Albert Sabin’s oral vaccine that made the goal of global eradication of poliomyelitis a possibility. Epidemiologist Karen Torghele draws on exclusive interviews, archival research, and the scientist’s own lab notebooks to deliver the first definitive biography of Sabin (1906–1993). She reveals a man driven by compulsion, whom Yale virologist John R. Paul described as “a fierce joy” when he was making new discoveries. But though his work reshaped virology and vaccine development, he was burdened by ego and an abrasive personality that would haunt his legacy.
Sabin’s journey spanned continents and conflicts, from being a World War II hero to facilitating Cold War diplomacy, culminating in a risky experiment to test his vaccine in the USSR near the peak of the McCarthy era. Torghele combines biography and science to establish Sabin’s place in medical history, illuminating the research, politics, and private issues behind one of the twentieth century’s most controversial personalities—and offering insight into what we can learn from Sabin’s experiences as we address vaccine misinformation, deal with deadly new viruses, and face the threatening resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, diphtheria, and polio.
About the Author
Karen Torghele is an epidemiologist and Global Health Chronicles oral historian who worked for more than twenty-five years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Task Force for Global Health. She lives in Atlanta, GA.
About the Conversation Partner
Roger I. Glass is an American physician-scientist and global health leader known for his work on infectious diseases, especially rotavirus and cholera. He served as Director of the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health from 2006 to 2023. Before joining NIH, he spent nearly 30 years at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he led the Viral Gastroenteritis Unit and helped advance research and global vaccination efforts against rotavirus, contributing to major reductions in childhood deaths worldwide.
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Event Venue
Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, 441 John Lewis Freedom Pkwy NE, Atlanta, GA 30307-1496, United States
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
