Oswald T. Avery, M.D.
Brief Bio
Oswald Theodore Avery (1877–1955) was the sixteenth president of the American Association of Immunologists, serving from 1929 to 1930. He enjoyed a remarkable, 35-year career at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, where he conducted pioneering studies on pneumococcus, among other subjects, from 1913 to 1948.
Avery earned his M.D. at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1904. He briefly practiced medicine in New York City (1904–1907) before beginning his research career as associate director of the Division of Bacteriology of Hoagland Laboratories in Brooklyn (1907–1913). He joined the Rockefeller Institute as an assistant in 1913 and became a full member 10 years later. Although he was named member emeritus in 1943, Avery continued his research until his retirement in 1948. He was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1954 and died the following year, at the age of 77.
Lasker Award
1947 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award “for distinguished service through studies on the chemical constitution of bacteria.”
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AAI Service History
Joined: 1920
President: 1929–1930
Councillor: 1928–1929, 1930–1934
The Journal of Immunology
Board of Editors: 1936–1942
Associate Editor: 1943–1950
Awards and Honors
- Member, National Academy of Sciences, 1933
- Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1936
- Copley Medal, The Royal Society (UK),1945
- George M. Kober Medal, Association of American Physicians,1946
- Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, 1947
- Passano Award, Passano Foundation, 1949
- Pasteur Gold Medal, 1950
Institutional/Biographical Links