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As co-founder, distinguished scientist, and scientific and medical advisory board member of the Hepatitis B Foundation for more than 20 years, Dr. Baruch S. Blumberg provided energizing leadership, inspiring encouragement, and invaluable professional support and guidance for the foundation’s ongoing efforts to discover a cure.
Dr. Blumberg, a curious and dedicated humanitarian, spent decades traveling to remote areas of the world to research patients with acute liver diseases and cancers,
In 1964, Dr. Blumberg and his team discovered a potential antigen in an Australian aborigine for what they would completely identify as the hepatitis B virus in 1967. They subsequently developed accurate diagnostic tests, increased protection of the blood supply, and even created the first “anti-cancer” vaccine that prevented initial infection in 1969.
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Dr. Blumberg also served as senior advisor to the president of Philadelphia’s Fox Chase Cancer Center, professor of medicine and anthropology at University of Pennsylvania, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, and senior advisor to the administrator for biology at NASA.
Dr. Blumberg won the 1976 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his significant commitments and contributions to hepatitis B research.
Dr. Timothy M. Block has a storied career marked by significant contributions to virology and infectious diseases, particularly hepatitis. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Brown University, where his early research focused on the molecular mechanisms of viral replication.
Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Block undertook postdoctoral research at Princeton University, where he further honed his expertise in virology and developed a keen interest in hepatitis B and C viruses.
In the years that followed, Dr. Block held academic and research positions at several prestigious institutions, including Thomas Jefferson University, where he served as a professor. His work at these institutions laid the groundwork for numerous breakthroughs in the understanding and treatment of viral hepatitis.
In 2003, Dr. Block co-founded the Hepatitis B Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of those affected by hepatitis B through research, education, and advocacy. His visionary leadership led to the establishment of the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute, where he currently serves as president, continuing his lifelong commitment to combating liver diseases through innovative research and collaboration.
