Thomas C. Merigan
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Thomas Charles Merigan (born January 18, 1934 in San Francisco) is an American
virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, the ...
and the George E. and Lucy Becker Professor of Medicine,
Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...
at the
Stanford University School of Medicine The Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California, United States. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Fra ...
. Merigan's research first focused on human viral pathogenesis, basic and clinical studies of interferon, and then developing the first systemically active antiviral drugs including those effectively treatIng HIV/AIDS, several herpesviruses and hepatitis B. He is also credited with helping to develop the use of
interferon Interferons (IFNs, ) are a group of signaling proteins made and released by host cells in response to the presence of several viruses. In a typical scenario, a virus-infected cell will release interferons causing nearby cells to heighten ...
s as antiviral, immunomodulating and antitumor therapies. Merigan joined the Stanford faculty in 1963 and assumed full emeritus status in 2007. In 2004 he was also identified as one of the 250 most cited investigators in clinical medicine over the last 20 years by the Institute for Scientific Information. Merigan also was ranked 23rd among the 1000 top US microbiologists by Research.com in 2022. His papers were cited over 37,000 times. Two of his books went into multiple editions- one into a 4th edition and the other into a 3rd. He was a board member of 28 journals and a member of 23 learned societies. He had over 95 fellows, students and research associates with whom he wrote 576 papers, 26 books and published symposia and 11 patents. Seven of his students became fulltime faculty in the Stanford School of Medicine. He told his life story in a book entitled ''Pioneering Viral Therapy, a Life in Academic Medicine'', published by Amazon/Kindle/CreateSpace in 2017.


Education

Merigan was an undergraduate at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
and graduated B.A. with honors in 1955. He attended
medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...
at the
University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...
, where he was elected to
Alpha Omega Alpha Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society () is an honor society in the field of medicine. It has active chapters in 132 Liaison Committee on Medical Education, LCME-accredited medical schools in the United States and Lebanon. It annually elects ove ...
medical honor society and received his
M.D. A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...
with honors in 1958. He did his
internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...
and
residency Residency may refer to: * Artist-in-residence, a program to sponsor the residence and work of visual artists, writers, musicians, etc. * Concert residency, a series of concerts performed at one venue * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or m ...
on the Harvard medical services at
Boston City Hospital The Boston City Hospital (1864–1996), in Boston, Massachusetts, was a public hospital located in the South End. It was "intended for the use and comfort of poor patients, to whom medical care will be provided at the expense of the city, and ...
and then moved to the
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...
in Bethesda where he trained for 3 years in protein chemistry in Nobelist Christian Anfinsen's laboratory.


Academic career

Merigan joined the faculty at Stanford in 1963. His first sabbatical leave was spent at the MRC Common Cold Unit in Salisbury and London, England in 1970 with David Tyrell and Sir Christopher Andrews under a Guggenheim fellowship. He received the Borden Award for outstanding research from the
Association of American Medical Colleges Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry * Voluntary associati ...
in 1973. Another overseas sabbatical was spent studying basic aspects of interferon with Professor Charles Chany in Paris. He became involved in administration at Stanford and headed the Division of Infectious Diseases for 28 years and founded the Stanford University Hospital Clinical Virology Laboratory in 1969, then one of the first of its type in the world. In 1988 he founded the Center for AIDS Research at Stanford which he directed for almost 20 years. The antivirals he collaborated in the development of include those directed against herpesviruses (CMV, VZ, and HSV), hepatitis B, papovaviruses, rhinoviruses, HIV, and rabies. They were carried out not just at Stanford but on 6 of the 7 continents of the world. His interferon studies included finding the first positive treatment results in hepatitis B and cytomegalovirus infections and multiple sclerosis. This encouraged others to find even better effects with immunomodulators in the latter disease with less toxic drugs. He directed the studies that allowed the licensing of the first drug active against CMV, gancylovir. Here he observed that treating CMV also decreased the incidence of fungal and other infections and improved the graft. His group also developed, tested, and held patents through Stanford University on the methods for monitoring the effects of treatment of HIV which are still used today. Due to his involvement in the study of
HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
, he also became involved in government initiatives; he was a principal investigator and initial chair of the Primary Infection (HIV) Committee in the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...
(NIAID) AIDS Clinical Trials Group. This committee under him evaluated the first active antiviral drugs against HIV and proved the better action of combination over monotherapy of HIV infection in large-scale multinational studies. He served on several NIH study sections, FDA Committees, and as a member of NIAID's Board of Scientific Counselors. He held grants from that Institute continuously from the day in 1963 he started at Stanford until he retired nearly 45 years later. In 1988 he received a ten-year MERIT grant award from the NIAID and received the Maxwell Finland Lectureship award from IDSA. He gave a number of named endowed lectureships in the US and elsewhere and also on several occasions testified before congressional committees on the subject of oncoming needs for federal funding for both AIDS and cancer research. His testimony lead directly to Tip O’Neil's putting forth a bill which both houses of congress and President Reagan quickly signed off on creating the NCI's Frederich Cancer Center. His work with CMV led to his advising on the polish pope John Paul's care after he was shot. His advise to Singapore's Lee Quan Yu to further develop his biotech university led to one of the worlds best schools in that area. In 1980 Merigan became the first George E. and Lucy Becker Professor of Medicine and in 1981 was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. He was made a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society for Microbiology, Infectious Diseases Society of America, and American Society of Virology as well as elected into honorary membership in the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research in 2001 . He served as a member of the Council of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and a member of the Association of American Physicians. Tom served as a member of several scientific award groups including the Lasker Awards Committee. He also was boarded in Internal Medicine. Merigan was among the group of American virologists who helped organize and became the founding members of the
American Society for Virology The American Society for Virology (ASV) is an American scientific society serving the community of researchers in virology. The organization was founded in 1981 and was the first scientific society in the world dedicated exclusively to virology. Fo ...
. Merigan was also interested in entrepreneurship throughout his career and served on the scientific advisory boards of a number of big pharma and biotechnology companies, Including those of
Cetus Corporation Cetus Corporation was one of the first biotechnology companies. It was established in Berkeley, California, in 1971, but conducted most of its operations in nearby Emeryville. Before merging with Chiron Corporation in 1991 (now a part of Novar ...
in 1979. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Corporation in 1989. In 2004, Merigan assumed active emeritus status in the Stanford faculty, celebrated by a
Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
in his honor later published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.(2) His fellows also endowed an annual lecture in his name which has brought 27 speakers to Stamford. He remained active in research until he retired fully in 2007. The following year he and his first wife endowed the Thomas C. and Joan M. Merigan Chair in infectious diseases at Stanford, currently held by
David Relman David Arnold Relman is an American microbiologist and the Thomas C. and Joan M. Merigan Professor in Medicine, and in Microbiology & Immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His research focuses on the human microbiome and micro ...
. In 2022 he and his then wife Sue started funding the Sue Merigan Student Scholarship aimed at Stanford undergraduates and medical students interested in training in infectious diseases research.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merigan, Thomas American virologists Stanford University faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, San Francisco alumni Living people Members of the National Academy of Medicine 1934 births