The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015
Awarded on: 2015-10-05
"for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites"
Affiliations:
- Drew University – Madison, NJ, USA
William C. Campbell
Born: 1930-06-28 in Ramelton, Ireland
Gender: male
Field: Irish-American microbiologist and co-discoverer of avermectin (born 1930)
Biography
William Cecil Campbell is an Irish-American microbiologist known for his work in discovering a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworms, for which he was jointly awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He helped to discover a class of drugs called avermectins, whose derivatives have been shown to have "extraordinary efficacy" in treating River blindness and Lymphatic filariasis, among other parasitic diseases affecting animals and humans. Campbell worked at the Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research 1957–1990, and has become a research fellow emeritus at Drew University.