Purnell W. Choppin, M.D.

"One of the most impressive things about HHMI is its steadfast commitment to excellence," says HHMI President Purnell W. Choppin, M.D., who retired from the Institute on December 31, 1999.

Purnell W. Choppin, M.D., was elected president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1987, after serving as vice president and chief scientific officer. Since his arrival in 1985, the Institute's total budget has increased approximately tenfold to more than $550 million in FY 1999. A grants program for science education, established in 1987, has a FY 1999 budget of $100 million.

Dr. Choppin came to HHMI from The Rockefeller University, where he was Leon Hess Professor of Virology, vice president for academic programs, and dean of graduate studies. At Rockefeller, he headed the laboratory of virology, which studied the mechanisms by which influenza, parainfluenza, and measles viruses produce cell injury and disease.

Dr. Choppin is a member of many scientific and professional societies, including the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society, and the Association of American Physicians. He has received many honors and awards, including the Howard Taylor Ricketts Award from the University of Chicago in 1978 and the Selman A. Waksman Award for excellence in microbiology from the National Academy of Sciences in 1984.

As an advisor, Dr. Choppin has served a variety of governmental and private organizations. He has been a member of the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of the AIDS Advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He was chairman of NIH's virology study section from 1975 until 1978.

Dr. Choppin received his medical degree from the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in 1953. At graduation, he received his school's alumni association award for the highest academic standing in the graduating class.

He served an internship at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, before entering the Air Force as a medical officer in 1954. He returned to Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes Hospital as a resident in internal medicine in 1956 before joining The Rockefeller University in New York as a fellow in 1957 and a faculty member in 1959.