William Jordan, 90; Focused on Vaccine Research

William S. Jordan, 90, a physician whose name is synonymous with vaccine research around the world, died of pneumonia March 11 at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.

Dr. Jordan established the scientific review known as the Jordan Report, considered the most complete reference on vaccine research and development. As director of the microbiology and infectious diseases program at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1976 to 1987, he advanced national and global disease prevention strategies as well as promotion of new and improved vaccine research.

Vaccines have become an important tool in the fight against diseases. No longer simply inactive viruses, vaccines now include attenuated, live viruses, and researchers use new technologies to address drug-resistant, emerging and reemerging diseases. All of that research is meticulously documented in the 27-year-old Jordan Report, which began as an annual internal review of what was happening in the NIAID's microbiology and infectious diseases program.

The report eventually became public and is published several times a year.

As important as documentation is, pushing new research forward is even more crucial.

Dr. Jordan "was the creator and chief advocate for a new effort, which he dubbed the 'Accelerated Development of Vaccines.' He sensed that scientific progress was accelerating and that the very pace of discovery was going to yield many new ideas for vaccines of all kinds," John R. LaMontagne, then-NIAID deputy director, said in 2004 when Dr. Jordan won the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal. LaMontagne died later that year.

Carole Heilman, who now holds the same position at NIAID that Dr. Jordan did, said yesterday that he became identified with excellence in vaccine research.

"What Dr. Jordan was most concerned about was that the investment of federal dollars was put to good use. And he saw no better use than vaccine research," Heilman said. "He was an encyclopedia of knowledge when it came to infectious diseases. He had one of these photographic memories."

Dr. Jordan, who was younger than Jonas Salk and a contemporary of Maurice R. Hilleman, exhorted scientists to ensure that their research was meaningful to public health needs and never hesitated to ask in-depth questions. Salk developed the first effective polio vaccine, and Hilleman developed eight of the 14 vaccines routinely recommended for children.

Dr. Jordan "had such a knowledge base that you better know what you were talking about," Heilman said.

Under Dr. Jordan's oversight, vaccines were developed or improved for hepatitis B and influenza. The value of antiviral drugs for herpes and flu were confirmed, and he advocated forcefully for neglected diseases such as malaria, schistosomiasis and other parasitic ailments, which led to the creation of the International Collaborations in Infectious Disease Research.

He was born in Fayetteville, N.C., and graduated from the University of North Carolina and, in 1942, from Harvard Medical School.