Judes Poirier of Neuropsychopharmacology (CCNP). He was more recently awarded the Jonas Salk Award (1999) in honor of Dr. Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine, the AstraZeneca/ASC/RxDx Award (2001) and the CSCC Award (2001) for his seminal work in the field of Alzheimer’s disease. In the summer of 2004, he was nominated to the rank of Knight of the National Order of Quebec by the Premier of Quebec. He received in the fall of 2009 a Doctorate Honoris Causa in Medicine in regard to his pioneering work in the field of Alzheimer’s research from this oldest School of Medicine in the
Jonas Salk it came into use in 1955. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system. Salk preferred not to have his career as a scientist affected by too much personal attention, as he had always tried to remain independent and private in his research and life, but this proved to be impossible. "Young man, a great tragedy has befallen you—you've lost your anonymity", the television personality Ed Murrow said to Salk shortly after the onslaught of media attention. When Murrow asked him, "Who owns this patent?", Salk