Sarah Stewart (cancer researcher) at the age of 39. Stewart returned to the NIH in 1951, joining the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and eventually becoming medical director. Stewart developed an interest in researching viral links to cancer in light of the pioneering research of Jonas Salk in developing a vaccine for the virus which caused polio. Stewart developed an interest in researching viral links to cancer in light of the pioneering research of Jonas Salk in developing a vaccine for the virus which caused polio. Stewart is credited with discovering the Polyomavirus in 1953. She and research partner, Dr. Bernice E. Eddy, were successful
Jonas Salk got in. During his years at New York University Medical School, Salk worked as a laboratory technician during the school year and as a camp counselor in the summer. During Salk's medical studies, he stood out from his peers, according to Bookchin, "not just because of his continued academic prowess—he was Alpha Omega Alpha, the Phi Beta Kappa Society of medical education—but because he had decided he did not want to practice medicine." Instead, he became absorbed in research, even taking a year off to study biochemistry. He later focused more of his studies on bacteriology which had replaced medicine