Jonas Salk documentary, "Apart from the atomic bomb, America's greatest fear was polio." As a result, scientists were in a frantic race to find a way to prevent or cure the disease. In 1947, Salk accepted an appointment to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In 1948, he undertook a project funded by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, the organization that would fund the development of a vaccine, to determine the number of different types of polio virus. Salk saw an opportunity to extend this project towards developing a vaccine against polio, and, together with the skilled research team he
Salk Hall served as a residence for students. Pitt remodeled it to house the School of Dental Medicine and School of Pharmacy in 1961-1962. The Salk Hall Annex, a major renovation and three-story addition designed by the architectural firm Deeter, Ritchey, and Sippel for the Dental School, was completed the Terrace Street side of the building in 1967 for a cost of over $5 million ($ million today). Today, it serves as a main entrance for Salk Hall and the dental clinics. A new $50.6 million ($ million today) addition and renovation to Salk Hall was announced in January 2010. It will