Simon Flexner

Microbiologist and medical administrator, born in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, the brother of Abraham Flexner. After researching and teaching as a pathologist at Johns Hopkins (1890–9), he went to the University of Pennsylvania (1899–1903), and during this period took time away to isolate a strain of the dysentery bacillus in the Philippines (1899) and to investigate the bubonic plague in San Francisco (1901). He joined the newly created Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (1901) to direct the research laboratories, but soon became the institute's de facto administrator, serving as its official director (1924–35). He was the editor of the Journal of Experimental Medicine (1904–23), and during World War 1 was commissioned in the Army Medical Corps and charged with inspecting its medical laboratories in Europe. He made several other important contributions to his field, including developing a serum for cerebrospinal meningitis (1907) and laying the groundwork for the development of polio vaccines. He wrote The Evolution and Organization of the University Clinic (1939).

Simon Flexner (March 25, 1863 in Louisville, Kentucky – May 2, 1946) was a physician, administrator, and professor of pathology at the University of Pennsylvania (1899–1903). He was the first director of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (1901–1935) and a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation.