Evening star., 1939-03-26
Kober Foundation Honors Won
By Col. SiIer and Dr.. WhippIe
Notable Contributions
To Preventive
Medicine Luuded

sNhSAbSuhS ~ u OSO
Georgetown University announced
yesterday the Kober Foundation
honors for 1899 have been awarded
to Col Joseph F. Siler. M. c., di-
rector of the Army Medical School
in Washington, and to DR.. George
Hoyt Whipple of Rochester, N. Y,
a former Nobel Prize winner, in
recognition of notable contribu-
tions' to medical research for the
prevention of diseases.
The title of Kober lecturer was
given to Col. Siier because of his
important experiments relating to
the strains of the typhoid organism
which have greatly advanced knowl-
edge Of the processes of immunity
DR.. Whipple, whose studies of the
anaemias have brought him world
wide fame in the medical profess
sion, was designated as the Kober
medaliSt.
Col. Siler will deliver his first lee
ture at 8:15 pm. Tuesday in Gas
ton Hall at Georgetown before an
audience of physicians and scien-
fists, most of them members of the
three associations which were desig-
mated to pass on the foundations
awards. His topic will be Discus
sion OF some of the elements of i'm
munity with particular reference to
results obtained in experimental
studies of strains of E. typhosa.'
Students Used in Experiments.
The experiments conducted by
Col. Siler in cooperation with the
members of the Army Medical
Schools staff continued over a pc
riod of four and half years. They
are now ready for final publication
Students from Georgetown and
George Washington Universities and
the University of Pennsylvania were
injected with doses of vaccine dur
ing these experiments. Mouse pro-
lection tests also demonstrated that
vaccines prepared with virulent
strains of the typhoid organism con-
fer markedly higher degree of i'm
munity to human beings than do
those prepared with avirulent
strains.
Col. Sller was chosen as lecturer by
the Association of Military Surgeons,
which, under the terms of the Kober
Foundation, selects the lecturer
every third year, alternating with
the Association of American Physi-
clans and the Medical Society Of the
District of Columbia. DR.. Wallace
M. Yater, professor of medicine at
Georgetown, was the choice of the
District Medical Society last year.
The medal will be presented to
DR.. Whipple on May at the annual
meeting of the Association of Ameri-
can Physicians at Atlantic City, N.
j. 1t is gold medal struck at the
United States mint.
DR.. Kober Had Notable Career.
The foundation was established
some years ago during his life time
by the late DR.. George M. Kober.
dean of the Georgetown Medical
School for more than 40 years. DR..
Kober had spent many years in the
Medical Corps of the Army and with
the United States Public Health
Service before he began on a notable
career of teaching. He was regarded
as one of the leading authorities on
public health. and for many years
was president of the Washington
tuberculosis Association.
He was a member and officer in
the three medical associations named
to pass on the honors under the
terms of the foundation.
Col. Siler, a native of Alabama,
has had an outstanding career in
the Army since 1900. During the
World War he was chief of the di-
vision of laboratories and communi-
cable diseases in the A. E. F. He is
an authority on tropical diseases
and was chairman of the Thompson
McF'adden Pellagra Commission.
Col. Siler entered on his present
duties in 1885 after serving four
years as chief health officer of the
Panama Canal. He received his
medical degree from the University
OF Virginia and the Army Medical
school and is a graduate also of the
Alabama Normal College and the
ALABAMA Polytechnic Institute. As
a writer on medical topics, he has
contributed articles on pellagra and
the transmission of dengue fever by
mosquitoes. He belongs to the lead
ing medical associations in the coun-
try, as we'll as to the Washington
academy of Medicine, Phi Delta
Theta and Alpha Omega Alpha
Fraternities.
DIR. Whfpple Is Rochester Man,
DR.. Whipple, the medalist for this
year. is dean and professor of pa
thology Of the school of medicine and
dentistry at the University of Roch-
ester. He has held that position
since 1921. He was given the ioint
askard Of the Nobel Prize in 1884 tori