The April 28th Jonas Salk Legacy celebration will serve as the cornerstone event for the School of Public Health’s 75th anniversary, and will feature the unveiling of an historic exhibit celebrating the Salk legacy at Pitt and a panel discussion.

Jessica Burke, vice dean of the school, said the expert panel, which starts at 4 p.m., will “explore our school’s connection to the polio vaccine, the infectious disease threats of today and efforts to protect the health of populations around the globe.”

Following the discussion in the ground floor auditorium, there will be a ceremonial ribbon cutting and guests will be invited to return to the lobby on the Fifth Avenue side of the building to spend more time perusing the exhibit.

The new Jonas Salk Legacy Exhibit —three separate glassed off spaces and a wall of images, clippings and documents — celebrates the development of a safe and effective polio vaccine by Salk (1914-1995) and and his team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh. Materials displayed in the exhibit are part of a gift to the University from the Salk family. 

The creation of the Salk Legacy Exhibit was a collaborative effort with input from the School of Public Health, the museum studies program in the History of Arts and Architecture department, the University Library System’s Archives and Special Collections, Facilities Management, the Office of Philanthropic and Alumni Engagement and University Communications and Marketing.  

The panelists include Peter Salk (president of the Jonas Salk Legacy Foundation and son of Jonas Salk), Donald Burke (dean emeritus of Pitt’s School of Public Health), Chris Elias (president of the Global Development Division at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), Ali Khan (dean, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health) and Stephanie Urchick (incoming president of Rotary International). Maureen Lichtveld, dean of Pitt’s School of Public Health, will serve as moderator.