New United States Postal Service stamp honors an American scientist

Dr. David L. Woodland, president and director of the Trudeau Institute, is delighted with the news of the special-issue stamp and is proud that “Dr. Trudeau’s life and research are being recognized in such a distinguished manner.” He is, furthermore, hopeful that the “honor will serve to highlight the importance of medical research.”

The Trudeau Institute continues its work towards the development of an improved vaccine for tuberculosis, a disease the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated to have killed 1.6 million people in 2005. With more than one third of the world’s population infected with TB bacilli, and the emergence of multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), more effective vaccines are urgently needed.

For 124 years now, in the relatively isolated environs of Saranac Lake, a humane and scientific enterprise is flourishing. Many seminal discoveries are attributed to Trudeau Institute scientists. Like Dr. Edward Trudeau, researchers at the Institute are committed to making breakthrough discoveries that lead to improved human health.

E.L. TRUDEAU STAMP

About the Artist

Best known for his detail-rich, black-and-white portraits of literary and historical figures, Mark Summers works out of his studio in Waterdown, Ontario, Canada. His drawings, regularly featured in the New York Times Book Review, are distinguished by a dense network of horizontal lines etched with exquisite precision. This scratchboard technique is reminiscent of turn-of-the-century engraved illustrations.

About the Art Director

A member of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee before being named an art director in 1981, Howard Paine has supervised the design of more than 400 U.S. postage stamps. For more than 30 years, he was as an art director for the National Geographic Society, where he redesigned National Geographic magazine, developed the children’s magazine National Geographic World and designed Explorers Hall.

The Trudeau Institute is an independent, not-for-profit, biomedical research organization with a scientific mission to make breakthrough discoveries leading to improved human health. Trudeau researchers are identifying the basic mechanisms used by the immune system to combat viruses like influenza, mycobacteria such as tuberculosis, parasites, and cancer, so that better vaccines and therapies can be developed for fighting deadly disease. The research is supported by government grants and philanthropic contributions.