Louis W. Sauer

Louis Wendlin Sauer (born August 13, 1885 in Cincinnati; d. February 10, 1980 in Miami)[1] was an American pediatrician who became known for perfecting the vaccine used to prevent pertussis (whooping cough), saving countless lives around the world.[2] After five years of work, Dr. Sauer developed the vaccine in 1931, inoculating children against pertussis, a respiratory infection that had been the most fatal disease for children under two years old.[2] He later developed the DPT vaccine, which allowed the vaccines for diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus to be administered as a single injection. Dr. Sauer never asked for compensation for developing vaccines and told an interviewer later, "One doesn't do that thing for money."[3]

Sauer was born in Cincinnati, met his wife Mira while he was in Germany as he was a medical student, and established a practice at Evanston Hospital, in Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. He earned an MD in Berlin and his PhD at the University of Chicago. Dr. Sauer was a professor at the Northwestern University Medical School in Evanston, Illinois, until his retirement in 1959 to Coral Gables, Florida.[2] He died at age 94 of pneumonia and congestive heart failure.[2]