future: Preventive Medicine

Alfred Sommer, Professor of Epidemiology and International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, discovered that vitamin A has the power to save children’s lives.

Initially engaged in a study to prevent childhood blindness through vitamin A supplementation in Indonesia, Sommer was surprised to find that children who received the vitamin were not only retaining their vision, their mortality rate was much lower than that of the children who received a placebo.

This finding was initially met with widespread skepticism, because the effect seemed so powerful, but no one sought proof more than Sommer himself. He replicated his research in Nepal and in Africa and showed that even mild vitamin A deficiency significantly increases childhood mortality.

More importantly, Sommer demonstrated unequivocally that the debilitating effects of vitamin A deficiency could be swiftly and permanently reversed with oral supplementation of vitamin A at an annual cost of only four to six cents per child. It is hard to imagine a more dramatic instance of scientific research directly adding years to life on such a wide scale and at such a low cost.

Sommer made the crucial initial discovery, proved the case in randomized field trials, designed and tested a cost-effective intervention, and championed its routine adoption in affected countries around the world. As a result, millions of children’s lives have been saved and millions more stand to benefit in the future.

Sommer’s achievement has been recognized by the Helmut Horten Medical Research Award (1997), the Lasker Prize for Medical Research (1998), the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize (2003), and the Fries Prize for Improving Health (2008), among many others.