Alfred Sommer, MD, MHS ’73

The Hopkins Sommer Scholars Program is named in honor of
Dean Emeritus Alfred Sommer. In the footsteps of earlier public
health leaders, Dr. Sommer followed a remarkable scientific insight
with perseverance and ingenuity to save the sight and lives of
millions of children.

In 1982, while reviewing data from his study of childhood vision
problems in Indonesia, Dr. Sommer noted that children with mild
cases of an eye disease called xerophthalmia were also dying at
alarming rates. Dr. Sommer, an ophthalmologist and epidemiologist,
soon proved that vitamin A deficiency dramatically increased childhood
morbidity and mortality from infectious disease, and that a
4-cent dose of vitamin A not only prevented and cured eye disease
but also reduced childhood deaths by 34 percent. Based on his
work, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and their partners
now annually provide more than 400 million vitamin A supplements
to children around the world, saving literally hundreds of thousands
of lives each year.

Dr. Alfred Sommer is the recipient of numerous awards including
the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award and the Helen
Keller Foundation Prize for Vision Research. He is a member of both
the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.

“From Al Sommer, I learned
that it’s better to follow your
passion—even when it looks
like a disorganized path—
than to follow the road most
likely traveled.”
—Melva Green, MD,
Sommer Scholar,
MPH ‘06