In 1974, Stanford Medicine researcher William S. Robinson successfully isolated the genome of the hepatitis B virus, which is linked to a common form of liver cancer; this breakthrough significantly advanced the understanding of the virus and paved the way for vaccine development.

Hepatitis B is a global scourge that affects 300 million people and can lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis. His work laid the foundation for a deeper understanding of the virus’s constituent genes and its life cycle and led to a vaccine and treatments for the disease.