Rutgers Professor Selman Waksman (foreground) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1952. Dr. Waksman's studies had led to the discovery of streptomycin, a new antibiotic. Streptomycin was the first effective cure for tuberculosis.  Pictured with Waksman is his favorite graduate student, Boyd Woodruff.  H. Boyd Woodruff was President of the Theobald Smith Society (1949-1950) and the 2007 Waksman Lecturer.  After obtaining his PhD from Rutgers, Dr. Woodruff joined the research laboratories of Merck & Co., Inc. in 1942 as a research microbiologist. He was promoted to Director of the Microbiological Research Department and later served as Executive Director of Biological Sciences. He guided fermentation programs for the commercial production of penicillin and streptomycin, the first drug used widely to cure tuberculosis, and of vitamin B12, which overcomes pernicious anemia. During his laboratory leadership, Merck & Co. became a leader in new antibiotic discovery. His final ten years of employment were spent in Tokyo, serving as Executive Administrator of the Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories, Japan, where he obtained for marketing in America Japanese discoveries for treatment of urinary tract infections, ulcers, parasitic diseases and a vaccine against chicken pox. Woodruff retired from Merck in 1982.