The Lawrence Brilliant papers documents efforts to eradicate smallpox, primarily the joint World Health Organization (WHO) and Government of India smallpox eradication campaign of 1973-1975. Material is dated from approximately 1882-2022 (majority of material found within 1972-1979) and includes correspondence, various kinds of reports and publications, photograph albums and a scrapbook, posters, and microfilm.
Researchers should note that this collection contains images of individuals, including children, suffering from smallpox.
Lawrence "Larry" Brilliant was born in Detroit, Michigan on May 5, 1944 to Joe and Sylvie Brilliant. He later matriculated to the University of Michigan and–after meeting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when he visited the university in 1962–joined the counterculture movement of the 1960s and became deeply involved in various activist and social justice efforts. Brilliant received his M.D. from Wayne State University (WSU) in 1969.
After graduating from WSU, Brilliant briefly interned at Presbyterian Hospital in San Francisco, California. During his time in California, he helped deliver the child of Native American activists John Trudell and Fenicia "Lou" Ordonez in the midst of the 1969-1971 Native American Occupation of Alcatraz Island. The ensuing media sensation upon his return to the mainland resulted in Brilliant starring in the 1971 Warner Bros film "Medicine Ball Caravan," and, ultimately, joining activist and comedian Wavy Gravy (Hugh Nanton Romney Jr) and the Hog Farm commune as part of a relief convoy to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to assist victims of the 1970 Bhola cyclone. Civil unrest in East Pakistan ultimately forced the convoy to divert to India. During his time in India, Brilliant learned of Neem Karoli Baba, a Hindu guru and a devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman.
In 1972, Brilliant relocated to Uttarakhand, India, and joined the ashram of Guru Neem Karoli Baba, who instructed the young doctor to join the World Health Organization (WHO) and help eradicate smallpox. Brilliant joined the smallpox eradication program of the Southeast Asia Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO-SEARO) the same year. He was quickly promoted from the role of clerk to WHO medical officer and joined a leadership team known as the Central Team (also known as the Central Appraisal Team) whose members included both WHO staff–such Drs. Nicole Grasset, William Foege, and Zdeno Jezek–and Government of India personnel like Dr. Mudi Inder Dev (M.I.D.) Sharma, director of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases.
Beginning in the summer of 1973, the Central Team oversaw a national, multi-phase campaign to eradicate smallpox from India. Due to numerous factors, including the nation's large population and difficulties treating smallpox once it had infected its victims, the Central Team focused on rapidly identifying and containing smallpox outbreaks as well as selectively vaccinating those most at risk of smallpox infection (known as ring vaccination). Over the next few years, WHO staff, Indian physicians, and approximately 150,000 Indian healthcare workers searched for smallpox in urban areas, conducted house to house searches for smallpox cases in four Indian states where the disease was endemic–Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal–and performed monthly searches afterwards to confirm that smallpox had been eradicated. They were assisted in this effort by members of the general public, who were offered a financial reward for reporting suspected or actual smallpox cases.
Brilliant directly participated in smallpox eradication efforts in several Indian states, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, as well as municipalities ranging from remote Indian villages to the city of Jamshedpur (Tatanagar). He also helped educate the public on smallpox symptoms, trained healthcare workers involved in the campaign, and traveled to Bangladesh to facilitate smallpox eradication there.
As a result of this surveillance-containment campaign, smallpox was eliminated from India. The country's final case of naturally occurring variola major–the deadliest form of the disease–was uncovered on May 24, 1975. Smallpox was declared eradicated from India on April 23, 1977 by the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication, a group of 16 smallpox eradication experts. This was followed by their certification of the disease's worldwide extinction on December 9, 1979, which the WHO formally accepted the following year.
Brilliant returned to the University of Michigan in 1977, where he received an M.P.H. and was also appointed assistant professor of health planning and administration. He was reclassified as an assistant professor of epidemiology in 1981 and, by 1985, had attained the rank of associate professor. He departed from the University of Michigan in 1988.
Brilliant has been involved in numerous other efforts and organizations over the years. Some examples include his co-founding of Seva (Sanskrit for "Service"), a global nonprofit focused on eyecare and blindness prevention; the Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (the WELL), an early online social networking site; and Pandefense Advisory, a pandemic-focused consulting organization. He also served as the inaugural executive director of Google.org and vice president of Google.com (2006-2009), chaired the National Biosurveillance Advisory Subcommittee (2008-2010), and held numerous positions with the Skoll Foundation, including as president of the Skoll Global Threats Fund (2009-2015).
Brilliant has received several awards over the years, including the TED Prize (2006), being named to "The Time's" List of 100 Most Influential People (2008), and receiving an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Michigan (2019). He has also authored numerous articles and books, including "The Management of Smallpox Eradication in India" (1985) and "Sometimes Brilliant: The Impossible Adventure of a Spiritual Seeker and Visionary Physician Who Helped Conquer the Worst Disease in History" (2016).
