 Francisco Javier de Balmis

Francisco Javier de Balmis (2 December 1753 – 12 February 1819) was a Spanish physician who headed an 1803 expedition to Spanish America to vaccinate the populations against smallpox.His expedition is considered one of the most important events in the history of medicine and has inspired for example Dr. Carlos Canseco, President of Rotary International, to start the worldwide program Polio Plus to eradicate the polio disease.