Ettore Marchiafava was born in Rome on 3 January 1847 to Francesco Marchiafava and Marianna Vercelli. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Rome (later called the Sapienza University of Rome) in 1872. He is best known for his work on malariology with Angelo Celli. Additionally, he was the first to describe the meningococcus, the bacterium responsible for meningitis, in cerebrospinal fluid, and also identified and described conditions such as syphilitic cerebral arteritis and the neurodegenerative effects of alcoholism, now known as Marchiafava-Bignami disease. He was awarded honorary fellowship for the role he played during WWI. He died in Rome on 22 October 1935.

Hermann Michael Biggs was born 29 September 1859 in Trumansburg, New York. A pathologist and public health pioneer, he obtained his MD from Bellevue Hospital Medical College in 1883. In 1892, he joined the health department of New York City, becoming general health officer of the New York Department of Health in 1900. In 1914, he became State Commissioner of Health for the state. He was awarded honorary fellowship for the role he played during WWI He died on 28 June 1923.

French politician Georges Clemenceau was born 28 September 1841 to Benjamin Clemenceau and Sophie Eucharie Gautreau. He studied medicine at the University of Paris, graduating in 1865 and maintaining a medical practice in New York from 1865-1869 before returning to France in 1870, where he briefly continued to practice medicine before turning to politics. He was additionally a journalist. He was Prime Minister of France from 1906-1909 and 1917-1920. During WWI, he opposed surrendering or negotiating a separate peace with Germany and played an important role in the Paris Peace Conference. He was awarded honorary fellowship for the role he played during WWI He died 24 November 1929.

Bacteriologist Shibasaburo Kitasato was born in 1853 in Oguni, Kumamoto, Japan. He made several key discoveries throughout his career: he successfully isolated tetanus bacillus and later the corresponding antitoxin; he isolated the bacterium which causes the plague at the same time as Alexandre Yersin; and his work with Emil von Behring on diphtheria and tetanus immunity in animals led to the development of serum therapy. In 1892, he established the Infectious Diseases Research Institute, and in 1914, when the institute came under government control, he established the Kitasato Institute for research. In 1916, he became the first president of the Japan Medical Association and in 1917, he founded the Keio University School of Medicine. He was awarded honorary fellowship for the role he played during WWI. He died 13 June 1931.

Greek politician Eleutherios Venizelos was born 23 August 1864. He was the prime minister of Greece five times, from 1910-1915, 1917-1920, 1924, 1928-1932 and 1933. During the Paris Peace Conference, he represented Greece. He was awarded honorary fellowship for the role he played during WWI. He died 18 March 1936

General Sir Arthur William Currie was born in Ontario, Canada, in December 1875. Currie worked as a teacher before joining the Canadian Militia in 1897 where he rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel by 1909. His life was marked by financial hardship, which led him to embezzle ten thousand dollars earmarked for uniforms to pay his debts. After participating in WWI in various command roles, Currie accepted the position of principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University in Montreal. During his tenure as principal, Currie played a significant role in saving the School for Graduate Nurses at Royal Victoria College from closure in the 1930s. He died on 30 November 1933.

Léon Charles Albert Calmette was born in Nice, France, in July 1863. He is best known for co-developing the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, which is primarily used against tuberculosis. Calmette is often associated with his contemporaries Louis Pasteur and Émile Roux, the latter of whom was his professor in a course on bacteriology. In 1891, Calmette established the first branch of the Pasteur Institute in what is now Ho Chi Minh City, which focused on protection against rabies and smallpox. Among his many contributions to medicine, he revolutionized the treatment of snakebite worldwide, contributed to the development of the first immune serum against bubonic plague, and helped advance the amylolytic process, which is used in industrial brewing. Calmette died in Paris on 29 October 1933.

Jules Jean Baptiste Vincent Bordet was born June 1870 in Soignies, Belgium. He was an immunologist and microbiologist. Bordet began working at the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1894. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1919 for his contributions to the field of immunity. His identification and isolation of the bacterial culture Bordetella pertussis, which was named after him, established it as the cause of whooping cough. This discovery eventually led to the development of an effective vaccine. Bordet died in 1961 in Brussels, where the Institut Jules Bordet hospital was named in his honour.

Theobald Smith was born in New York, U.S.A. in July 1934. He was a pioneer in the fields of epidemiology, bacteriology, and pathology. Much of his work focused on combating a wide range of animal diseases, particularly bovine ailments such as pneumonia, cattle fever, and tick-borne diseases, within the context of the animal industry. While teaching at Columbian University in Washington, D.C., where he established the school’s Department of Bacteriology, Smith also researched water sanitation, particularly focusing on the Hudson River and its tributaries. One of Smith’s contributions, which later proved to be inaccurate, was the idea that a delicate equilibrium between hosts and pathogens could lead to a benign relationship over time. Nonetheless, his overall contributions to the study of animal diseases were internationally significant. He died in December 1934 in New York City.

Robert Briggs was born in 1768. He was the Chandos Chair of Medicine and Anatomy at the University of St Andrews from 1811-1840. He also taught chemistry and chemical pharmacy. He died in 1840.