Sarah H. Sell pediatrician, author, and professor was considered an authority on immunization and infectious diseases of children. Dr. Sell devoted much of her professional career to the development of a vaccine to protect children against Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib). Her initiatives led to the licensure of several conjugating Hib vaccines in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These vaccines have been so effective that they have virtually eliminated this devastating disease in young children in the United States.

Sarah Hamilton Sell received her undergraduate degree from Berea College in 1934. She then worked as a bacteriologist for the Alabama State Health Department for three years. In 1937 she came to Vanderbilt as a graduate student in bacteriology, graduating with a M.S. degree in 1938. Six years later she entered Vanderbilt Medical School and graduated in 1948. After graduation she completed pediatric residencies at Vanderbilt, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and Louisiana State University.

Dr. Sell joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 1954 and remained until her retirement in 1978. Dr. Sell served as a consultant at the Tennessee Department of Health and Environment in 1978 and as president of the Nashville Academy of Medicine in 1987. She died in Nashville, October 6, 2012.