The University of Maryland School of Medicine, located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S., is the medical school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System. Established in 1807 as the College of Medicine of Maryland, it is the first public and the fifth oldest medical school in the United States. UMB SOM's campus includes Davidge Hall, which was built in 1812, and is the oldest building in continuous use for medical education in the Northern Hemisphere.

Paul Fiset was a Canadian-American microbiologist and virologist. His research helped to develop one of the first successful Q fever vaccines, noted by The New York Times. Fiset was born in Quebec, Canada, and attended Laval University, where he earned a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1949. He subsequently attended Cambridge University, where he received a PhD degree in 1956. As a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, he also researched other bacterial diseases such as typhus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, in addition to Q fever.