The week of October 12 thru 16th the NCSU CVM will be hosting the The Jim Wright Visiting Scholar. Everyone in the EMC community is encouraged to attend the formal lectures, and visit or meet with Dr. William Murray, this year’s Jim Wright Visiting Scholar during the week of activities.
Dr. Murray, a veterinarian, researcher and educator is a professor at San Jose State University, where he teaches subjects ranging from microbiology and virology to parasitology at both the graduate and undergraduate level. His major interest in infectious disease processes was developed in his PhD studies at Purdue University. He has a particular interest in wildlife disease at the human/wildlife interface, and he has published widely in this arena. He is particularly well known for his work on and publications evaluating the zoonotic potential of Baylisascaris procyonis, the raccoon roundworm. However, his published work has a broad base, including well received papers on such organisms of wildlife interest as Bartonella, E. Coli, and Moellerella. Much of his work has been in the context of mesocarnivores living in proximity to human habitats and populations. His passion and his propensity for problem-solving make him a well-storied, engaging, and informative presenter, and we are honored to have him joining us next week.
Dr. Murray will be presenting on his work with a western lowland gorilla with antibiotic-resistant pneumonia on Tuesday, October 13th at 12:15 PM in the South Theater at the College of Veterinary Medicine, and will give a lecture on Wildlife and Brucella in CBS 817 at 4:15 PM on Thursday, October 15th, also in South Theater. He will be available for meetings and discussions during his visit; any interested faculty who would like to talk with Dr. Murray about his research, can contact Dr. Michael Stoskopf to make arrangements.
The Jim Wright Visiting Scholar program is a tribute to Dr. James F. Wright, who was an esteemed member of the faculty at NCSU’s CVM. Dr. Wright came to NCSU and joined the CVM faculty after a very productive and interesting career that included many contributions to the discipline of zoological medicine. Dr. Wright was was the first full-time veterinarian at the National Zoo in the 1950s and helped refine protocols for projectile tranquilization and immobilization of wildlife both in the USA and in Africa. He conducted important investigations into the health effects of radiation, and worked with the Environmental Protection Agency to study the effects of environmental stress on animals before joining the faculty at the NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine in the early 1980s in what was then the Department of Microbiology, Parasitology, and Pathology. Over 10 years, from 1984 to 2004, working with his good friend, the former head of pathology at UNC Chapel Hill, Dr. Fred Dahldorf, Dr. Wright pioneered the in-house pathology services at the Zoological Park, and in so doing planted the earliest seeds for what has become a long and productive partnership between the NC Zoo and the College of Veterinary Medicine. He is remembered not only for his work, but for his warmth and his dedication, and is an honorary diplomate of the ACZM.
