David H. Walker

David H. Walker, M.D., the Carmage and Martha Walls Distinguished University Chair in Tropical Diseases, was the founding Director of the University of Texas Medical Branch Center for Tropical Diseases, and is the Executive Director of the Center for Biodefense and Emerging and Infectious Diseases and Chair of the Department of Pathology. He received a Bachelor’s degree in premedical studies and history from Davidson College (1965) and an M.D. from Vanderbilt University (1969).

His decision to pursue an academic career in tropical medicine was determined by a summer internship in Pathology at Harvard University’s Brigham Hospital under the influence of Drs. Franz von Lichtenberg and Gustav Dammin. Subsequently, as components of a residency in Pathology at the Brigham Hospital (1969-1973), Dr. Walker performed a six month research elective at the Gorgas Memorial Institute in Panama investigating Chagas’ disease and gaining additional field, hospital, and clinical experiences with malaria, leishmaniasis, and other tropical diseases.

Dr. Walker served as a commissioned research medical officer in the US Public Health Service (1973-1975) at the Centers for Disease Control where he investigated Lassa fever, lymphocytic choriomeningitis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the biosafety level (BSL) 3 and 4 laboratories under the mentorship of Drs. Fred Murphy and Charles Shepard.

He developed a career as an independent investigator at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1975-1987) where he established a BSL-3 laboratory and studied clinical Rocky Mountain spotted fever and NIH-funded projects on rickettsial pathogenesis and immunity. He collaborated with scientists in China and Sicily where he frequently engaged directly in the field and clinical studies.

During his tenure at UTMB since 1987, Dr. Walker has recruited an impressive group of scientists who study arthropod-borne and zoonotic viral and rickettsial diseases. He led the construction of the Robert E. Shope Laboratory, the first BSL-4 laboratory on an academic campus in the US, enabling basic scientific studies of biohazardous viruses, many of which have been neglected. Under his leadership as Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Western Regional Center of Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases (RCE), diagnostics and vaccines are being developed for numerous tropical infectious diseases.

He has served on the Armed Forces Epidemiology Board, the Defense Health Board, and the National Research Council Standing Committee on Biodefense.

Among his most gratifying experiences has been the Fogarty International Center-sponsored training and ongoing mentoring of scientists from Latin America and Africa who have returned to their home countries to establish centers of excellence in Mexico, Brazil, and Cameroon.

Dr. Walker’s research has elucidated mechanisms of immunity to Rickettsia and Ehrlichia, contributed to discovery of the antigens of Ehrlichia chaffeensis and E. canis, developed animal models for investigating rickettsioses and ehrlichiosis, and contributed to elucidating the pathology and pathophysiology of Lassa fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Mediterranean spotted fever, and human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis. Among emerging infections, he contributed to the discovery, characterization, and/or epidemiology of Anaplasma phagocytophilum (human granulocytotropic anaplasmosis), Rickettsia japonica (Japanese spotted fever), R. felis (flea-borne spotted fever), and E. chaffeensis (human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis).

His research has led to 278 primary peer-reviewed research articles, 44 chapters in published proceedings, 44 state-of-the-art review articles and 10 patents. His scholarly works include 136 book chapters and eight books. His commitment to high quality dissemination of up-to-date knowledge of tropical medicine is exemplified in Tropical Infectious Diseases: Principles, Pathogens, and Practice.