Karl Maramorosch, Ph.D., is the Robert L. Starkey Professor of Microbiology and Professor Emeritus of Entomology at Rutgers ‐The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Dr. Maramorosch, a native of Vienna, Austria, grew up in Poland and graduated from SGGW, the Agricultural University of Warsaw. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from Columbia University. His scientific career began at Rockefeller University where he spent twelve years working on plant viruses and insect vectors. Later, he became Program Director of Virology and Insect Physiology at the Boyce Thompson Institute. Since 1974, he has served as a Distinguished Professor at Rutgers University. Among his many scientific discoveries was the seminal first finding that certain plant pathogens multiply not only in plants but also in specific invertebrate animal vectors. Professor Maramorosch is a Fellow, former Recording Secretary and Vice‐President of the New York Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science and of the American Phytopathological Society, a Fellow and Honorary Member of the Entomological Society of America, Honorary Fellow of the Indian Virological Society, a Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, a member of the Leopoldina Academy, the Society for In Vitro Biology, the American Society for Virology, the Microscopy Society, the International Organization for Mycoplasmology, the Society for Invertebrate Pathology and of other professional organizations. He won the 1980 Wolf Prize in Agriculture and numerous other awards and honors, including the Jurzykowski Award in Biology, AIBS Award of Distinction, the Waksman Award, AAAS Campbell Award, the 2012 SGGW Award of Distinction and others. He has held short‐term assignments from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Ford Foundation in Mexico, India, Kenya, and Philippines. Dr. Maramorosch has edited more than 90 volumes on viruses, vectors, plant diseases, invertebrate cell culture, and is the author or co‐author of more than 800 research papers. His major interests include comparative virology, invertebrate cell culture, parasitology, diseases caused by spirochetes, viroids, phytoplasmas, spiroplasmas and emerging plant pathogens. He is an active participant in biotechnology studies and is involved in many international scientific cooperation activities. In Dr. Maramorosch’s long and distinguished career he has served twice as visiting Fulbright Professor in Yugoslavia and as a visiting professor in China, U.S.S.R., the Netherlands, Germany Poland, Romania, Japan and India. Frederick A. Murphy, DVM, PhD, is professor, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), Galveston. He holds a BS and DVM from Cornell University and a PhD from the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). Formerly he was dean and distinguished professor, School of Veterinary Medicine, and distinguished professor, School of Medicine, UC Davis. Before that he served as director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, and director of the Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences and the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine. He holds an honorary Doctor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Turku, Finland; an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Guelph, Canada; an honorary Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of London, United Kingdom; an honorary Doctor of Science from University College Dublin, Ireland; the Presidential Rank Award of the U.S. Government; the PennVet World Leadership Award from the University of Pennsylvania, and the Distinguished Microbiologist Award from the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists. At UTMB, he is a member of the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Galveston National Laboratory, and McLaughlin Endowment for Infection and Immunity. His professional interests include the pathology and epidemiology of highly pathogenic viruses/viral diseases: rabies and the rabies-like viruses, arboviruses, hemorrhagic fever viruses, and other neurotropic viruses. He has been a leader in advancing the concepts of “new and emerging infectious diseases and “new and emerging zoonoses and “the threat posed by bioterrorism. Most recently, he has been working on Internet resources on the history of virology: “The Foundations of Virology at http://www.utmb.edu/virusimages/.
