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Dr. Roy Curtiss III Inducted into the Poultry Hall of Fame

 06/29/2023

Roy Curtiss was born in New York City and raised upstate in New York, earning a bachelor's degree in poultry husbandry and genetics from Cornell University.  He worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory on the genetics of Phage 22 and earned a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago on mechanisms of bacterial conjugation.  He gained experience as a post-doctoral research scientist at the Oakridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee.  His major contribution to animal and poultry health was conducted during his long tenure at Washington University in St. Louis. Studies on molecular genetics continued in post-retirement research at Arizona State University and most recently, the University of Florida.

 

The major contribution of the Curtiss Laboratory is developing attenuated derivatives of Salmonella by deletion of cya and crp genes.  He created a Salmonella strain that was immunogenic but nonpathogenic.  This led to the three APHIS-licensed vaccines widely used to suppress Salmonella infection in egg-type pullets, turkeys, broilers and hogs.  More recent work from his laboratory has involved delivery of antigens and DNA vaccines, delayed attenuation and the synthesis of protective antigens for oral vaccination.  Basic technology was applied to develop the first APHIS-licensed vectored vaccine to prevent necrotic enteritis in broilers.

 

During his career, Curtiss received an Outstanding Alumni Awards from Cornell and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Chicago.  He is a Lifetime Achievement Award Laureate of the American Society for Microbiology.  He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academy of Inventors and the Academy of Science, Medicine and Engineering of Florida, among others.

 

Dr. Curtiss has seven children, 13 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.  His wife, Dr. Josephine Clark-Curtiss is a distinguished researcher in molecular genetics and has provided Roy with extensive support throughout his career.