Interview with the Expert: William E. Collins, Ph.D.

Abstract

William Collins, Ph.D., received his B.S. and M.Sc. degrees in entomology from Michigan State University. He completed his Ph.D. at Rutgers University in two years, just before being inducted into the Army to serve in the Korean War. He was assigned to Fort Detrick at the Biological Warfare Research Laboratories and after three years returned to Rutgers as an extension entomologist. He accepted a position in 1959 with the U.S. Public Health Service, with which he has worked for the last 50 years. In 1963, the Public Health Service laboratory moved to Atlanta and Dr. Collins' group began working with non-human primates following the discovery that monkey malarias were transmissible to humans. Parasites from monkeys or apes isolated in Asia, South America, and Africa were sent to the laboratory in Chamblee, Georgia, where they were adapted and transmitted to laboratory-maintained primates and their life cycles described and characterized. Transmissions to human volunteers were also attempted. In 1973, the laboratory operation was transferred to the CDC, and the emphasis changed from the study of monkey malaria in monkeys to that of human malaria in monkeys. During the last 25 to 30 years, different isolates of human malaria parasites have been adapted to New World monkeys to characterize the isolates for the development and testing of drugs and vaccines. Dr. Collins' task has been to identify and choose the best combination of vector-parasite-host combinations for testing each vaccine candidate. He has co-authored more than 450 manuscripts and has been awarded the U.S. Public Health Service Superior Service Award, The Joseph A. LaPrince Medal for Malariology from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, The Distinguished Service Award of the Department of Health and Human Services, the William Watson Medal of Excellence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Hoogstraal Medal from the American Committee of Medical Entomology.