After serving our Department for decades, four senior faculty are retiring this year and will join our Professor Emeritus ranks…
Jean Handy, Ph.D., started at UNC in 1978 as the Associate Director of the Clinical Microbiology/Immunology Laboratories. In recent years, she has had an active collaboration with Dr. Melinda Beck (School of Public Health) on studies of the impact of host nutrition on immunity to infectious diseases.
Bob Johnston, Ph.D., moved to UNC from NC State in 1989, continuing his studies of alphavirus pathogenesis. During his tenure at UNC, he founded AlphaVax, Inc., the Carolina Vaccine Institute, and Global Vaccines, Inc. Bob will be continuing his career at GVI after his retirement from UNC.
John Newbold, Ph.D., has served on the UNC faculty for the last 41 years, with much of his research focusing on hepatitis B virus following his earlier work on SV40, AAV and mitochondrial DNA. Since 1999, he has been the Director of the microbiology and immunology course for School of Dentistry students.
David Klapper, Ph.D., joined the M&I Department in 1977. A immunologist/biochemist, his skills and collaborative nature have made him an integral part of many interdisciplinary research studies, and he has published articles with at least a dozen of our Department faculty members and dozens more outside M&I.
All four of these faculty members will be honored at a special faculty banquet on June 8, where they will have an opportunity to say goodbye to nearly 60 of their colleagues. Please take the time to wish them well and thank them for their dedication and long-term impact on our Department.