7 Dec 2014

NZ disease control specialist honoured

5:48 pm on 7 December 2014

A leading New Zealand scientist will be honoured at a symposium on disease control in Chicago tomorrow.

Massey University Professor Emeritus Roger Morris

Massey University Professor Emeritus Roger Morris Photo: Massey University

Roger Morris, a Massey University Professor Emeritus, is the first non-American to be at the centre of the Schwabe Symposium, which will focus on his work preventing the spread of diseases such as mad cow and bird flu.

He will give the keynote address, and his former students and colleagues will also speak.

Professor Morris cites his work on bovine turberculosis as a career highlight.

He said when he came to New Zealand in 1986, it had about 1800 infected herds. Today, it has fewer than 100.

Professor Morris said he was turning his sights to eradicating the Ebola virus, which has killed nearly 7000 people in West Africa this year.

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