Robert G. Webster

Robert G. Webster is a world-renowned virologist and international expert in influenza who was among the first scientists to acknowledge a link between human and avian flu. His team isolated and identified the avian-adapted strain of H5N1, the causative agent of H5N1 flu commonly known as avian mostra altro influenza or 'bird flu.' His distinguished career began in Otago. Born in Balclutha, he grew up on a farm before studying microbiology at the University of Otago. He has held many research posts in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. For the past few decades he has worked in infectious diseases at St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He has published over 600 original articles and reviews on influenza viruses, and in his eighties still travels the world addressing conferences and scientific gatherings. mostra meno