 Washino Earns Medal for Medical Entomology
Medical entomologist Robert K. Washino, whose career spans four decades at the University of California, Davis, has received the international Harry Hoogstraal Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Medical Entomology.
Washino, a global authority on the ecology of mosquitoes and mosquito control agents, received the prestigious medal from the American Committee of Medical Entomology at the 54th annual meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), held Dec. 11-15 in Washington, D.C.
“I’m dumbfounded,” said Washino, who retired from UC Davis 13 years ago but was tapped Nov. 1 to chair the UC Davis Department of Entomology for a year. “This is overwhelming.”
Only 14 entomologists have received the medal since 1987 when Washino’s mentor, mosquito-borne disease expert William C. Reeves (1916-2004) of UC Berkeley, won the honor.
Washino not only worked several years with Reeves, considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on the spread and control of mosquito-borne diseases, but “met and had coffee with” parasitologist-entomologist Harry Hoogstraal (1917-1986), a global authority on ticks and tick-borne diseases who maintained research facilities in Egypt.
Last year John Edman, director of the Center for Vector Borne Diseases, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, won the medal.
Thomas Scott, professor and director of the UC Davis Mosquito Research Laboratory, who nominated Washino for the award, said the UC Department of Entomology “is ranked among the top entomology departments in the world in large part because of the long lasting impact of Bob’s vision and administrative skills.”
Describing him as “insightful, persuasive, and a kind person with admirable integrity,” Scott praised Washino’s “outstanding contributions that range from classic studies on basic and applied science to training the next generation of medical entomologists to high level and very effective administrative posts.”
Although Washino retired 13 years ago, he’s been tapped or “recalled” for three administrative posts since 1996. He served from 1996 to 2001 as the special assistant to the dean of the UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. On Nov. 1, he began chairing the Department of Entomology, a position he also held from 1981-87. In addition, he serves as the interim co-director of the Center for Vector Borne Diseases, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
Born and reared in Sacramento, Washino never strayed far from his roots, except for two years in France as a medical entomologist with the Army Medical Service Corps during the Korean War. His parents, natives of Japan, grew hops on their farm in the Sacramento Valley. Later his father became a successful Sacramento florist shop and hotel owner.
Washino said a career in biomedical sciences always intrigued him, “but there was no one event that led me to a career in medical entomology. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.”
Initially interested in bacteriology (he received his bachelor’s degree in public health in 1954 from UC Berkeley), he credits an epidemiology course, taught by the very same William C. Reeves, in fueling his interest in mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases.
“This was a year after Western equine encephalitis and St. Louis encephalitis broke out in California,” said Washino, who, as a Berkeley student, interned for a local public health department in a mosquito surveillance program. “Being the new kid on the block, I was given the task of setting out traps and identifying mosquitoes from the weekly trap operations.”
The work cemented his interest in entomology. He received his master’s degree in entomology in 1956 from UC Davis and his doctorate there in 1967. In between, as an Army Medical Service Corps medical entomologist in France, he became interested in mosquito-borne disease outbreaks among rabbits.
“After I left the Army, I worked for Bill Reeves as a National Institutes of Health predoctoral fellow,” Washino recalled. “Bill was mentor to me; I worked for him for three years in research on mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases.”
Washino joined the UC Davis faculty in 1967 and never looked back.
Washino, a father of three and a grandfather of four (he and his wife, Connie live in Davis will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next March) describes his long and diverse career, working at county, state, national and international levels, as “challenging, productive, exciting, and most of all, fun.”
“It’s been a positive experience,” he said. “I’ve met so many people and gone so many places. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
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