Graduate Fellowship Established in Honor of Dale A. Stringfellow
Dale A. Strinfellow, Ph.D.
Mrs. Jean Stringfellow (BS Health ’66), widow of biology alumnus and respected research scientist Dale A. Stringfellow (BS Biology ’67, MS Microbiology ’70, PhD Microbiology ’72), has made a generous gift to the Department of Biology in honor of her husband’s work, establishing the Dale A. Stringfellow Endowed Fellowship in Cell Biology or Microbiology.
The endowment will generate funds in perpetuity to help cover the educational costs for graduate students following in Dr. Stringfellow’s footsteps.
“We are so very grateful to Mrs. Stringfellow for this generous gift,” said Dr. Neil Vickers, chair of the Department of Biology. “Her donation not only memorializes the outstanding work of Dr. Stringfellow, but will benefit generations of graduate students engaged in cell biology or microbiology research – work that will contribute significantly to the improvement of the human condition. Her gift will assist us in our efforts to attract top students to our programs.”
The first recipient of the fellowship, awarded for the 2009-2010 academic year, is Koushik Paul, a native of India who received his undergraduate degree in microbiology from the University of Calcutta. Paul works in the research laboratory of Biology Professor David F. Blair, studying how bacterial flagella (“tails”) are assembled and function. Paul’s research is enriching our understanding of bacterial pathogenesis, or how bacteria cause disease.
(l-r) Biology chair Neil Vickers, Koushik Paul, first recipient of the Dale A. Stringfellow Endowed Fellowship in Cell Biology or Microbiology, and Mrs. Jean R. Stringfellow.
“I feel very proud and appreciative of this generous support provided by Mrs. Stringfellow, especially in a time like this, when scarcity in the grant money is becoming a daily struggle in a scientist’s life,” said Paul. “Being a young scientist in the field of microbiology, this award means a lot to me; it brought a whole new inspiration, a new found sense of accomplishment and recognition to my research. I hope to be able to honor this award with my science.”
Dr. Stringfellow, who passed away in 2005, was considered a pioneer in the biotechnology field. After earning his degrees from the University of Utah, he began working as a senior research scientist for the Upjohn Company, where he was responsible for virology research. By 1979, his scientific and management skills were recognized and he was named head of Cancer and Virology Research. During this time he oversaw the marketing registration of high-dose Ara C, a drug for the treatment of childhood leukemia, and was instrumental in the discovery and preclinical development of a series of pyrimidine biologic response modifiers for the treatment of herpes simplex virus infections and bladder cancer.
He later served as vice president for Preclinical Cancer Research at Bristol Myers Company, where his work led Bristol Myers to becoming the number one pharmaceutical company in the world in cancer. In 1988, he jumped into the then just-emerging biotechnology field, becoming vice president for Research and Development at Collagen Corporation, and later president and CEO of Collagen’s spin-off, Celtrix Pharmaceuticals, and later Berlex Biosciences.
Dr. Stringfellow served on the boards of directors of Myriad Genetics, Celtrex, Cognetix, and Acacia Biosciences. A member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he was the editor or on the editorial boards of a variety of journals and publications in virology and cancer research fields, and published more than 100 research articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and books.