Jeffrey Williams

Jeffrey Williams, PhD, BVSc, MRCVS, had a long career in academic microbiology and infectious diseases, retiring after 27 years as Professor Emeritus of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University to found a biotechnology start-up, HaloSource, Inc., in Seattle, WA in 1998. Retiring again in 2014, he remained active as technical advisor to several companies in the Pacific Northwest region, specializing in the areas of antimicrobial chemistry and disinfection. He is now Chief Scientific Officer of Briotech, Inc. Author of over 200 scientific papers and textbook chapters, he served four years as a member of the Board of Counselors to the U.S. NIH Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and has been a frequent consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) of the UN in Geneva, Switzerland. Jeff was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1996 and served as retained consultant to first Merck, Inc. (1980 – 1982), then Pharmacia (now Pfizer, Inc.) (1983 – 1999) on therapeutic drug discovery and development. He has a long-standing interest in tropical infectious diseases, starting with his appointment as staff scientist for WHO in Argentina 1968 – 1971, and for 15 years, directed a collaborative NIH-funded Program Project on Infectious Diseases in Sudan. He holds degrees in Veterinary Science (BVSc) from the University of Bristol, UK (1964) and Pathobiology (PhD) from the University of Pennsylvania (1968), where he was a Fulbright Scholar (1964 – 1968).