Joseph McDade '62 receives McDaniel Alumni Professional Achievement Award
JOSEPH McDADE RECEIVES ALUMNI PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FROM McDANIEL COLLEGE
McDade of Rome, Ga., is a 1962 alumnus of the college
WESTMINSTER, Md. – Joseph McDade of Rome, Ga., has received the alumni professional achievement award from McDaniel College. He is a 1962 alumnus of the college.
Presented annually during McDaniel’s Homecoming, the alumni professional achievement award is presented to a graduate who has gained distinction in his/her chosen field or profession and whose accomplishments reflect admirably on McDaniel College.
McDade earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from McDaniel (formerly Western Maryland) College and a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Delaware. He began his career as an Army officer assigned to the U.S. Army Biological Labs at Ft. Detrick, Md. He then went on to work as a research associate at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he was assigned to Egypt and Ethiopia to study epidemic and murine typhus.
Most of McDade’s career was spent at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a research microbiologist and as deputy director at the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
He gained international recognition by isolating the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease and, in collaboration with others, identified its mode of transmission and established treatment regimens. He also identified the first case of a rare tick-borne illness called human monocytic ehrlichiosis and directed research on Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Q fever and typhus.
Following his retirement, McDade worked at Berry College as scientist-in-residence, part-time instructor and faculty advisor for students aspiring to careers in medicine or in allied health fields. Currently, he is a member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity at the National Institutes of Health.
His many awards for his contributions to the fields of infectious diseases and public health include the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award from the American College of Physicians, the Gen-Probe Joseph Award from the American Society for Microbiology for exemplary leadership and service in the field of public health and the Charles C. Shepard Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award from the CDC. He was also selected as Professor of the Year at Emory University School of Public Health. In addition, he has authored more than 100 scientific articles and has been invited to speak at national and international conferences.
