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In Memoriam: Amir Hamir, DipAH,
BVSc, MSc, PhD, Diplomate ECVP,
MRCVS, 1944–2012
Amirali Nurali Hamir was
born on April 2, 1944, in
Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania,
and grew up on a sugar
cane plantation. Following
his desire to be a farmer,
he received a Diploma in
Animal Husbandry from
Egerton Agriculture Col-
lege, Njoro, Kenya, in
1965, and based on his aca-
demic success, he went on
to receive a Bachelor of
Veterinary Science in
1969 from the University
of East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya; a Master of Science in Tropical
Veterinary Science in 1979 from James Cook University of
North Queensland, Townsville, Australia; and his Doctor of
Philosophy in Veterinary Pathology from the University of
Melbourne, Australia, in 1985. Since graduating with his veter-
inary degree in 1969, Dr Hamir worked at various academic
and government institutions, under many different socioeco-
nomic, cultural, and political conditions. In East Africa, he car-
ried out research on bovine mastitis and on tropical veterinary
diseases. Over his career, he lived in many countries, including
Canada (1974–1978), Australia (1979–1982), and finally the
United States (1985–2012). While working in Papua New Gui-
nea (1982–1985), he served as the only veterinary pathologist
in the country to provide diagnostic service, and at the same
time, he personally monitored the country’s border with Indo-
nesia for identification of foreign animal diseases. Since his
first publication in 1973, Dr Hamir published a total of 214 arti-
cles in refereed veterinary journals (56 of these peer-reviewed
articles were co-published with Dr Charles E. Rupprecht). He
also gave more than 100 presentations at various scientific
meetings and participated in writing several review articles and
book chapters. Dr Hamir made several notable contributions to
veterinary medical research during his distinguished career,
including experimental investigations on lead poisoning in
young dogs that helped establish the diagnostic criteria for con-
firmation of canine lead poisoning. His main research interest
was in diseases and pathologic conditions that exert an influ-
ence on the central nervous system of animals. Between 1985
and 1995, while he was at University of Pennsylvania, he col-
laborated with Dr Charles E. Rupprecht and Dr Cathleen A.
Hanlon in the experimental evaluation of the safety and effi-
cacy, as well as extensive field testing of a then novel geneti-
cally engineered vaccinia-rabies glycoprotein (V-RG) oral
rabies vaccine for raccoons and nontarget species. This vaccine
is widely used today in the control of rabies in selected wildlife
populations. Much of Dr Hamir’s research focused on diseases
of indigenous wild animals. In 1998, Dr Hamir joined the
National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa (part of the
USDA’s Agricultural Research Service), where he helped com-
plete and lead a series of long-term interspecies prion disease
transmission studies through 2009. These important studies
contributed significantly to our understanding of an apparent
natural species barrier of cattle to chronic wasting disease of
cervids and scrapie of sheep. During his tenure at the National
Animal Disease Center, Dr Hamir provided mentorship and
assistance to several new scientists in the prion disease research
group. In 2009, Dr Hamir joined the Department of Veterinary
Medicine & Surgery at The University of Texas M. D. Ander-
son Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, as a Professor, where he
continued his pathology research. This move brought him geo-
graphically closer to his family and, in particular, his grandchil-
dren. Amir Hamir is survived by his wife, Almas; 2 sons
(Zubair and Akraad); and 2 daughters-in-law (Heather and
Liz). Zubair and Heather are parents of Amir’s 2 grandchildren,
who were sources of great joy for him.
J. Greenlee
Virus and Prion Research Unit, National Animal Disease
Center, Agricultural Research Service, Ames, IA, USA
Veterinary Pathology
50(4) 577
ªThe Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0300985813490759
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