Walter J. Tabachnick

E-mail: wjt@mail.ifas.ufl.edu

(80% Research, 20% Extension)

1. EDUCATION

• B.S.  Brooklyn College , City University of New York (Biology), l968
• M.S. Rutgers University (Zoology), l971
• Ph.D. Rutgers University (Zoology), l974
• Postdoctoral Yale University , NIH Postdoctoral Fellow (Population Genetics), 1978

2. EMPLOYMENT

• Center Director, Professor, (1999–present) Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, Department of Entomology and Nematology, IFAS, University of Florida , Vero Beach , FL.
• Interim Center Director, Professor (2002), Indian River and Research Education Center , IFAS, University of Florida , Ft. Pierce, FL.
• Supervisory Research Entomologist (1987–1999), USDA, ARS, Arthropod-borne Animal Diseases Research Laboratory, Laramie , Wyoming .
• Research Leader, Laboratory Director (1992–1998), USDA, ARS, Arthropod-borne Animal Diseases Research Laboratory, Laramie , Wyoming .
• Assistant Professor (1982–1987), Loyola University of Chicago .
• Research Associate, Lecturer (1979–1982), Yale University .
• Lecturer (1978–1979), University of California - Los Angeles .
• NIH IRSA Postdoctoral Fellow (1975–1978), Yale University .
• Assistant Professor of Life Sciences (1973–1975), University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
• NDEA Title IV Graduate Fellowship (1970–1973), Rutgers University .
• Graduate Teaching Assistant (1968–1970), Rutgers University .

3. ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Responsible for administration of research, extension and teaching functions of the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach , FL.
• Represents the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory and provides expert information on medical entomology and arthropod borne diseases to state agencies, the cooperative extension service and the general public.

4. RESEARCH

• Genetics, population genetics, evolution of insect vectors of disease
• Genetics of vector competence for arboviruses; arboviral ecology and epidemiology.

5. EXTENSION

• Provide information and training on medical entomology and mosquito borne diseases to mosquito control organizations, government agencies in public health, agriculture and environmental protection, the cooperative extension service, and the general public.

6. PROFESSIONAL SERVICE (RECENT)

• Editor, Journal of Medical Entomology (2004 – present)
• Chairperson, Science and Technology Committee, American Mosquito Control Association (2001 – present).
• Member, Florida Coordinating Council on Mosquito Control (1999 – present)
• Member, Florida Interagency Task Force on West Nile (1999 – present)
• Chairperson, UF IFAS Marketing Advisory Committee (2004 – present)

7. PUBLICATIONS (selected since 1998; career total ca. 130)

• Perez de Leon, AA, JG Valenzuela, and WJ Tabachnick. 1998. Anticoagulant activity in salivary glands of Culicoides variipennis (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), the primary North American vector of bluetongue viruses, by an inhibitor of factor Xa . J. Exper . Parasitol . 18:121-130.
• Tabachnick, WJ. 1998. Arthropods and pathogens: Issues for emerging diseases. In: RM Krause (ed), Emerging Infections, Academic Press, pp. 411-429.
• Venter, G, JT Paweska , AA Van Dijk and WJ Tabachnick. 1998. Vector competence of Culicoides bolitinos and Culicoides imicola for the South African bluetongue viruses. Vet. Med. Entomol . 12:378-385.
• Hunt, GJ, BA Mullens , and WJ Tabachnick. 1999. Colonization and maintenance of species of Culicoides : In Maintenance of human, animal and plant pathogen vectors. K. Maramorosch and F. Mahmood Editors. Pp. 35-55. Science Publishers Inc. Enfield , NA, New Hampshire 03748 USA .
• Schmidtmann, ET, WJ Tabachnick, GJ Hunt, LH Thompson, and HS Hurd . 1999. 1995 Epizootic of vesicular stomatitis ( New Jersey serotype) in the western United States : an entomological perspective. J. Med. Entomol . 36:1-7.
• Eldridge, BF, J Day, TW Scott and WJ. Tabachnick. 2000. Arbovirus diseases. Pp. 415 – 460, In B. F. Eldridge and J. D. Edman, (Eds.), Medical Entomology, Kluwer Academic Publ ., Dordrecht , The Netherlands.
• Holbrook, FR, WJ Tabachnick, ET Schmidtmann, CN McKinnon, RJ Bobian and WC Grogan. 2000.   Sympatry in the Culicoides variipennis complex (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae): A taxonomic reassessment. J. Med. Entomol . 37:65-76.
• Tabachnick, WJ. 2000. Pharmacological factors in the saliva of blood-feeding insects: Implications for vesicular stomatitis epidemiology. Ann NY Acad. Sci . 916:444-452.
• Schmidtmann, ET, JE Lloyd, RJ Bobian, R Kumar, JW Waggoner, Jr., WJ Tabachnick and D Legg.   2001.   Suppression of mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae ) and black fly (Diptera: Simulidae) blood-feeding from Hereford cattle and Ponies treated with permethrin. J. Med. Entomol ., 38: 728-734.
• Bram, RA, JE George, RE Reichard , and WJ Tabachnick. 2002. Threat of foreign arthropod-borne pathogens to livestock in the United States . J. Med. Entomol ., 39: 405-416.
• Lord, CC and WJ Tabachnick. 2002. The influence of non-systemic transmission on the epidemiology of insect borne arboviruses: a case study of vesicular stomatitis epidemiology in the western U. S. J. Med. Entomol ., 39: 417-426.
• Rutledge, CR, JF Day, CC Lord and WJ Tabachnick. 2003. West Nile virus transmission by Florida Culex mosquitoes: Transmission rates are different from infection rates. Journal of Med. Entomol ., 40: 253-258.
• Benedict, MQ, S Higgs and WJ Tabachnick. 2003. Arthropod containment guidelines. Vector Borne and Zoonotic Dis. 3: 61-98.
• Tabachnick, WJ. 2003. Reflections on the Anopheles gambiae genome sequence, transgenic mosquitoes and the prospect for controlling malaria and other vector borne diseases. J. Med. Entomol.40:597-606.
• Tabachnick WJ. 2004. Culicoides and the global epidemiology of bluetongue virus infection. Vet. Ital., 40(4): 145-150.
• Rutledge, CR, JF Day, CC Lord, GF O'Meara, JR Rey and WJ Tabachnick, Eds. 2004. Florida Mosquito Control Response to the Challenge of West Nile virus. Technical Bulletin of the Florida Mosquito Control Association. Vol. 4. E. O. Painter Printing Co. DeLeon Springs , FL , 43 pp.
• Spielman A, TG Andreadis , CS Apperson , AJ Cornel, JF Day, JD Edman, D Fish, LC Harrington, AE Kiszewski , R Lampman , GC Lanzaro , FR Matuschka , LE Munstermann , RS Nasci , DE Norris, RJ   Novak, RJ Pollack, WK   Reisen , P Reiter, HM Savage, WJ Tabachnick WJ and DM   Wesson. 2004. Outbreak of West Nile virus in North America . Science 306: 1473-1475.
• Tabachnick, WJ. 2004. Overview of mosquito transmitted diseases. In. Rutledge, CR, (Ed) Florida Mosquito Control Handbook. Florida Mosquito Control Association, Ft. Myers , FL. Pp. DOV 1-3.
• Black, WC and WJ Tabachnick. 2005. Population genetics of disease vectors. In: WC Marquardt et al. (eds.) Biology of Disease Vectors, 2 nd edition, Elsevier, Academic Press, Amsterdam, pp. 465-504.