The George M. Baer Latin American Researcher Award is given to a young researcher from a Latin American country for his or her outstanding work in the field of rabies research.

GEORGE M. BAER, MPH, DVM (1936-2009): Dr. George Martin Baer, one of the founding members of the Conference on Rabies in the Americas, passed away on June 2, 2009, in Mexico City, Mexico. He was an eminent virologist, veterinarian, and public health scientist, with a strong affection for the developing world.

Dr. Baer was born in London, England, but grew up in New Rochelle, New York, where he became an accomplished equestrian and began a lifelong love of animals. He attended Cornell University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science in 1954 and a bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine in 1959. She earned a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor during 1961.

Thereafter, Dr. Baer began his career in public health at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Albany Health Department, where he focused on brucellosis, psittacosis, and rabies. In 1964, he worked at the CDC’s Southwest Rabies Research Laboratory in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on rabies in bats. During 1966 to 1969 he was a consultant to the Pan American Health Organization in Mexico. Based on his efforts, he helped lay the foundation for Mexico’s public health programs against rabies, an effort he continued for the rest of his professional life. In 1969, he returned to Atlanta and became director of the CDC’s Rabies Laboratory.

With his research team, he developed a method for immunizing wildlife, for which he was credited as the “Father of oral rabies vaccination.”. His considerable experience made him one of the leading international experts in this field.

Of his more than 100 publications, his 1991 book, “The Natural History of Rabies,” remains a definitive reference in the field.

After retiring from the CDC, he founded a diagnostic laboratory in Mexico City and remained a member of the Mexican International Steering Committee for the Conference on Rabies in the Americas.

For his many contributions, one of which focused on the transfer of relevant technology to the developing world, the International Steering Committee of the Conference on Rabies in the Americas voted unanimously to name the annual award for the best presented abstract by a scientist. of Central/South America in his honor: the George M. Baer Latin American Researcher Award.