Wallace Prescott Rowe (February 20, 1926,

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

– July 4, 1983, Baltimore) was an American virologist, known for his research on

retrovirus A retrovirus is a type of virus that inserts a DNA copy of its RNA genome into the DNA of a host cell that it invades, thus changing the genome of that cell. After invading a host cell's cytoplasm, the virus uses its own reverse transcriptase e ...

es and

oncovirus An oncovirus or oncogenic virus is a virus that can cause cancer. This term originated from studies of acutely transforming retroviruses in the 1950–60s, when the term ''oncornaviruses'' was used to denote their RNA virus origin. With the let ...

es and as a co-discoverer (with

Robert J. Huebner Robert Joseph Huebner (February 23, 1914 – August 26, 1998), was an American physician and virologist whose research into viruses, their causes and treatment that led to his breakthrough insights into the connections between viruses and ca ...

and three other researchers in 1953) of

adenoviruses Adenoviruses (members of the family ''Adenoviridae'') are medium-sized (90–100 nm), nonenveloped (without an outer lipid bilayer) viruses with an icosahedral nucleocapsid containing a double-stranded DNA genome. Their name derives from the ...

. Rowe graduated in 1945 with a B.S. from the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...

. In 1945 he served in the U.S. Navy. In 1948 he graduated with an M.D. from

Johns Hopkins Medical School The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established in 1893 following the construction of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the ...

. From 1949 to 1952 he was a virologist at the

Naval Medical Research Institute The Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC) is an agency that performs basic and applied biomedical research to meet the needs of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. Its areas of focus include study of infectious diseases, biod ...

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

, where he worked in

Erich Traub Erich Traub (27 June 1906 – 18 May 1985) was a German veterinarian, scientist and virologist who specialized in foot-and-mouth disease, Rinderpest and Newcastle disease. Traub was a member of the National Socialist Motor Corps (NSKK), a Nazi ...

's laboratory. From 1952 until his death in 1983 Rowe was a federal civil servant employed by the

U.S. Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services which manages public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The assistant se ...

(USPHS) and the

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIAID's mis ...

(NIAID) of the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

(NIH). In 1952 he started with the tile and pay grade of assistant surgeon. He was promoted in 1956 to full surgeon and in 1968 to chief of the laboratory for NIAID. From 1960 to 1974 he taught part-time at

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

. Rowe and his colleagues showed that retroviruses can cause leukemia in mice. He was among the first "to recognize the role of the immune response in the pathogenesis of

murine The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. Members of this subfamily are called murines. In terms of species richness, this subfamily is larger than all mammal families excep ...

lymphocytic choriomeningitis Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) is a rodent-borne viral infectious disease that presents as aseptic meningitis, encephalitis or meningoencephalitis. Its causative agent is lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), a member of the family '' ...

." He was a pioneer in research on

adenovirus Adenoviruses (members of the family ''Adenoviridae'') are medium-sized (90–100 nm), nonenveloped (without an outer lipid bilayer) viruses with an icosahedral nucleocapsid containing a double-stranded DNA genome. Their name derives from t ...

es and their role in human diseases. Rowe married Marjorie Louise Power (1927–2006) on 29 May 1948 in Williamsburg, Virginia. They had a son and a daughter. After divorcing his first wife, Wallace Rowe married the virologist Paula Pitha (1937–2015).

Awards and honors

* 1960 — Eli Lilly and Company Award in bacteriology or immunology * 1970 — USPHS Meritorious Service Medal * 1972 — Rockefeller Public Service Award * 1974 — Howard Taylor Ricketts Award * 1975 — Membership in the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

* 1976 —

Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology Selman may refer to: People with the surname * Alan Selman (1941–2021), American mathematician * Bart Selman, American computer scientist * Bill Selman (born 1939), American ice hockey coach * Courtenay Selman (born 1945), Barbadian cricketer ...

* 1979 —

Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize is an annual award bestowed by the since 1952 for research in medicine. It carries a monetary prize of 120,000 Euro. The prize ceremony is traditionally held on the 14th of March, the birthday of Nob ...

* 1981 —

Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Prize The Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Prize was a $250,000 award given by the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation for outstanding oncological research. The prize was awarded annually from 1979 to 2005. Of the winners, 15 out of 37 have gone on to win eit ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Wallace P. 1926 births 1983 deaths 20th-century American biologists College of William & Mary alumni Johns Hopkins School of Medicine alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences National Institutes of Health people American cancer researchers American virologists Scientists from Baltimore