Presidents of the American Society for Microbiology
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John Edward Blair (May 30, 1899, Monroe, Maine – March 26, 1980) was an American bacteriologist and serologist. He was the president of the American Society for Microbiology in 1962.
Blair graduated in 1920 with a bachelor's degree from Clark University. At Brown University, he graduated in 1921 with an M.S. and in 1923 with a Ph.D. in bacteriology. From 1923 to 1926 he was an instructor in bacteriology at Stanford University. In 1927 he became a bacteriologist and serologist at Manhattan's Hospital for Joint Diseases.[1] He headed the hospital's department of bacteriology from 1927 to 1964,[2] when he became a consultant in bacteriology. In 1944, Blair and Joseph Buchman (1898–1965)[3] at the Hospital for Joint Diseases were awarded a contract for the investigation of the effects of penicillin on osteomyelitis lesions.[4] From 1964 to 1968 Blair was the head of the department of microbiology at Roosevelt Hospital (which is now named Mount Sinai West).[2][5]
Blair did research on tuberculosis, staphylococcal infections, and staphylococcal phage typing.[1][6] From 1958 to 1966 he chaired the International Commission on Staphylococcal Phage Typing[2][7] of the International Union of Microbiological Societies.
He was elected in 1933 a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[8] In 1957 he received the Kimble Methodology Research Aeard.[2][9]
In September 1923, John E. Blair married Lorraine Hunter Ferguson. They had two sons: Donald Ferguson and Malcolm John.[10]
