Jessie Isabelle Price (b. January 1, 1930, Montrose, Pennsylvania – November 12, 2015, Madison, Wisconsin) was a veterinary microbiologist. She isolated and reproduced the cause of the most common life-threatening disease in duck farming in the 1950s and developed vaccines for this and other avian diseases. A graduate of Cornell University, where she earned a PhD (1959), she worked first at the Cornell Duck Research Laboratory and later at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Wildlife Health Center. She served as chair of the Predoctoral Minority Fellowship Ad Hoc Review Committee of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), and as president of Graduate Women in Science.
Jessie Price was born in Montrose, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Teresa Price, raised her daughter on her own in difficult financial circumstances. Price was the only African-American in her class, at a school where there were only two other Black students. After graduating from Montrose High School, she was accepted into Cornell University, moving with her mother to Ithaca to take advanced high classes in mathematics and English for a year. Tuition fees were waived because of her New York residency and grades. She wanted to be a physician, but could not because of the cost. Price received a Bachelor of Science in the College of Agriculture in 1953.
Her mentor, Dorsey Bruner, recommended post-graduate studies, but finances prohibited it. Price worked for three years as a laboratory technician in the Poultry Disease Research Farm in the Veterinary College at Cornell to save for further study. She obtained research assistant support for 1956 to 1959, receiving a Masters in 1958, and a doctorate in 1959, supervised by Bruner. Her Master's thesis was "Morphological and Cultural Studies of Pleuropneumonia-like Organisms and Their Variants Isolated from Chickens".
For her doctoral dissertation, Price isolated and reproduced the bacterium, Pasteurella anatipestifer, in white pekin ("Long Island") ducklings infected with a disease that was a major killer among duck farmers at that time. Her dissertation was published by Cornell University in 1959.
After her PhD, Price joined the Cornell Duck Research Laboratory, where she worked from 1959 to 1977, teaching at Long Island University, where she became an adjunct professor. She worked on developing a vaccine, undertaking trials of mixed flocks of vaccinated and unvaccinated ducklings, working every day, and conducting daily autopsies. In 1964, Ebony magazine featured Price and her work in an extensive photo-essay describing and showing her work on vaccine development, in the Duck Research Laboratory and on the farm. Price described the heavy workload, made more onerous by the four-mile distance between the laboratory and farm where the flocks of ducklings were managed.
Long Island "New Duck Disease" is an infectious disease affecting primarily ducklings, with a high mortality rate. In 1956, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that it was "the most important disease problem of the duck industry", with losses of up to 75% of populations. For her doctoral work, Price isolated and reproduced Pasteurella anatipestifer, an essential step for vaccine development.
While at the Cornell Duck Research Laboratory, she began working on vaccine development for Pasteurella anatipestifer for white pekin ducks, which she would continue in avian cholera and tuberculosis (TB) for various species through her career. Some of the vaccines were commercially developed. She worked with national and international colleagues, publishing on Pasteurella anatipestifer in pheasants, medication for bacterial infections in ducklings, Pasteurella multocida in Nebraska wetlands and in snow geese.
In 1966, Price was awarded a National Science Foundation travel grant to present her findings at the International Congress for Microbiology in Moscow. By 1974, she had developed an injectable vaccine and was moving on to studying oral vaccination. She moved to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin in 1977, and the study of environmental contaminants and diseases in wildlife, especially water fowl.
Her professional activities included serving as chair of the Predoctoral Minority Fellowship Ad Hoc Review Committee of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), as well as its Summer Research Fellowship and Travel Award Program. Price was also a member of the ASM's Committee on the Status of Minority Microbiologists and its Committee on the Status of Women Microbiologists. She was also active in Graduate Women in Science (also called Sigma Delta Epsilon), serving as national president from 1974 to 1975, after being national second vice-president (1972-1973), as well as on the national board of directors (1976-1980).
Price was a dog-lover and breeder, with a prize-winning Corgi in the 1960s. Her other favorite pastimes were photography, music, and travel.
Price died of Lewy body dementia on November 12, 2015, in Madison, Wisconsin, and was buried in Quoque Cemetery on Long Island.
After high school, Jessie moved to Ithaca, New York, where she attended Cornell University and earned her Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degrees. Her PhD in Veterinary Microbiology (1959) documented her pioneering work on Pasteurella anatipestifer, the #1 killer of ducks in Long Island's commercial duck industry. The vaccine Jessie developed was instrumental in significantly reducing mortality; it bears the initials MLJP as a tribute to Jessie and her best friend and colleague Mae Lummis. Jessie's ongoing work at the Duck Research Laboratory on control of bacterial diseases in commercial ducklings included development of multiple life-saving vaccines.
In 1977, while pursuing employment at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, a chance encounter with Dr. Milton Friend resulted in Jessie's accepting a position as a research microbiologist at the National Wildlife Health Laboratory. Her significant contributions to the avian disease field continued, and included work on avian botulism in Utah and work on an avian cholera vaccine for use in free-ranging wild bird species. During field efficacy studies in Nebraska, the vaccine was used to protect giant Canada geese and ensure the success of a captive breeding program in the state. Her growing international reputation also resulted in collaboration with the UK based Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust on avian tuberculosis.
Throughout her life, Jessie's love for dogs - especially Pembroke Welsh Corgis - never waned. Playing and working with her beloved dogs gave her immense joy. When her first corgi, Carla, won a blue ribbon at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden for 'best American-bred female corgi', Jessie was overjoyed.
Jessie was also a wonderful photographer, and enjoyed developing and printing her own work, which reflected her interest in nature and her love of animals. She loved music and travel, and enjoyed visiting Great Britain, Germany, and Russia (to name a few), but she was always happy to come home.
Jessie gave a little bit of herself to everyone she met. She mentored other individuals starting in the field through several committees of the American Society for Microbiology, and served one year as the president of the Sigma Delta Epsilon Graduate Women in Science Organization. She taught college-level classes during her time on Long Island, and was always willing to share her knowledge with interns and externs throughout her career.
In accordance with Jessie's wishes, burial will be in the family plot in Quogue Cemetery on Long Island in early December. A celebration of life will be held at the Cress Center, 6021 University Avenue, Madison, WI, on December 1, 2015, at 11:30am.
Her friends, many part of an unofficial but very real family, will remember Jessie's unfailing kindness, her generosity, her quiet determination, and - most of all - her smile. A bright light has been extinguished.
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