- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
A leading global scientist and inventor in the field of insect olfaction and communication, Leal was elected an NAI Fellow in 2019 for his impact in the fields of molecular, cellular biology, and entomology, but due to the COVID pandemic, the organization cancelled the 2020 Phoenix ceremony. Travel restrictions prevented him from attending the 2021 ceremony in Tampa, Fla. Elected Fellows are required to attend the induction ceremony within two years of election in order to receive their award.
NAI singles out outstanding inventors for their “highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.” Election to NAI Fellow is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors. The NAI Fellow program has 1,403 Fellows worldwide representing more than 250 prestigious universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes.
“I attended with my wife, Beatriz, and daughter Helena and son Gabriel – both have co-authored papers in the lab, so they represent all visiting scholars, collaborators, postdocs, project scientists, graduate students, and undergraduate students in my lab,” Leal said. (See video of the awarding of the medals)
UC Davis chancellor emerita Linda Katehi, an NAI fellow inducted in 2012, nominated Leal for the honor for his “novel, sustainable and continued contributions to the field of entomology and for their greater implications in molecular and cellular biology and the understanding of disease and prevention.” At the time, Leal held 28 Japanese and two U.S. patents.
Said Hammock: “When Walter Leal reached UC Davis, he came with the reputation of being a 'one man army in research.' This reputation was well deserved. I know of no one at UC Davis who matches Walter in taking his remarkable fundamental advances in science and translating them to increase the safety and magnitude of world food production.”
Leal, an expert in insect communication investigates how insects detect odors, connect and communicate within their species; and detect host and non-host plant matter. His research, spanning three decades, targets insects that carry mosquito-borne diseases as well as agricultural pests that damage and destroy crops. He and his lab drew international attention with their discovery of the mode of action of DEET, the gold standard of insect repellents.
He and his collaborators, including Nobel Laureate Kurth Wuthrich (Chemistry 2002), unravel how pheromones are carried by pheromone-binding proteins, precisely delivered to odorant receptors, and finally activated by pheromone-degrading enzymes.
That led to Leal's identification of the sex pheromones of the navel orangeworm (Amyelois transitella), a pest of almonds, figs, pomegranates and walnuts, the major hosts. This has led to practical applications of pest management techniques in the fields.
At the time of his election to NAI Fellow, Joe Rominiecki, communications manager of Entomological Society of America (ESA), said Leal has “greatly advanced scientific understanding of insect olfaction. He has identified and synthesized several insect pheromones, and his collaborative efforts led to the first structure of an insect pheromone-binding protein."
ICE Council. Leal was recently elected chair of the International Congress of Entomology Council, which selects a country to host the congress every four years and which supports the continuity of the international congresses of entomology. Leal succeeds prominent entomologist May Berenbaum of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, editor-in-chief of the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and a 2014 recipient of the National Medal of Science.
“I have big shoes to fill,” he said.
Ironically, COVID derailed the 2020 NAI ceremony, and Leal--recipient of the Academic Senate's 2022 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award for his series of four global webinars educating the public about COVID-19--contracted the disease while in Phoenix for the 2022 ceremony.
“I was treated with Paxlovid, rebounded, and am now fully recovered,” Leal said.
On ESA Honorary Member Ballot. Leal's name is currently on the ESA ballot to become an Honorary Member, the highest ESA honor. The Royal Entomological Society named him an Honorary Fellow in 2015.
A native of Brazil, educated in Brazil and Japan, and fluent in Portuguese, Japanese and English, Leal received his master's degree and doctorate in Japan: his master's degree at Mie University in 1987, and his doctorate in applied biochemistry at Tsukuba University in 1990. Leal then conducted research for 10 years at Japan's National Institute of Sericultural and Entomological Science and the Japan Science and Technology Agency before joining the faculty of the UC Davis Department of Entomology in 2000. He chaired the department from July 2006 to February 2008.
Leal co-chaired the 2016 International Congress of Entomology meeting, "Entomology Without Borders," in Orlando, Fla., that drew the largest delegation of scientists and experts in the history of the discipline: 6682 attendees from 102 countries.
Among his many other honors, Leal is a Fellow of ESA, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences and the California Academy of Sciences. He is a past president of the International Society of Chemical Ecology and corresponding member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. In 2019, ESA selected him to present its annual Founders' Memorial Lecture, the first UC Davis scientist selected to do so.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Amber Crowley-Gall of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology will be among the rising stars featured in an international symposium on “The Frontiers in Chemical Ecology,” part of the Aug. 8-12 joint meeting of the International Society of Chemical Ecology (ISCE) and the Asia-Pacific Association of Chemical Ecologists (APACE) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Crowley-Gall, a two-year USDA-NIFA (U.S. Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture) postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of associate professor and community ecologist Rachel Vannette, will present "Olfactory Variation Among Closely Related Cactophilic Drosophila Species," a collaborative project with her doctoral dissertation advisor, Professor Stephanie Rollmann of the University of Cincinnati.
“I am very excited about the opportunity to participate in this symposium,” said Crowley-Gall, who holds a doctorate in biological sciences from the University of Cincinnati (2019), and a bachelor's degree in biological sciences, magna cum laude, from Wright State University (2012).
UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and a former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is organizing and producing the hybrid (in-person and virtual) symposium.
Others to be spotlighted in the Frontiers symposium: postdoctoral fellows Rick Fandino of Cornell University and Ani Agnihotri of Murdoch University; soon-to-be-assistant professor Dan Peach of the University of Georgia; associate professors Mengbo Guo of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zain Syed of the University of Kentucky (formerly of the Walter Leal lab, UC Davis) and Karen Menuz of the University of Connecticut; and professor Chen-Zhu Wang, of the Chinese Academy Sciences.
"I am grateful for this opportunity to present my research and network with other chemical ecologists around the world," said postdoctoral scholar Rick Fandino, a research associate at Cornell University's Department of Ecology and Evolution. "As a first-generation U.S. American Latinx these opportunities are critical to advance in highly competitive and underrepresented STEM fields."
“It's incredibly supportive of Walter to use his standing in the field to help elevate early career researchers," said selected participant Greg Pask, an assistant professor of biology, Middlebury College, Vermont. "And I'm excited to hear about the exciting research from this generation of chemical ecologists.” (For more on the invited speakers, access this short video at https://youtu.be/liy9HpKTmOo)
The ISCE-APACE joint meeting, themed “Managing Sustainability in Challenging Times,” will include 15 plenary, 15 symposia, as well as invited lectures. Among the lectures is the inaugural Wittko Francke Daaks-Chemicals Memorial Lecture, sponsored by Wittko Francke's Daaks-Chemicals Fund. ISCE promotes the understanding of interactions between organisms and their environment that are mediated by naturally occurring chemicals.
First In-Depth Analysis. Crowley-Gall's research on Drosophila repleta is "the first in-depth analysis of the olfactory system across the repleta group and provides the opportunity to test for conserved mechanisms in the olfactory system underlying divergence and host shift." A species of vinegar fly in the family Drosophilidae, D. repleta is a carrier of foodborne illnesses.
"Chemical cues are important for a wide range of tasks such as host plant identification and localization, oviposition site selection, and mate recognition," she explains in the abstract of the paper, co-authored by Stephanie Rollmann, John Layne, Aaron Hamrick, Lucinda Lawson, all of the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnnati. "Insects use volatile cues emitted from plants when navigating toward an appropriate host and divergence in odor detection has been shown to result in shifts in host use between populations and in some cases reproductive isolation between populations and eventual speciation. A comparative phylogenetic approach can determine whether variation in the olfactory system is linked to shifts in host plant use and is a means to determine the influence of olfactory tuning on divergence between species.
"A useful model to examine this is the Drosophila repleta species group, a radiation of flies specializing on cacti, that exhibits three types of host use: 1) Opuntia specialists, 2) columnar specialists, and 3) “generalists” on both. Opuntia, a flat leaf cactus, is hypothesized to be the ancestral host, and the use of the more chemically complex columnar cactus is believed to be an acquired trait. Columnar cacti contain elevated levels of secondary compounds that can be toxic to flies and affect the volatile headspace flies are exposed to when choosing a suitable host plant. This study examined the extent to which odor tuning has diverged along with the repeated shifts in host plants within the Drosophila repleta species group. We characterized odor response profiles from select sensillar subtypes across multiple species within the repletagroup as well as the outgroup D. melanogaster. Variation in both sensitivity and specificity to odors was observed, with some ORNs exhibiting variation associated with host cactus use. This study is the first in-depth analysis of the olfactory system across the repleta group and provides the opportunity to test for conserved mechanisms in the olfactory system underlying divergence and host shift."
Bedoukian Research, Inc. will sponsor the Frontiers in Chemical Ecology symposium. The public can sign up for the free-accesswebinar here: https://bit.ly/3PeXJhu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Seven members of the Senate and seven members of the Federation won awards for their teaching, research or public service. The ceremony took place in the International House.
Provost Mary Croughan, in her welcoming address, praised the 14 recipients for their excellent work, and also thanked the entire faculty workforce for their research, teaching and public service commitments during the two-year pandemic. Richard Tucker, chair of the Academic Senate, presented the Senate's awards and Martin Smith, chair of the Academic Federation, handed out the Federation's awards.
- Professor Diane Ullman, former chair of the Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology) won one of the Academic Senate's three Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Awards. She was nominated by UC Davis Distinguished Professor Jay Rosenheim.
- Professor Joanna Chiu, vice chair of the department, received one of the three Distinguished Teaching Awards, Graduate/Professional category, from the Academic Senate. She was nominated by medical entomologist-geneticist and assistant professor Geoffrey Attardo.
- UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal won the 2022 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award from the Academic Senate for his series of webinars educating the public about COVID-19. He was nominated by UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Professor Diane Ullman
Professor Ullman, an entomologist and an artist, joined the UC Davis faculty in 1991 after serving as an associate professor of entomology at the University of Hawaii.
Wrote one student: "My experience in her course last spring was one that lifted my spirits, enriched my education and strengthened my love for art and science during a time when it was difficult to feel positive about anything.”
Rosenheim noted that Ullman's commitment to mentorship motivated her to "create a nationwide mentorship program as part of a $3.75 million grant from the USDA, for which she was the lead principal investigator, to give undergraduate students a closely mentored opportunity to conduct individual research projects. This program (Vector Pathogen Educational Network or VPEN) trained 28 postdoctoral researchers and graduate students to be mentors, and then paired each with an undergraduate student researcher mentee."
Rosenheim described the Ullman-created entomology class, ENT 001, "Art, Science and the World of Insects," as "a unique and creative course to bring together art and science. The class includes two hours of lecture each week plus a single three-hour “labudio” – i.e., a combination of a science laboratory and an art studio. The lectures cover the biology and ecology of insects, including their interactions with humans and their importance in human culture."
Undergraduate entomology student Kyle Elshoff, Class of 2024, related that Professor Ullman is "one of the best instructors" he's ever had. "She has a love and passion for both art and science that is infectious and inspires further discussion and exploration by students outside of class."
Ullman received a bachelor of science degree in horticulture from the University of Arizona and her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 1985. Her credentials include: chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, 2004-2005; associate dean for undergraduate academic programs for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, 2005 to 2014; and co-founder and co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, launched in September 2006. A Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2014) and the Entomological Society of America (2011), Ullman was named the 2014 recipient of the ESA National Excellence in Teaching Award.
Professor Joanna Chiu
Nominator Geoffrey Attardo, a co-instructor and a guest lecturer in some of her classes, wrote: "Joanna is skilled at communicating complex/abstract topics. She has a clear and concise manner of delivering information which is essential when dealing with aspects of molecular biology/genetics/biochemistry. This is especially so for students with little to no background in these fields. The nature of these topics requires students to internalize the information and visualize abstract interactions invisible to the naked eye. I have observed (and in fact taken classes myself) where this type of information is presented in a dense and impenetrable lecture format with little to no interaction between the professor and the students."
Graduate students Erin Taylor Kelly, Lindsey Mack, Christine Tabuloc and Yao Cai, and alumnus Kelly Hamby (now an associate professor/Extension specialist, Department of Entomology, University of Maryland) all praised her commitment to students and her ability to stimulate questions and acquire skills.
Wrote Hamby: "Her office is always open to students, whether they are visiting high school students, undergraduates, or graduate students, her own students or someone else's. She carefully guides students throughout their experiments, directly providing technical training—side by side at the bench—while developing their critical thinking and communication skills. Joanna not only imparts excellent analytic and laboratory molecular skills to her students, but also commits to providing ongoing professional advice and development."
Professor Chiu is the co-administrator of the campuswide Research Scholars in Insect Biology, which aims to provide undergraduates with a closely mentored research experience in biology. A 2019-23 Chancellor's Fellow, she received the 2019 Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology Award from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America. She holds a bachelor's degree in biology and music from Mount Holyoke College, Mass., and a doctorate in molecular genetics from New York University. She served as a postdoctoral fellow in chronobiology--molecular genetics and biochemistry--at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal
“On March 22 came the first reported death from COVID in Yolo County,” wrote Hammock. “On April 23, Distinguished Professor Walter Leal, as a timely service to the UC Davis community and the general public, organized and moderated the first of his COVID-19 symposiums. What Dr. Leal did, and did so well in the throes of the raging pandemic, was to help the UC Davis community and the general public understand a disease that would go on to claim the lives of nearly 800,000 Americans. Two weeks prior to each symposium, he worked daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., reading the scientific literature, interviewing experts, lining up the speakers; gathering relevant questions from the public, and generally, taking care of all the logistics."
The webinars drew scores of comments. “You are my heroes,” wrote one viewer. “This (the symposium) gave me a sense of hope and calmed my anxiety like nothing else. Part of what has been so hard is all the disinformation and complete lies and contradictions that are happening daily. To hear people, real doctors and scientists who are knowledgeable talk about what is going on and why is so appreciated! I learned so much; wish you were the ones leading [our] government through this! Having a family zoom tonight to relay the info! I (offer) much gratitude to UC Davis! My husband says ditto.”
“Few are aware that Dr. Leal interrupted his sabbatical leave to complete his mission,” Hammock pointed out. “Personally, this was not unusual. Having known Dr. Leal for more than two decades, I am fully aware of how altruistic and dedicated he is. He firmly believes that a primary mission of a land-grant university is to serve the public.”
A native of Brazil and fluent in three languages, Leal was educated in Brazil, Japan and the United States, pursuing the scientific fields of chemical engineering, agricultural chemistry, applied biochemistry, entomology and chemical ecology. After serving in a leadership capacity in Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries for five years, he joined the Department of Entomology faculty in 2000. Leal chaired the department from 2002 to 2013 before accepting an appointment as a professor of biochemistry with the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Widely recognized for his research, teaching and mentorships, Leal is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, American Association for the Advancement of Science, California Academy of Sciences, Royal Entomological Society and the Entomological Society of America (ESA). The UC Davis Academic Senate named him the recipient of its 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching, and the Pacific Branch of ESA presented him with its 2020 Award of Excellence in Teaching. Leal was recently selected the 2022 recipient of the College of Biological Sciences (CBS) Faculty Teaching Award. The Leal lab also won the 2020 Lab Safety Award for exceptional safety culture, signed by UC Davis Chancellor Gary May and Eric Kvigne, associate vice chancellor, Safety Services.
Faculty Distinguished Research Award. The Academic Senate's 2022 Faculty Distinguished Research Award went to UC Davis Distinguished Professor Pamela Ronald of the Department of Plant Pathology for her work in infectious disease biology and environmental stress tolerance in plants. "Professor Ronald has made discoveries that have informed our understanding of plant immune systems and have positively affected the lives and livelihoods of millions worldwide," according to a UC Davis Dateline news story. "Her work is highly recognized, having earned several national and international honors. Notably, her studies on rice — particularly on strains resistant to flooding--have helped to identify and develop more robust, tolerant varieties given our changing global climate. Her studies have also explored thenature of disease resistance in specific strains to counter diseases that had previously devastated production. Moreover, Professor Ronald's efforts to educate the public, particularly on the role of biotechnology in agriculture and to address concerns about genetically modified crops, are recommendable."
James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award. Professor and Cooperative Extension Specialist Thomas Harter of the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources won the Academic Federation's highest honor, the James H. Meyer Distinguished Achievement Award, given in recognition of the recipient's record in research, teaching and/or public service.
See UC Davis News website for capsule information on all 14 recipients.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The hybrid event, organized by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and CNPq and featuring the keynote lecture and five round tables, is set April 26-27. Registration is underway at https://forms.gle/QKhrbfp7gNuYLUDY8. The seminar, in Portuguese with English translations, will be live on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytBA4OA9aOc.
Leal, a corresponding member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and a native of Brazil, is a distinguished professor with the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences, and former chair of the Department of Entomology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. In his keynote lecture, Leal will call attention to the CNPq-UC Davis program, “Science without Borders,” which he helped launch 10 years ago to support undergraduate, graduate students and postdoctoral studies at UC Davis.
Leal's hybrid presentation (part recorded and part live) will focus on three “Science Without Border” students whose education at UC Davis played a critical role in launching their careers. One is now an assistant professor at Penn State; another is a data scientist at a Brazilian university; and the third is an entrepreneur. “And one of them met her husband at UC Davis,” Leal related.
- UC Davis Chancellor Gary May will congratulate CNPq in the name of UC Davis, which houses nearly 100 faculty with professional links to Brazil.
- UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock, the 35-year director of the federally funded UC Davis Superfund Research Program (SRP) (and who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the Comprehensive Cancer Center), will discuss the history of SRP and his dedication to hosting many Brazilian students, postdocs, and other collaborators.
- UC Irvine distinguished professor Anthony James, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, who collaborates with UC Davis professor Greg Lanzaro of the School of Veterinary Medicine, will discuss how philanthropy helps to shape current vector biology research.
- World-renowned economist Jose Scheinkman of Brazil, who received an early career scholarship that shaped his career path to the University of Chicago, Princeton, and now Columbia University, will discuss how CNPq plays a key role in the Brazilian scientific economy and its training of scientists.
- John Wingfield, distinguished emeritus professor, UC Davis Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences, and former head of the Directorate of Biological Sciences at the National Science Foundation (NSF), will share information on how NSF operates.
Other participants will include Sally Rockey, inaugural executive director of the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research; Sonny Ramaswamy, former administrator of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture; Professor John Hildebrand, International Secretary of the National Academy of Sciences; Daniel Mucida, head of the Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology at Rockefeller University; Nantel Suzuki, program executive of NASA's Human Landing System; and Scott Hutchins, former Deputy Under Secretary of Agriculture.
Brazilian biomedical scientist Helena Nader will be inaugurated next month as the first female president in the 106-year-history of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Academic Senate, acknowledging that the University of California “has a long tradition of service to the state and the people of California” and that “faculty members use their expertise in teaching, research, and professional competence to make unpaid contributions to local, statewide, national, or international public arenas,” annually singles out an exceptional faculty member who “continues the tradition and demonstrate the commitment of UC Davis to public service.”
“Distinguished Professor Walter Leal helped to address the critical need for accurate and accessible COVID-19 information,” according to the Academic Senate notice. “He conceptualized, organized, and moderated four COVID-19 symposia for the public. Through meticulous research, he brought together physicians, former patients, and public health experts to provide the most up-to-date information early in the pandemic, including highlighting equity gaps in treatment.”
“Professor Leal dedicated much of his sabbatical time to developing valuable public resources, thus providing high-quality information during a time of rampant misinformation,” the Academic Senate related. “He also champions global learning, putting long-term efforts into global collaborations to enhance education.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom's issued a stay-at-home order on March 19, 2020, and the following day, UC Davis Chancellor Gary May told the campus community: “Most of our employees should already be at home where the governor wants you to be, and where we want you to be, for the sake of your own health and to help limit the spread of the coronavirus.”
“On March 22 came the first reported death from COVID in Yolo County,” wrote Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. “On April 23, Distinguished Professor Walter Leal, as a timely service to the UC Davis community and the general public, organized and moderated the first of his COVID-19 symposiums. What Dr. Leal did, and did so well in the throes of the raging pandemic, was to help the UC Davis community and the general public understand a disease that would go on to claim the lives of nearly 800,000 Americans. Two weeks prior to each symposium, he worked daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., reading the scientific literature, interviewing experts, lining up the speakers; gathering relevant questions from the public, and generally, taking care of all the logistics."
You Are My Heroes. The webinars drew scores of comments. “You are my heroes,” wrote one viewer. “This [the symposium] gave me a sense of hope and calmed my anxiety like nothing else. Part of what has been so hard is all the disinformation and complete lies and contradictions that are happening daily. To hear people, real doctors and scientists who are knowledgeable talk about what is going on and why is so appreciated! I learned so much; wish you were the ones leading [our] government through this! Having a family zoom tonight to relay the info! I (offer) much gratitude to UC Davis! My husband says ditto.”
Professor Leal's plans for a single webinar quickly grew to three more to meet the growing demand of information and translation.
“Few are aware that Dr. Leal interrupted his sabbatical leave to complete his mission,” Hammock pointed out. “Personally, this was not unusual. Having known Dr. Leal for more than two decades, I am fully aware of how altruistic and dedicated he is. He firmly believes that a primary mission of a land-grant university is to serve the public.”
A native of Brazil and fluent in three languages, Leal was educated in Brazil, Japan and the United States, pursuing the scientific fields of chemical engineering, agricultural chemistry, applied biochemistry, entomology and chemical ecology. After serving in a leadership capacity in Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries for five years, he joined the Department of Entomology faculty in 2000. Leal chaired the department from 2002 to 2013 before accepting an appointment as a professor of biochemistry with the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Widely known for his research, teaching and mentorships, Leal is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, American Association for the Advancement of Science, California Academy of Sciences, Royal Entomological Society and the Entomological Society of America (ESA). The UC Davis Academic Senate named him the recipient of its 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching, and the Pacific Branch of ESA presented him with its 2020 Award of Excellent in Teaching.
A Treasured Note. Leal treasures a handwritten note from a 12-year-old boy, who (according to his mother) was struggling with autism. “Dear Scientist, I hope you can make the vaccine for the coronavirus and to make us live forever,” the boy wrote. “And you can do it. We believe in you. Love XX.”
His mother updated the UC Davis professor in the fall of 2021: “ (XX) wanted me to tell you that he feels so much safer now that he has the vaccine! He is so thankful for all the scientists working so hard to find a solution to make the world safer and continue researching to prevent additional variant outbreaks. He is back in school full time now and is enjoying being able to be with his teachers and classmates.”
