WAYNE MEYERS Ph.D.

MEYERS WAYNE M. MEYERS, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Wayne Meyers was born on a family farm in Aitch, Pennsylvania on August 28, 1924. He excelled in mathematics and science in high school where he also played football. He attended Juniata College until he was drafted into the Army. Dr. Meyers spent two years in the Pacific Theater during World War II. After the war, he returned to Juniata College where he earned a B.S. in Chemistry in 1947. Dr. Meyers received an M.S. and Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin, and then M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in 1959. His education included special studies at Yale, University of Virginia, Northwestern and Moody Bible Institute. It was at Moody that Wayne met Esther Kleinschmidt, daughter of medical missionaries in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). They married in 1953, and had four children: Amy Nicolai (Andre), George (Kathy), Daniel (Norma), and Sara Meyers-Clark (Bryan). In 2018, he and Esther celebrated their 65th anniversary. He was the proud grandfather of Austin, Joey, Connor and Maggie. In 1961, he joined the American Leprosy Missions. He and Esther served as missionaries in Burundi and Zaire/Congo until 1973. During that time he worked with leprosy patients, developed and directed treatment and control programs, and conducted research on leprosy, Buruli ulcer, filariasis and other infectious diseases of the tropics. In 1975, Dr. Meyers joined the staff at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), Washington, D.C. as Chief of Microbiology and later as Chief of Mycobacteriology. He was the Registrar for the Leprosy Registry until his retirement in January 2005. He served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Leprosy Missions, Consultant to the Leonard Wood Memorial, President of the International Leprosy Association, President of the Binford-Dammin Society of Infectious Disease Pathologists, and on the Board of the Damien-Dutton Society for Leprosy Aid. Dr. Meyers authored or co-authored more than 420 scientific publications in immunochemistry, the pathology of infectious disease of the tropics, experimental leprosy, indigenous leprosy in wild animals and studies on Buruli ulcer. He gave almost 500 lecture presentations and attended more than 360 scientific conferences, seminars, and workshops. His significant accomplishments included the development of the Leprosy Registry which contains archival material from thousands of patients worldwide; he played a major role in developing the concept of leprosy as a zoonosis involving especially armadillos, monkeys and chimpanzees; a principal investigator for the supply of leprosy bacillus for researchers around the world participating in the WHO program to eliminate leprosy; and the training of numerous international pathologists in the histopathology of leprosy and other mycobacterial diseases. Dr. Meyers received numerous honors during his career including the Damien-Dutton Society for Leprosy Aid Award, the Belgian Government's ITG Medallion, the John Shaw Billings Lifetime Achievement Award from AFIP, Lifetime Achievement Award from Baylor College of Medicine Alumni Association, an honorary Doctor of Science from Juniata College, and the William E. Swigart Humanitarian Award from Juniata College Alumni Association for his dedicated and professional contributions to world health. He will be remembered for his intellectual curiosity, integrity, generosity, kindness, and humor. Dr. Meyers died peacefully at home in Laurel, Maryland on September 12, 2018 at the age of 94. At his request, there will be no memorial service. Donations may be made in his honor to the American Leprosy Missions, www.leprosy.org or Damien-Dutton Society, www.damien-duttonleprosysociety.org .