Abstract
Amirali Nurali Hamir was born on April 2, 1944, in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, and grew up on a sugar cane plantation. Following his desire to be a farmer, he received a Diploma in Animal Husbandry from Egerton Agriculture College, Njoro, Kenya, in 1965, and based on his academic success, he went on to receive a Bachelor of Veterinary Science in 1969 from the University of East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya; a Master of Science in Tropical Veterinary Science in 1979 from James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, Australia; and his Doctor of Philosophy in Veterinary Pathology from the University of Melbourne, Australia, in 1985. Since graduating with his veterinary degree in 1969, Dr Hamir worked at various academic and government institutions, under many different socioeconomic, cultural, and political conditions. In East Africa, he carried out research on bovine mastitis and on tropical veterinary diseases. Over his career, he lived in many countries, including Canada (1974–1978), Australia (1979–1982), and finally the United States (1985–2012). While working in Papua New Guinea (1982–1985), he served as the only veterinary pathologist in the country to provide diagnostic service, and at the same time, he personally monitored the country’s border with Indonesia for identification of foreign animal diseases. Since his first publication in 1973, Dr Hamir published a total of 214 articles in refereed veterinary journals (56 of these peer-reviewed articles were co-published with Dr Charles E. Rupprecht). He also gave more than 100 presentations at various scientific meetings and participated in writing several review articles and book chapters. Dr Hamir made several notable contributions to veterinary medical research during his distinguished career, including experimental investigations on lead poisoning in young dogs that helped establish the diagnostic criteria for confirmation of canine lead poisoning. His main research interest was in diseases and pathologic conditions that exert an influence on the central nervous system of animals. Between 1985 and 1995, while he was at University of Pennsylvania, he collaborated with Dr Charles E. Rupprecht and Dr Cathleen A. Hanlon in the experimental evaluation of the safety and efficacy, as well as extensive field testing of a then novel genetically engineered vaccinia-rabies glycoprotein (V-RG) oral rabies vaccine for raccoons and nontarget species. This vaccine is widely used today in the control of rabies in selected wildlife populations. Much of Dr Hamir’s research focused on diseases of indigenous wild animals. In 1998, Dr Hamir joined the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa (part of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service), where he helped complete and lead a series of long-term interspecies prion disease transmission studies through 2009. These important studies contributed significantly to our understanding of an apparent natural species barrier of cattle to chronic wasting disease of cervids and scrapie of sheep. During his tenure at the National Animal Disease Center, Dr Hamir provided mentorship and assistance to several new scientists in the prion disease research group. In 2009, Dr Hamir joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine & Surgery at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, as a Professor, where he continued his pathology research. This move brought him geographically closer to his family and, in particular, his grandchildren. Amir Hamir is survived by his wife, Almas; 2 sons (Zubair and Akraad); and 2 daughters-in-law (Heather and Liz). Zubair and Heather are parents of Amir’s 2 grandchildren, who were sources of great joy for him.