Robert G Webster

Webster was a world renowned virologist and international expert in influenza, who was among the first scientists to acknowledge a link between human and avian flu. His team isolated and identified the avian-adapted strain of H5N1, the causative agent of H5N1 flu, commonly known as avian flu or "bird flu". His career began in Otago, New Zealand, but he held research posts not only in New Zealand but also in Australia and the United States.: he spent several decades working on infectious diseases at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.