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An Infectious Enthusiasmby Ruth SoRelle, M.P.H. 
Dr. Vernon Knight Forty years ago, Dr. Vernon Knight left a comfortable existence at the National Institutes of Health to come to a fledgling medical school in the wilds of Texas. Neither he nor Baylor College of Medicine has looked back since. Today, Knight, 88, and contemplating retirement, is at a loss to describe his rationale for leaving the NIH and the comfortable position he held as clinical director of the Laboratory of Clinical Investigations at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. However, he has no regrets. "I have had a wonderful time at Baylor College of Medicine," he said. "We have been supported in continuing the major research we had begun at the NIH on respiratory viruses." He remembers that soon after he came to BCM to become chair of its department of microbiology and head of infectious disease at The Methodist Hospital, he went to then chief financial officer Alfus Johnson with a request for an electron microscope that cost $50,000—an astronomical amount at the time. "Do you really need it?" Johnson asked. "I said, 'Yes,'" Knight remembered. And Johnson found a way to purchase it. In 1966, Knight brought with him several colleagues and a passion for understanding aerosols—how organisms spread in the air so that they can be breathed in, causing disease. Later, his interest shifted to studying it as a means of delivering medicines directly into the lungs. Both the people and the passion proved to be gifts of long-lasting value to BCM. "He was my mentor at the NIH," said Dr. William T. Butler, BCM chancellor emeritus who led the College as president for 18 years. "He invited me, Robert Couch and Gordon Douglas to come to Houston with him. For the College, his was a pivotal appointment. Vernon's recruitment added stability at a time when the College was unstable. With Bob's help, he added the influenza research center—one of the first major centers at the College, adding depth to the school when it desperately needed new blood. I continue to hold him in great awe. He encourages young people to develop their skills and expertise, and he doesn't take credit for what he helps others to achieve." His personal achievements stand on their own. He was one of the first people to study how much inhaled virus it took to give people the flu or even the common cold. That later led to research into how to deliver drugs by the aerosol route. He patented the use of aerosolized ribavirin (an antiviral drug) to treat respiratory syncytial virus—a dangerous, potentially deadly, infection. Today, the treatment is used worldwide—even for adult cancer patients whose anti-cancer drugs makes them especially vulnerable to respiratory viruses. Following on that theme, Knight is now testing the use of aerosolization to get chemotherapy drugs encased in fatty envelopes called liposomes into the lungs of people with cancer. The treatment speeds the drug into the blood stream and avoids its getting lost in the gastrointestinal tract. Knight's understanding of this potentially life-saving treatment began when he worked with bioweapons researchers at Fort Dietrich in Maryland, and he found that he could translate research into aerosols into medical research that could be potentially life-saving. That is at the heart of the man whom Couch said "has a way of concentrating on his interests. "Dr. Knight encourages young people to develop their skills and expertise, and he doesn't take credit for what he helps others to achieve." "Someone once described him as a person whose enthusiasm is infectious," Couch said. "That remains true today." Couch was his student, and today, he said, "although we are both gray," he remains one of Knight's students, still learning from the master. And Knight himself remains a student. Although he insists he is retiring, he will retain an office at BCM. He's interested in a lot of things, and experts around the world continue to seek his advice. "I'm not going to just sit around the house," he said. |
Patient CareResearchTrekking Into New Territory: Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine Closing the Gap Between Lab and Clinic EducationTulane's Journey Back to New Orleans Community ServiceAlumni & DevelopmentCollege News
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Volume 2, Issue 2, Summer 2006 |
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