William H. McCollum, MS, PhD, began working at the University of Kentucky in 1947 and retired as a Professor Emeritus in 2004 after 55 years of service to the horse industry. One of his greatest contributions was development of a vaccine against equine viral arteritis (EVA) long before it was called into use for the Thoroughbred industry outbreak in 1984. He died on July 1 in Lexington, Ky.

McCollum, who was a professor in equine viral diseases at UK’s Gluck Euqine Research Center in Lexington, Ky., for many years, published more than 100 scientific papers. Known as “Dr. Mac” by many of his colleagues, friends, and students, McCollum served in the Marines during World War II before finishing his Bachelor and Masters degrees from the University of Kentucky in 1947 and 1949, respectively. He received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1954.

He started his career at the University of Kentucky as an assistant bacteriologist after receiving his Masters degree. He became a faculty member after completing his PhD. From 1962-64 he was a visiting professor at the Institute Pertanian Bogor in Indonesia.

During his career he became known around the world as an expert in equine viral arteritis. He was part of the team that created the 2001 USDA video entitled “Equine Viral Arteritis (EVA): A Manageable Problem