About the Authors
Joel Wallach, BS, DVM, ND
Dr. Wallach has been involved with biomedical research for more than fifty years. He received his bachelor of science degree in agriculture in 1962 from the University of Missouri with a major in animal husbandry (nutrition) and a minor in field crops and soil physiology. In 1964 Dr. Wallach received a DVM, a doctorate in veterinary medicine, from the University of Missouri. He was a pathologist and instructor for the Iowa State Diagnostic Laboratory and Instructor (Pathology) for the Department of Pathology, Iowa State University (Department of Veterinary Pathology) in 1964/65, and then received a post-doctoral fellowship from the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems (comparative pathology and comparative medicine) at Washington University, St. Louis Zoological Garden and Shaws Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, in 1967. He continued his veterinary and research work at the Yerkes Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1977–1978.
He then studied naturopathic medicine, receiving an ND (a doctorate to practice medicine as a naturopathic physician) from the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon, in 1982, and attained the rank of Lt. Colonel in the US Air Force/Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves (MOS: nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare; NBC: veterinary and human medicine).
Dr. Wallach’s research has resulted in the publication of more than 75 peer-reviewed and refereed articles in veterinary journals, human medical and biochemistry journals, and pathology journals. He has contributed chapters to eight multi-author textbooks and his signature primary authorship of a 1,200 page text/reference (NIH sponsored research) on the subject of comparative medicine and pathology (The Diseases of Exotic Animals: W. B. Saunders Publishing Co., 1983.) This text is featured by the Smithsonian Institute as a“National Treasure.”
Dr. Wallach has held teaching, pathology service, and research appointments at the graduate level in human and animal anatomy, nutrition, and pathology at the University of Missouri, Iowa State University, Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center (Emory University, Atlanta, GA), the University of Tennessee, the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, Portland, Oregon and Harbin Medical University (Peoples Republic of China).
Dr. Wallach was Project Veterinarian and Capture Officer for the Natal Parks and Game Service (Umfolozi and Hluhlue Game Parks) for Operation Rhino (Rescue/Conservation project for the white rhino), Republic of South Africa and Operation Elephant (conservation project for the African elephant) for Wankie Game Reserve, Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).
Dr. Wallach’s research in comparative medicine and pathology is based on more than 17,500 autopsy cases on 454 species of animals from zoos and African Game Parks (Natal Fish& Game Department, Natal, Republic of South Africa) and more than 4,700 humans (including 1,700 children under ten years old) through the University of Missouri, Iowa State University, the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems, Washington University (St. Louis), the St. Louis Zoological Gardens; the Chicago Zoological Gardens (Brookfield, IL), the Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago, IL), the Shedd Aquarium (Chicago, IL), Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University, (Atlanta, GA), the University of Tennessee (Memphis, TN), The Memphis Zoo (Memphis, TN), the Jacksonville, Zoo (Jacksonville, FL), the Detroit Zoo (Detroit, MI), the National Zoo (Washington, D.C.), The New York Zoological Gardens (Bronx, NY), the Denver Zoo (Denver, CO), the National College of Naturopathic Medicine (Portland, OR) and the Harbin Medical University (Harbin, Hei Long Jiang, People’s Republic of China).
Dr. Wallach was a member of NIH site visit teams for four years and was a member of the 1968 NSF ad hoc committee that authored the 1968 Animal Welfare Act (for the humane housing and care of laboratory and captive exotic species), Consulting Professor of Medicine (Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Hei Long Jiang, People’s Republic of China). Dr. Wallach was the founder and editor of theJournal of Zoo Animal Medicin