Michael P. Doyle, a professor whose research on food safety is recognized worldwide, has been named Regents Professor.
Photo: Professor of Food Microbiology Michael P. Doyle. Photo by Rick O'Quinn.
By Sigrid Sanders
Michael P. Doyle, a professor whose research on food safety is recognized worldwide, has been named Regents Professor.
The appointment, approved at the February meeting of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, is awarded for outstanding scholarship and long-term faculty accomplishments.
Leading authority on E. coli
Doyle is a professor of food microbiology, head of the department of food science and technology, and director of UGA's Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement. He is internationally acknowledged as a leading authority on food-borne pathogens, especially E. coli O157:H7, the bacteria responsible for a number of serious outbreaks of food-borne illness in recent years.
'Positive thinker'
"Dr. Doyle is a positive-thinking individual who always reacts to problems by envisioning solutions that enable programs to move forward," says Gale A. Buchanan, dean and director of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "He is an excellent administrator, an effective leader and an outstanding scientist."
Doyle came to the university in 1991 from the University of Wisconsin, where he was Wisconsin Distinguished Professor of Food Microbiology and Toxicology. He established the Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement in 1993 and developed a research program that promotes collaboration among the food industry, the University of Georgia and federal and state agencies.
In the early 1980s, Doyle was the first food microbiologist to study E. coli O157:H7,the major cause of hemolytic uremic syndrome in children in the United States. His research group at the University of Wisconsin developed the first procedure for isolating this pathogen from foods and determined the heat treatments needed to kill the organism in ground beef. The research group also developed a monoclonal antibody that is now widely used to rapidly detect the presence of E. coli O157:H7 in foods.
Doyle's research contributions include conducting the first major survey, in collaboration with government agencies, to determine the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in dairy cattle; identifying, in collaboration with UGA veterinary pathologists, the principal sites of localization of E. coli in cattle; and identifying and characterizing the unusual acid tolerance of E. coli O157:H7.
Doyle serves as an adviser to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the World Health Organization. He often serves as a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assist in investigations of outbreaks of illness caused by food-borne pathogens. He also serves as a consultant to food processors to help establish procedures to ensure food safety.
In 1993, his laboratory isolated the E. coli responsible for hundreds of illnesses in several Western states traced to undercooked ground beef. Recently, he was contacted by both the CDC and an implicated food processor to assist in an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infection associated with apple juice.
Doyle organized and edited one of the most frequently used reference books on food-borne pathogens, Foodborne Bacterial Pathogens, and he co-edited the recently published Food Microbiology: Fundamentals and Frontiers.
In 1996, Doyle was honored for his pioneering research in microbiological food safety by the Nicholas Appert Award, the highest given by the Institute of Food Technologists, a non-profit scientific society with 28,000 members. Among many other awards and honors, he has received the Award for Professional Excellence from the American Agricultural Economics Association, the Samuel Cate Prescott Award for Research from the Institute of Food Technologists, and the P.R. Edwards Award for outstanding service in microbiology from the Southeastern Branch of the American Society for Microbiology. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and recipient of the University of Wisconsin Pound Research Award.
He is a member of the food and nutrition board of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine and a member of the board of trustees of the International Life Sciences Institute of North America. He serves on the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food, and he is a member of the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods.
Regents professorships are granted for a three-year period and then reviewed, after which they may be renewed for another three years. Only one UGA candidate may be nominated annually. Recipients are awarded a $10,000 salary increase and a yearly $5,000 fund for scholarship support.
