Wolfgang K. Joklik Oral History Interview, 2007-2007

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Summary

Creator:
Joklik, Wolfgang K.
Abstract:
Wolfgang Karl Joklik was the Chair of the Duke Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and co-founder of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. This collection contains 1 oral history interview conducted on May 16, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry. In this interview, Joklik discusses his education in Australia and England, his career at Duke in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology as well as efforts to increase the employment of women in the department, his research in molecular virology, and the creation of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Duke. He also discusses the lives and careers of several of his colleagues at Duke, including pediatrics and microbiology specialist Catherine Wilfert and virology researchers Joe and Dorothy Beard.
Extent:
1 interview (1 master CD, 1 use CD, and 1 transcript)
Language:
English
Collection ID:
OH.JOKLIKW

Background

Scope and content:

Includes 1 oral history interview with Dr. Wolfgang Joklik conducted on May 16, 2007 by Jessica Roseberry.
In this interview, Joklik discusses his education in Australia and England, his career at Duke in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology as well as efforts to increase the employment of women in the department, his research in molecular virology, and the creation of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Duke. He also discusses the lives and careers of several of his colleagues at Duke, including pediatrics and microbiology specialist Catherine Wilfert and virology researchers Joe and Dorothy Beard.

Biographical / historical:

Wolfgang Karl Joklik, Chair of the Duke Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and co-founder of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, was born in Austria in 1926. Joklik moved to Australia at age 11. He attended Sydney University (1944-1947) where he majored in Biochemisty and graduated with First Class Honors B.Sc. In 1948, Joklik received his M.Sc. in Biochemisty from Sydney University. Joklik earned his PhD (1952) from the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford. Joklik carried out his postdoctoral work at Copenhagen in the Laboratory of Cytophysiology, headed by Herman Kalckar. There, with Nobel Laureate Paul Berg, Joklik helped discover the enzyme terminal transferase. Following his postdoctoral work, Joklik returned to Australia and took the position of Research Fellow, later Fellow, at the Department of Microbiology at the John Curtin School for Medical Research at the Australian National University in Canberra (1953-1962). Joklik took a sabbatical year from 1959 to 1960 in the Laboratory of Cell Biology at the NIH. In 1962, Joklik moved to the United States to begin his appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, a position he held until 1968 when he became Chair of the Duke Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology (1968-1993).
As Chair of Duke's Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Joklik oversaw the growth of the department from six to thirty-three faculty members, and under Joklik's leadership it became ranked as one of the top three programs in the nation. During this time, Joklik also co-founded the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center (1972), which later became known as the Duke Cancer Institute (DCI). Following his retirement as department chair, Joklik continued to research and teach at Duke, beginning appointments in 2002 as James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of Medicine, and Professor Emeritus of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology.
Joklik devoted his career to the development and application of molecular virology. His research focused primarily on reovirus, vaccinia, and poxvirus. Within this field, Joklik has received much professional commendation. Joklik served as editor-in-chief of "Virology" for 24 years, associate editor of the "Journal of Biological Chemisty" (1974-1985), and editor of "Zinsser's Microbiology", a textbook used by many microbiology and immunology students. Joklik founded the American Society for Virology and served as the society's first president (1982). He was elected as a member of both the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1981) and the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (1982). Other honors include the ICN International Prize in Virology (1991), a Distinguished Faculty Award bestowed upon Joklik by the Duke Alumni Association (2005), and the Anlyan Lifetime Achievement Award (2013). Duke University created a named professorship in Joklik's honor, the Wolfgang Joklik Professorship in Medicine and also established the annual Joklik Distinguished Lectureship hosted by the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology to commemorate Joklik's contributions to the department and field of Microbiology and Immunology.

Acquisition information:
Accession A2007.150 (May 2007)
Processing information:

Processed by Archives staff: May 2007

Arrangement:
Organized into the following series: Interview, May 15, 2007.
Rules or conventions:
DACS

Contents

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Restrictions:

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Terms of access:

Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Wolfgang K. Joklik Oral History Interview, Duke University Medical Center Archives.