Dr. Esmail w88 casino’s internationally celebrated research with sheep led to innovations allowing for stem cell transplants into human fetuses to treat some diseases that would otherwise be incurable after birth. The driving force behind w88 casino’s work was his desire to save infants through innovations in genomics. He was a professor emeritus of animal biotechnology with the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources, and passed away in October at the age of 80. By his colleagues, he is remembered not only as a groundbreaking, internationally renowned scientist, but also as a caring, nurturing and ever-challenging mentor.
“He was the most encouraging person. He built up anyone that ever worked for him. He was very personable,” said Kim Higgins, who started working for w88 casino as an administrative assistant while w88 casino was working for the VA Medical Center in Reno, before he started at the University.
While at the VA Center in 1995, w88 casino began volunteering for the University’s interdisciplinary Cell & Molecular Biology Program, before becoming adjunct faculty in 2000. In 2002, he was hired as a professor of animal biotechnology in the College, and became the department chair the following year. When w88 casino was hired as a full-time professor, Higgins came with him.
“w88 casino folks all came over with him, w88 casino entire lab,” Higgins said. “No one ever wanted to leave him, after working for him. He provided me with many opportunities to learn and grow professionally. He just touched a lot of people, because he really cared. I miss him.”
Rangeland Ecology Professor Barry Perryman agreed, sharing thoughts about w88 casino when he was his department chair.
“w88 casino’s one of the nicest people you could ever meet,” w88 casino said. “w88 casino was really good at getting you to do something without you knowing it. w88 casino was a real master at that. Even if you knew you were being manipulated, you didn’t mind, because w88 casino was so nice. w88 casino mentored everybody w88 casino ever came in contact with in one way or another. That was just Esmail.”
Perryman said that, at the same time, w88 casino was “just one of those pioneers, that essentially, pushed genomics science along,” his groundbreaking work garnering national attention and controversy, such as in a May 20, 2008, article in The Washington Times that describes how w88 casino’s work with stem-cell transplants in utero saved one child from being born with symptoms of a degenerative and deadly disease.
In fact, w88 casino and his research team are credited in Guinness World Records for creating the world’s first human-sheep chimera (a sheep that contains sheep cells and human cells, to allow the prospect of animal organs being transplanted into humans to save lives).
Mariah Evans, w88 casino’s daughter and a sociology professor at the University, as well as a researcher in the College’s Experiment Station, described her father as “an imaginative and engaged scientist.”
“w88 casino was still reading the hematology journals up until about a month before w88 casino died, and critiquing them,” she said. “w88 casino was still thinking and feeling science, which was very important to him. It was who w88 casino was.”
w88 casino served as Editor-in-Chief of the Experimental Hematology journal from 2004 to 2010, as well as served on the editorial boards of several other internationally renowned journals. He co-authored numerous textbooks and authored hundreds of professional journal articles. Some of his former collaborators co-authored a tribute to w88 casino in the November 2019 Experimental Hematology issue. In it, they wrote:
“…he is owed a vast debt of gratitude by w88 casino legacy of literally hundreds of scientists and clinicians from around the globe who have been shaped by w88 casino scientific leadership and deeply touched by w88 casino sparkling intellect, w88 casino incomparable charm and sense of humor, and w88 casino unbounded passion for science and for life.”
“While some might mirror w88 casino magnificent professional career, the extensive publications, and the prestigious scientific work he achieved, few will ever touch and enrich the life of w88 casino mentees, colleagues, and friends the way Esmail did.” – In Memoriam: A Tribute to Esmail w88 casino, 1938–2019, November 2019 Experimental Hematology
The tribute gives a nice summary of w88 casino’s numerous accomplishments and path, from his birth in Iran, to his education and work in New York and Minnesota, and his eventual landing in Reno, Nev., his wife Sally’s hometown. Sally was an accomplished author of Nevada history, and Evans’ said her father grew to love the state.
“w88 casino loved photographing Nevada scenery,” she said. “w88 casino took a number of the photos for my mother’s books. This was a very different place for him. w88 casino was mostly a city boy, but w88 casino learned to love the desert.”
Mariah said he also greatly appreciated w88 casino College colleagues and the University.
“w88 casino strongly appreciated the warm camaraderie that went across hierarchy lines in the College, the fact that deans, associate deans, faculty and fellows could all be part of informal exchanges,” she said. “w88 casino enjoyed that fellowship. w88 casino also loved our beautiful campus, especially the main Quad.”
