Parasites, Zoonoses and War: A Themed Issue in Honor of Emeritus Professor John M Goldsmid

Dear Colleagues,

It is with the greatest of pleasure that I announce this Special Edition of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases dedicated to the life and work of Professor John Marsden Goldsmid.
John Goldsmid studied entomology at Rhodes University in South Africa, graduating with an M.Sc. based on the host finding behaviour of tick larvae. While at Rhodes, he met his future wife, Hilary, and after completing his MSc research, he moved to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where Hilary was working as a teacher. For a short while he worked as an entomologist, but then moved back into academia, being appointed to a teaching position in the Zoology Department at the University of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. With the formation of the Medical School at what had become the University of Rhodesia (now University of Zimbabwe), John transferred to the Pathology Department, and then to the newly formed Department of Medical Microbiology. John and Hilary were married in Salisbury, and Hilary provided magnificent support and encouragement throughout John’s career
The post at the University also involved running the Parasitology Department of the Harare Hospital Pathology Laboratory, and this allowed John to develop his interest in parasitic diseases and zoonoses based on the many rare and exotic parasitoses that he encountered in the laboratory. He concentrated on the intestinal nematode infections of humans, especially the hookworm species and Ternidens deminutus, the “false hookworm”.
John completed his PhD through the University of London and under the inspiring supervision of Professor George Nelson of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and was appointed as Professor and Head of the Department of Medical Microbiology, continuing and extending his research into parasitic and other infections, and their identification, diagnosis, and treatment.
At this point, Professor Goldsmid was commissioned as a Major in the Rhodesian Army Medical Corps (now the Zimbabwe National Army medical Corps) and became involved in developing a diagnostic pathology laboratory for the medical corps. With the extension of the Rhodesian Bush War, and the employment of army and police personnel into the more remote parts of Central Africa, the army was acutely aware of the problem and dangers of infectious and parasitic diseases, and thus the lab was developed and achieved recognition as a training laboratory, which allowed for the call up of medical technologists into the army laboratory, allowing them to utilise their professional skills and to continue their training during their call up periods.
In 1977, John emigrated to Australia and became a senior lecturer at the School of Medicine at the University of Tasmania. Here, he taught microbiology and continued his passionate work in parasitology and zoonotic diseases. He became an advocate for parasitology within professional organisations such as the Australian Society for Microbiology and the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine, and edited the journals of both societies for an extended period of time. He also was an early promotor of the field of travel medicine, even establishing a Tropical and Travel Medicine Elective unit at the University of Tasmania.
Professor Goldsmid’s impact as a diagnostician, researcher, teacher, and mentor has influenced many in the field of parasitic and zoonotic disease, and it is fitting that this Special Edition of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases is devoted to honour his outstanding work in these fields, both within Australia and internationally.
Professor Goldsmid continued to teach at the University of Tasmania until two years ago. He continues to live in Tasmania with Hilary, where he is now retired.

Dr. Richard S. Bradbury
Guest Editor

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• parasites
• zoonoses
• helminths
• protozoa
• global health
• diagnostics
• military medicine