UF veterinary researcher honored for work with endangered desert tortoises

Elliott Jacobson, D.V.M., Ph.D., a professor at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, has received the 2002 Golden Tortoise Award from the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee for his role in defining the diseases that threaten the survival of that species in the American Southwest.

Over the past ten years, Jacobson and his UF colleagues worked as a team to determine the causes of an upper respiratory tract disease believed to be responsible for a die-off of desert tortoises in the Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area and elsewhere in the western Mojave Desert. Jacobson was involved in some of the earliest efforts to determine the cause of the die-off.

“After you assessed the situation, you returned to UF, where you organized a group of research veterinarians and scientists to identify the pathogen, determine how the disease was transmitted and recommend potential methods of treatment,” wrote committee president Mark Hagan in a letter informing Jacobson of the award. “You have made wildlife and land managers, other scientists and the general public aware of the many facets of tortoise diseases and what needs to be done to enhance recovery efforts of the U.S. populations.”

The award, given only on occasions when someone is deemed worthy, was presented during the committee’s annual meeting in January. Jacobson, who was awarded the UF Research Foundation professorship in 1997, is a world-renowned expert in diseases of reptiles and amphibians. He is particularly interested in infectious diseases of free-ranging and captive reptiles, including the upper respiratory disease affecting the desert tortoise and a similar disease affecting the Florida gopher tortoise.