UF researcher honored with top award by reptilian and amphibian veterinary group

University of Florida professor Elliott Jacobson, D.V.M., Ph.D., has received the 2004 Fredric L. Frye Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians.

Jacobson, who teaches zoological medicine at UF’s College of Veterinary Medicine, was honored for his outstanding accomplishments and service in herpetological medicine. The award will be presented during the group’s annual meeting in May in Naples.

A world-renowned expert in diseases of reptiles and amphibians, Jacobson was awarded a UF Research Foundation professorship in 1997. He is particularly interested in infectious diseases of free-ranging and captive reptiles, including an upper respiratory disease affecting the desert tortoise in the southwestern Mojave Desert, a similar disease affecting the gopher tortoise in the southeastern United States, and various diseases affecting marine turtles along the coastline of Florida.

“As a fledgling veterinary student, I eagerly purchased Dr. Frye’s first book in 1973 and subsequently attended a two-day reptile pathology workshop that he presented at the American Museum of Natural History in New York,” Jacobson said, adding that Frye’s book and workshop reinforced his interest in pursuing a career in the still young field of herpetological medicine.

Jacobson has been a member of UF’s veterinary faculty since 1979.