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Murray Stinson, professor of microbiology and immunology
Murray W. Stinson, professor and associate chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, died Jan. 11 in Roswell Park Cancer Institute after a brief illness. He was 62.
A native of Richmond/Gardiner, Maine, Stinson received a bachelor's degree cum laude from Springfield College and master's and doctoral degrees in microbiology from Rutgers University.
He joined the UB Department of Microbiology in 1969, and was promoted to full professor in 1987. At that time, in recognition of his expertise in infections related to dental diseases, he was invited to join the faculty of the Department of Oral Biology in the School of Dental Medicine.
Stinson's federally funded research focused on the causes of streptococcal infections. He authored 57 papers in professional journals and books, and also published 87 abstracts that he presented at local, national and international scientific conferences.
He served as departmental director of graduate studies and director of the undergraduate major's program in microbiology, where he routinely lectured to graduate, dental and medical students on microbial pathogenesis.
In 1987, he was elected president of the Western New York branch of the American Society of Microbiology. He served three terms as a member of the Faculty Council of the medical school.
Stinson also was a member of the Medical School Executive Committee, the Steering Committee of the Medical Scientist Training Program, the Health Sciences Divisional Committee of the Graduate School, Steering Committee of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences, and the curriculum committees of the medical school and the School of Nursing. In addition, he was a member of the Periodontal Disease Research Center for 17 years.
Stinson served as an editorial reviewer for journals in his field. He was invited to participate as grant reviewer for the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Dental Medicine, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Yale University Skin Diseases Center, the Wellcome Trust, and the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation.
He also gave numerous presentations throughout his career, including at the Louis Pasteur Institute in Paris.
As a senior professor at UB, Stinson was a founding member of the professorial advisory group that counseled junior faculty in career development. He planned and executed the infectious diseases and immunology portion of the school's new curriculum.
A memorial service is planned for a later date in Richmond, Maine.