An appreciation of Professor John Lewis

A century of theJournal of Helminthology

“…This period witnessed the publication of important contributions on faunal surveys in wildlife hosts (Willingham et al, 1996;Segovia et al, 2001), innovative control and treatment methodologies (Grønvold et al, 1996;Dyer et al, 2000;Sanderson et al, 2002), in addition to the successful application of molecular methods for parasite detection (Mathis et al, 1996;Ito et al, 2002). Lewis also instigated 'themed' issues, often incorporating review articles on selected topics from special meetings or proceedings of conferences on specialist aspects of helminthology, all of which produced highly-cited publications (Rollinson, 2018). Some topics included:-'Problems by Ken MacKenzie, University of Aberdeen at ICOPA XI, Glasgow, Scotland, August 2006.…”

“…Apart from his appointment to an Assistant Professorship in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, in 1971/72, Lewis spent his entire academic career at Royal Holloway, University of London, where he held a University of London Chair in Zoology and also served as Dean of Science. He maintained his research interests not only in parasite ecology and epidemiology but also in aquatic ecotoxicology and travelled widely, establishing and promoting much international collaboration in research and teaching (Rollinson, 2018) (photograph reprinted from Rollinson (2018), JHL , 92, issue 1, reproduced with the permission of Cambridge University Press).…”

“…This period witnessed the publication of important contributions on faunal surveys in wildlife hosts (Willingham et al , 1996; Segovia et al , 2001), innovative control and treatment methodologies (Grønvold et al , 1996; Dyer et al , 2000; Sanderson et al , 2002), in addition to the successful application of molecular methods for parasite detection (Mathis et al , 1996; Ito et al , 2002). Lewis also instigated ‘themed’ issues, often incorporating review articles on selected topics from special meetings or proceedings of conferences on specialist aspects of helminthology, all of which produced highly-cited publications (Rollinson, 2018). Some topics included:- ‘Problems and prospects of Toxocara and Toxocariasis’ arranged by Z. Pawlowki, Poznan University of Medical Sciences at the European Multicolloqium of Parasitology EMOP VIII, Poland, September, 2000; ‘Aspects of the epidemiology and control of schistosomiasis’ arranged by S. Mas-Coma, University of Valencia, Spain, and D. Rollinson, Natural History Museum, London at EMOP IX, Valencia, Spain, July 2004; ‘Environmental and ecological parasitology: the impact of global change’ arranged by H. Taraschewski and B. Sures, University of Karlsruhe in the Black Forest, Freudenstadt, Germany, April 2005; and ‘Parasites as biological tags and responses of their aquatic hosts to environmental change’ by Ken MacKenzie, University of Aberdeen at ICOPA XI, Glasgow, Scotland, August 2006.…”

Professor John W. Lewis (1938–2022)

“…John's early years at school, then university (he was awarded his PhD in 1964) and his subsequent scientific career are all meticulously recorded in Rollinson (2018), which also details his work as editor of the JHL and his contribution to the administrative activities at Royal Holloway, University of London. John's research centred around three themes in each of which he supervised postgraduate students and fostered many collaborations both nationally and internationally.…”

“…John's research centred around three themes in each of which he supervised postgraduate students and fostered many collaborations both nationally and internationally. Besides the helminthology of rodent hosts, he also developed a keen interest in aquatic parasitology and toxicology, and a comprehensive list of his publications is given in Rollinson (2018) and in the supporting Online Supplement (supplementary table S1).…”