Author delves into stories from the field

“Charlie Calisher is a great storyteller, and he probably has more stories to tell than anyone who has worked in the field of arbovirology,” writes Sharon Bloom, M.D., in a review of Calisher’s recently published book, Lifting the Impenetrable Veil: From Yellow Fever to Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever and SARS.

Bloom’s complete article appears in the March 2014 issue of the Center for Disease Control’s Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal.

“Throughout his 30-year distinguished virology career,” writes Bloom, “beginning at the Center Disease Control and Prevention to his current role as professor emeritus at the Colorado State University, Calisher has been a prolific researcher, writer, teacher, and mentor.”

“Throughout the book,” she says, “the reader catches glimpses of the many colorful characters who defined arbovirology, some in shaded insets that Calisher uses to provide humorous anecdotes, usually involving himself.”

Breakthroughs in yellow fever inspire book title

Calisher borrowed the phrase, “Lifting the Impenetrable Veil,” for his book title from a letter Dr. Walter Reed wrote to his wife in 1900 when he and his colleagues had shown that yellow fever was caused by a virus that was transmitted by mosquitoes. The phrase refers to the perplexing enigmas that often surround viral discoveries, which Calisher touches on his book.

Praised as memoir and history of arbovirology research

Calisher’s contemporaries praise the book as a memoir and as a history of arbovirology researchers and their work.

John Booss, M.D., Departments of Neurology and Laboratory Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, writes:

“Calisher has a keen eye for the strengths and foibles of human nature as well as an encyclopedic knowledge of the field in which he has worked for over half a century. Lifting the Impenetrable Veil is a compulsively readable memoir of striking comprehension, humor, and wisdom.”

Calisher to speak at free author series at CSU

Calisher will speak on Tuesday, October 14 as part of the free author evening series sponsored by the Friends of the CSU Libraries and the Poudre River Friends of the Library.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014
4:15-5:15 p.m.
Morgan Library Event Hall
Colorado State University

The event is free and open to the public — no tickets are required.  Doors will open at 3:45 p.m., and seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. A book sale and signing follow the program.

More about Charles Calisher

Charles Calisher, Ph.D., was at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, and Fort Collins, Colorado for 27 years as Chief of the Arbovirus Reference Branch and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Arboviruses in the Americas.

He is now Professor Emeritus, Arthropod-borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, and a member of the Columbia University, Center for Infection and Immunity, Mailman School of Public Health. He has more than 400 scientific publications, some honors, and many experiences.

Free author series

This free author series program is presented by and sponsored by Friends of the CSU Libraries and the Poudre River Friends of the Library, and supported by the City of Fort Collins Fort Fund, and KUNC Radio.