John C. Torrey, Ph.D.

 Brief Bio

John C. Torrey, Ph.D., (1876–1946), elected to AAI in 1920, was the only co-EIC of The Journal of Immunology, serving jointly with Arthur F. Coca from 1920 to 1935. Torrey also served on the board of editors (1916–1919 and 1936–1942) and as an associate editor (1943–1947). For nearly forty years, Torrey was on the faculty of the Cornell University Medical College, where he organized and served as chair of the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine from 1927 to 1937.

Torrey earned his Ph.D. in bacteriology at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1902. From 1903 to 1904, he served as both a bacteriologist at Sea Side Hospital in Staten Island, New York, and as an instructor in histology and bacteriology at Cornell University Medical College. He continued his research in bacteriology as a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell from 1904 to 1907 and remained at Cornell for the entirety of his career. He rose from instructor of experimental pathology and lecturer in hygiene (1908–1910) to assistant professor of experimental pathology and lecturer of hygiene (1910–1916). In 1916, Torrey became the first full professor of hygiene at Cornell and was appointed head of the Department of Hygiene, then one of several semi-independent Special Departments of Medicine and Surgery. Under Torrey’s leadership, the department was renamed the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and elevated to the status of full department in 1927. Although his title changed from professor of public health and preventative medicine (1927–1932) to professor of epidemiology (1932–1941), Torrey continued to head the department until 1937. Four years later, Torrey retired and was named professor emeritus, but he maintained an active research agenda until his death in 1946.
 

 AAI Service History

 Institutional/Biographical Links

• Cornell University Faculty memorial statement