Watson, Robert Briggs, 1903-1978.

Physician.

From the description of Reminiscences of Robert Briggs Watson : oral history, 1968. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309728050

Robert Briggs Watson (1903-1978), native of Clemson, S.C., was a physician who specialized in malaria research, parasitology, epidemiology, and public health administration. He served as a field staff member of the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1942-1966.

Watson studied agriculture at the University of Tennessee and received his medical degree from there in 1930. After three years of private practice in Memphis and Knoxville, Tenn., he became a fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation International Health Division in 1934. He obtained his master's degree in public health from Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1939, and served as a malariologist and epidemiologist with the Tennessee Valley Association before becoming a field staff member with the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation in 1942.

Watson was headquartered at Memphis, Tenn., concentrating on malaria studies in 1942-1945; 1946-1954 his work centered on East Asia; 1955-1962 his work shifted to Brazil and other Latin American countries. In 1964, he started a new project in St. Lucia, and in 1966 he began teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public health, becoming Professor of Parasitology and Laboratory Practice.

From the guide to the Robert Briggs Watson Diary, ., 1942-1966, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)