George Macdonald Urquhart

Urquhart was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He was the son of a farmer in Easter Ross.[3] He was educated at Allan Glen's School where he won a scholarship.[3] In 1942 he entered the Glasgow Veterinary College, graduating BVMS in 1947.[1] For his academic successes, he won the Donald Campbell Memorial Prize and the gold medal for being "the most distinguished student in his year."[1][3]

After college, Urquhart received a scholarship to work with Dr. E. L. Taylor in Weybridge for the Ministry of Agriculture in the parasitology department from 1947 to 1949.[1][4]

From 1949 to 1956, he worked as an assistant, then lecturer, at Glasgow University, helping it absorb the Glasgow Veterinary College.[1][4] He received a PhD from the University in 1955 for his work on diseases caused by liver flukes.[1] His thesis was named Experimental Fascioliasis in the Rabbit.[5]

From 1956 to 1959 he worked in Kabete in Kenya as a veterinary helminthologist.[6][1] He returned to Glasgow University as a researcher in 1960, becoming a reader in veterinary parasitology in 1968.[1]

At the University of Glasgow, he was a professor in experimental veterinary parasitology from 1970 to 1979.[1] Next, he served there as a professor of veterinary parasitology from 1979 to 1990.[1] He became the first and only chair of veterinary parasitology in the United Kingdom in 1979.[4]

In the 1950s, he was responsible for developing the Dictol vaccine which combats bronchitis in cattle, along with a team consisting of Bill Jarrett, Frank Jennings, Ian McIntyre, and Bill Mulligan.[1][4] This was the first successful vaccine for parasitic disease in cattle and was eventually sold commercially, becoming the largest selling biologic product for farm animals in the United Kingdom.[2][4]

Urquhart retired in 1990.[3] He then became the director general of the International Trypanotolerance Centre in The Gambia.[3]

• Veterinary Parasitology. Longman Scientific and Technical. 1987. ISBN 9780582026995. OCLC 824632303.

Urquhart was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1990.[7][2] His proposers were Ronald J. Roberts, William Weipers, Maxwell Murray and N. G. Wright.[7] He was president of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology from 1985 to 1989.[1] He was also an honorary member of the British Society of Parasitology and an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.[1]

Urquhart was married to Margaret.[3] Their children were Andrew, Libby, and David.[3] They lived in Helensburgh, Scotland where he enjoyed sailing.[4] He died on 11 January 1997.[3]