Members of the American Society of Parasitology and distinguished guests, I have the pleasure today of introducing your president, Dr. Mark Siddall. When Mark invited me to introduce him, I recalled that in 1979, my mentor, Murray Fallis, was installed as president, and in 1994, I was privileged to serve in that capacity. Mark is the fourth Canadian-born member to be so honored. Janine Caira was the third.
I first met Mark in 1989, when he enrolled in my undergraduate parasitology course. I believe that this experience derailed his dream of studying medicine. The following summer, I hired him as a field assistant at our laboratory in Algonquin Park, where I quickly realized that he was a gifted young man, possessed of abundant energy, curiosity, and imagination, and he could write, an uncommon skill among students at his stage.
By the time Mark completed his Ph.D. in 1994, he had...