Rick Speare

{{Short description|Australian public health physician and veterinary surgeon}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Richard Speare | image = File:Richard Speare.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1947|08|02|df=y}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|2016|06|05|1947|08|02|df=y}} | death_place = Atherton Tablelands | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = | workplaces = James Cook University<br>University of Otago | alma_mater = | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = research on chytridiomycosis | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = AM | signature =  | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|http://www.tropicalhealthsolutions.com/rickspeare}} | footnotes = | spouse = Kerry Kelly<ref name=JCUobit/> }}

'''Richard''' "'''Rick'''" '''Speare''' (2 August 1947 – 5 June 2016) was an Australian public health physician and veterinary surgeon. He is best known for his research on animal diseases, particularly his work on chytridiomycosis in amphibians.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Bishop|first=Phil|date=2016|title=Obituary for Rick Speare – "Grand-Father" of chytrid discovery and research|url=http://www.amphibians.org/news/rick-speare/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160926162205/http://www.amphibians.org/news/rick-speare/|archive-date=2016-09-26|access-date=2016-06-22|website=Amphibian Survival Alliance}}</ref>

==Research career== Speare worked clinically as both a medical doctor and a veterinarian.<ref name=":0" /> He joined James Cook University in 1988 as a research fellow, and was appointed an associate professor in 1991.<ref name=JCUobit/> His research covered a suite of diseases, including paramphistomid trematodes of the agile wallaby, scabies, head lice, malaria, and Australian bat lyssavirus.<ref name=":0" /> However, he is best known for his work on amphibian diseases such as salmonella and ranaviruses in cane toads, ''Mucor amphibiorum'' in the Australian green tree frog, and, most notably, chytridiomycosis.<ref name=":0" />

Speare completed his PhD on the helminth parasite ''Strongyloides'' in 1986.<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Studies on the taxonomy of Strongyloides (Nematoda; Strongyloididae)|publisher=James Cook University of North Queensland|date=1986|degree=phd|doi=10.25903/5e1bf2068703b|first=Richard|last=Speare}}</ref> He published an important book chapter on the morphology of ''Strongyloides'' spp. in "Strogyloidiasis: A Major Roundworm Infection of Man", edited by David Grove (1989). Speare performed significant work on the public health control of human strongyloidiasis caused by ''Strongyloides stercoralis'', particularly in Aboriginal Australian communities. He was the founder of the Australian National Working Group on Strongyloidiasis.

Speare was Director of the JCU School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine from 2009 to 2012 and taught numerous subjects in the university's Masters of Public Health (Tropical Medicine) program, including Human Parasitology. He also undertook a guest lecturing role at Tufts University in the United States.

In 2005, Speare and two colleagues infected themselves with hookworms to study the body's response to the parasites.<ref>Julie Robotham (2005) [http://www.smh.com.au/news/health/professors-resident-hookers-generate-a-gut-reaction/2005/10/17/1129401198359.html "Professor's resident hookers generate a gut reaction"] ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 18 October 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2016.</ref> Speare was instrumental in founding the Atoifi Health Research Group in the Solomon Islands, to help improve public health in the region.<ref name=JCUMemorial>[https://alumni.jcu.edu.au/RSpeareMemFund "Emeritus Professor Richard (Rick) Speare AM"] Retrieved 22 June 2016.</ref>

==Retirement and death== Speare retired from James Cook University in 2012, and was made a member of the Order of Australia in the same year. He remained an emeritus professor and continued to publish research.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=JCUobit/> He was also a director of the private company Tropical Health Solutions Pty Ltd, whose aims were to "improve health in the tropics through undertaking applied research to generate evidence for decisions and through building research capacity in local researchers."<ref name=THS1>[http://www.tropicalhealthsolutions.com/rickspeare "Prof Rick Speare"] Tropical Health Solutions. Retrieved 22 June 2016.</ref><ref name=THS2>[http://www.tropicalhealthsolutions.com/whoweare "Who we are"], Tropical Health Solutions. Retrieved 22 June 2016.</ref> Speare died in a car accident in the Atherton Tablelands on 5 June 2016.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=JCUobit>[https://www.jcu.edu.au/@jcu/source/vale-emeritus-professor-rick-speare-am "Vale Emeritus Professor Rick Speare AM, PhD, MBBS(Hons), BVSc(Hons), DVSc, FAFPHM, FACTM, MANZCVS"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630235904/https://www.jcu.edu.au/@jcu/source/vale-emeritus-professor-rick-speare-am |date=30 June 2016 }} James Cook University. Retrieved 22 June 2016.</ref><ref name=CairnsPost>Grace Mason (2016) [http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/partner-of-atherton-tablelands-crash-driver-charged-with-drug-driving/news-story/bd903c5a9c7cfcacaf566fa481a87af6 "Partner of Atherton Tablelands crash driver charged with drug driving"] ''The Cairns Post'', 11 June 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2016.</ref> He was survived by his wife Kerry, three sons, two daughters and five grandchildren.<ref name=":0" />

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speare, Richard}} Category:1947 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Academic staff of James Cook University Category:Australian tropical medicine doctors Category:Australian veterinarians Category:Presidents of the Australian Medical Association Category:Road incident deaths in Queensland