Benjamin Lucio-Martinez AAAP Hall of Honor
Born in Mexico City, Benjamín Lucio-Martínez completed his professional studies in 1964 at the Escuela Nacional de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia (ENMVZ), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He obtained his MS and PhD degrees from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University in 1968 and 1979. During his tenure at ENMVZ in Mexico from 1969 to 1976 and 1980 to 1986, he was professor of Avian Diseases and chair of the Avian Diagnostic Laboratory. In 1970 the laboratory converted into the Department of Animal Production: Poultry, and the ENMVZ started post graduate studies in avian medicine, attracting students from Mexico, Central and South America. Together with several colleagues he founded the Asociación Nacional de Especialistas en Ciencias Avícolas (ANECA) and was its founding president (1970-1972).
In 1986 he joined the Department of Avian and Aquatic Animal Medicine at Cornell University. He retired in 2011 as Director of Avian Diagnostic and Extension Services at Cornell University.
Throughout his career he worked on different projects, many of them with his students, on the diagnosis, control and pathogenesis of poultry diseases. He worked on infectious bronchitis, avian encephalomyelitis, Newcastle disease (ND), egg drop syndrome ’76 (EDS’76), infectious bursal disease (IBD), chicken infectious anemia, Marek’s disease, and Salmonella Enteritidis in chickens. He also worked on canary pox, parrot pox and tragopan herpesvirus. He confirmed the presence of IBD, highly pathogenic NDV, inclusion body hepatitis and EDS in Mexico. He published more than 30 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Before retiring, he served the New York State poultry industry through extension service and diagnosis. He had the fortune to work with some of the best poultry pathologists in Mexico and the United States (Drs. Antillón, Calnek, Cuadra, Estudillo, Hitchner, Levine, Mosqueda and Rosenwald, among others). He was proud that many of his students occupy important positions in the avian industry in Mexico and abroad.
In his retirement in Ithaca, NY, USA he spent his time reading, gardening, house remodelling, photographing and entertaining his three grandkids.
He was survived by his beloved wife Eglantina, daughters Eglantina and Araceli, and their families.
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