Walter Reed
Walter Reed lived from September 13, 1851 to November 22, 1902. He was born in Belroi, Virginia, and was most famous for proving that yellow fever was transmitted through mosquito bites. He attended the University of Virginia and graduated in 1869 as a doctor of medicine. Reed soon became a military doctor, and after taking courses at Johns Hopkins Hospital, conducted research on typhoid fever and yellow fever. After an outbreak of what was thought to be malaria in an army barrack near Havana, Reed conducted small experiments on volunteers using mosquitoes.
He described in an article written by Ivey Lewis and Charles Young as a “conqueror of yellow fever, distinguished bacteriologist, benefactor of mankind.” His cottage was the original director’s cottage, and was in a group of cottage names, along with Thomas Jefferson, that Lewis dubbed “Two Native Virginians.”
Eliza Brodie