This collection, only partially processed, is divided into four series: Commission on Influenza; Armed Forces Epidemiological Board; U.S. Viral Disease Panel; and Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan.
Fred M. Davenport was born in Scranton, Penn., on Nov. 30, 1914. He received his undergraduate degree in 1936 and his medical degree in 1940 at Columbia University. He joined the Army Medical Corps as a malariologist during World War II, and from 1942 to 1946 saw service in Central America, Australia, New Guinea, the Philippines, Okinawa and Japan. In 1947 Davenport was awarded a National Research Council Fellowship in virus diseases, enabling him to spend two additional years of postdoctoral training at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, where he worked under Dr. F.L. Horsfall on serological research with influenza viruses.
Davenport came to the University of Michigan School of Public Health in 1949 as a research associate in epidemiology. Here he collaborated with Dr. Thomas Francis Jr., in research on virology and the epidemiology of influenza. In 1951 he received an additional appointment in the U-M Medical School's internal medicine department. He was promoted to professor of epidemiology in 1958 and professor of internal medicine in 1959. He became chairman of the department of epidemiology in 1969 upon the retirement of Dr. Francis.
Davenport's research on virus diseases and on the problem of the control and prevention of epidemic influenza earned him a significant international reputation. In 1967 he was named an honorary member of the Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany. A year later he was awarded the Memorial Medal and Badge of Gamaleya by the Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the Soviet Union.
In addition, Davenport was an associate member of the Armed Forces Epidemiologic Board and served as director of its Commission on Influenza from 1955 to 1971. Between 1969 and 1973 he served as chairman of the virus diseases panel of the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program. He also served as a consultant to many national and international organizations, including the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization.
Davenport retired from the University faculty in 1977 and was subsequently named professor emeritus of epidemiology and internal medicine. He died March 2, 1982.
