David L. Cox:
CLASS OF 1966
Tascosa High SchoolClass of 1966
Amarillo, TX
Alderson Junior High SchoolClass of 1974
Lubbock, TX
Amarillo High SchoolClass of 1966
Amarillo, TX
Sam Houston Junior High SchoolClass of 1963
Amarillo, TX
San Jacinto Elementary SchoolClass of 1960
Amarillo, TX
David L.'s Story
Life
Currently employed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA as a research microbiologist as Chief of Syphilis Serology and Immunobiology Activity.
My scientific research has centered on STDs. My dissertation work was with Neisseria gonorrhoeae but now I work with the syphilis spirochete. It's amazing how such a destructive "bug" can be such a wimp out of the human body (in vitro). It is extremely difficult to grow in vitro. I helped pioneer the original methods. Though a significant feat, 20 yrs later we still can't pass the organisms from one culture to another. So far the spirochete has outsmarted us... but we're still working. :-)
I have 2 sons John and Nathan (21 and 18) and a wife Judy. John is at the Culinary Institute of America-CIA (Hyde Park, NY) working on a BA and Nathan just started college at Georgia Perimeter in Computer Science. He hopes to be a game programmer some day. Judy also works at the CDC in Biological Products Lab.
To all my classmates, I hope you're doing well and your lives have been big successes. I'm not the same as you knew me in HS. I guess I was one of the original "nurds"... sorry 'bout that. I missed some great opportunities to know many of you better, then .. but we still have the future. I'd love to hear from anyone - even if I barely knew you.
Oh one other thing - I got a PhD. because my professional ambitions required it; but I DON'T feel it makes me any better than ANY of you... it's just a piece of paper. Besides I only use my title with lawyers and bankers... hey you have to put on fins when your swimming with sharks !! ;-)
Best Regards to all,
David
PS. BAW if you read this, please contact me.
School
Oh bouy.... I had several teachers that inspired me... Ms. Sue Fullerton was one.
A great chemistry teacher. Inspired me to become a chemist... from there I became a Microbiologist.
Unusual... ? no not really... Louis Pasteur did the same. ;-)
I wished I'd worked harder in Ms Hamm's and Doc Sample's English classes.
I never thought English would be that important, but I have to write technical papers, chapters, and manuscripts and although I am much better with experience, it would have been less a struggle if I'd focused more in HS and College.
College
A.S. Chemistry 1968 Amarillo College ...Expand for more
Amarillo, TX
B.S. Chemistry 1970 Texas Tech University Lubbock TX.
M.S. Microbiology 1975 Texas Tech University Lubbock TX.
PhD. Microbiology 1979 Texas Tech University Lubbock TX.
"CO2 / HCO3 Fixation by Neisseria gonorrhoeae"
Post Doc Studies- Stanford Research Inst. Menlo Park, CA
In Vitro Cultivation of Treponema pallidum, the Syphilis spirochete
Workplace
My Team heads the Syphilis Serology efforts for CDC which services all of the USA and parts of the world.
We try to troubleshoot the patient sera State Health Dept and physicians have difficulty with. Although the incidence of syphilis in the USA is a an all time low (7000 cases/ year), we also do studies with foreign countries like China, India, and Russia.
We are currentlly developing new technology. New tests for the diagnosis of syphilis haven't been introduced for decades. We have several new tests:
(1) our rapid strip tests- similar to the pregnancy test you can buy OTC, but use serum (not urine).
The beauty of these tests is they can be done in 5-10 minutes instead of hours.
We're developing a 2 tiered test which gives both the results of the treponemal specific test and the non-treponemal (RPR) test on one strip.
The significance of these is that the treponemal test tells you if a patient has ever been exposed or had a case of syphilis; the non-treponemal (RPR) test tells you if the case is active.
You need both to make an accurate diagnosis.
Currently these tests have to be done in a lab and take 1-2 hours each. With teh rapid strip test they can be done "in the field" in 5-10 minutes total.
(2) the 2nd test were developing is an ELISA using the non-treponemal (RPR) antigen which is a lipid.
The ELISA is an enzyme linked assay that is very sensitive. These would be done in 96 well plastic plates by labs that do a lot of screening, a Blood Bank for example.
Both are very promising and should revolutionize syphilis diagnosis and serology.
Both of these efforts help our mission goals for CDC National Syphilis Elimination Effort, Phase 2.
Phase 1 (1999-2005) reduced syphilis in the US from 50,000 cases / year to around 7,000.
Since the incidence of syphilis is low in the USA these will be field tested in the USSR, China, India, and either S. Africa or Madagascar where epidemics run much higher.
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