Ed Hoover

Dr. Hoover, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and University Distinguished Professor, researches prions and retroviruses and experimental vaccines for prion infections.

Prions cause fatal neurologic diseases of animals and humans, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease, sheep scrapie, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in species such as deer and elk, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Hoover also developed the FeLV vaccine against the retrovirus that causes leukemia in cats. FeLV, now used worldwide to immunize cats against leukemia-causing retrovirus, is the only vaccine for leukemia in any species.

Hoover’s current work focuses on disease prevention; specifically, the mechanisms whereby prions and retroviruses cross the mucous membranes to initiate infection, the mechanisms and cells involved in transmission and shedding of CWD disease prions, and the potential host range of CWD.

Hoover earned his B.S and D.V.M. at the University of Illinois, and his M.S. and Ph.D. at Ohio State University.