Background
Backus, Robert Coburn was born on August 25, 1913 in Carroll, Iowa, United States. Son of Roy Eugene and Ethel (Coburn) Backus.
Backus, Robert Coburn was born on August 25, 1913 in Carroll, Iowa, United States. Son of Roy Eugene and Ethel (Coburn) Backus.
Bachelor of Science, Dakota Wesleyan University, 1937; Master of Science in Biochemistry, University of Michigan, 1944; Doctor of Philosophy in Bacteriology/Immunology, University of Michigan, 1951.
Instructor field army sanitation, research viral hepatitis, School Public Health (United States Army contracts), 1942-1945;
researcher physics Department, University Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1946-1950;
researcher Virus Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, 1950-1956;
consultant research grants, contracts, American Cancer Society, New York City, 1957;
research grants administrator, National Cancer Institute-National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland., 1958-1961;
research grants administrator, National Institute Allergy, Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland., 1962-1965;
office of director, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland., 1965-1987. Retired;
biophysicist unites states department Agricultural European Commission Foot and Mouth Disease, Pirbright, England, 1951. Staff Surgeon General's Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Quarantine, Washington, 1967.
Staff Department of Health, Education and Welfare Tuskegee Syphilis Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel, Washington, 1972-1973. Acting executive secretary Department of Health, Education and Welfare Ethics Advisory Board,1978. Board of trustees American Type Culture Collection, 1962-1968.
Member Civil Svc. Examination Board for Health Scientist Administration Applicants, 1962-1968.
Member Electron Microscope Society of America (board directors 1954-1957), Sigma Xi (life).
Married Beverly Helen Torwelle, July 5, 1940. Children: Byron Torwelle, Robley Dean.