Grayson Brown, PhD, Executive Director, Puerto Rico Vector Control Unit

Professor Emeritus, Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A.

PhD, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, U.S.A.

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Following a distinguished full-time career as a professor of entomology, Dr. Grayson Brown took on a very practical and consequential assignment leading vector control efforts in Puerto Rico. As a faculty member of the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology since 1978, he currently is professor emeritus of entomology and an emeritus director of the Public Health Entomology Laboratory at that institution. Known for his work in IPM, modeling, and mosquito management systems, he has published more than 100 refereed publications and 18 books/chapters, received more than $3 million in competitive grants, given more than 100 professional presentations, and trained numerous Ph.D. and M.Sc. students. His work beyond mosquitos includes documenting the range expansion of New World sand flies in the United States along with studies of their ecology; and he has published a computer forecast model for these potentially serious disease vectors. Among public health workers around the world, he is especially recognized for his work contributing to the development and registration of spinosad-based mosquito larvicides for municipal use.

As a professor, he was a leading professor in three courses: Medical/Public Health Entomology, Integrated Pest Management, and Advanced Applied Entomology. For many years in the U.S., he was a consulting entomologist for the Kentucky Department of Public Health (Division of Epidemiology), and the cities of Louisville, Lexington, and Covington Kentucky.

Brown is the Past President of the Entomological Society of America (ESA). He first joined the Society in 1973 as a student and became a full member in 1978. He soon led the ESA’s adoption of electronic systems. In 1981, he chaired the ESA’s first Computer Committee, which computerized ESA headquarters. In 1988, he programmed the first software for Program Chairs. He was a member/chair of six committees leading to computerizing/archiving/publishing ESA journals. He served on various editorial boards and served for seven years as a contributing editor for American Entomologist.

For over twenty years, Dr. Brown has supported student engagement and welcoming non-entomologists into the world of entomology and public health. As  President of the Entomological Society of America, he was a champion for student engagement, and he was the Student Competition Co-Chair and Program Co-Chair. 

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Most recently, in 2019, he provided the keynote closing lecture at the U.S.-based National Environmental Health Association.