Dr. Brown joined the faculty of the university as head of the Department of Microbiology in 1969, following 12 years’ service as chief of the Virology Branch at the Biological Laboratories at Fort Detrick, Maryland. He served as department head until his retirement in 1988 and, concurrently, as consultant at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In 1983 he was named a Distinguished Service Professor.
A specialist in viral pathogenesis and immunity, he achieved an international reputation for his research and was the author of 65 publications in his field. During his headship, he increased the size of the department and raised its quality to a level of national distinction. A regular panelist at the National Institutes of Health, he also served on the Life Sciences Panel of the National Research Council, was an advisory editor for the Journal of Infectious Diseases from 1961 to 1965, and was chairman of the American Society of Microbiology in 1965. He was named University Macebearer in 1975 and a Chancellor’s Research Scholar in 1979. His contributions to the intellectual life of the university were recognized by the placement of a plaque in his honor on a faculty study in 1986. He was further recognized in 1995 when a study room in Hodges Library was named after him.