Each year, the Fellows Committee, considers nominations for the organization's highest honor. For election, the nomination must receive a unanimous vote from the organization's Board of Directors. No more than 5 fellows may be elected in any one year. This year 3 were selected for this distinction, one of whom is a member of the Mississippi State University Poultry Science Faculty, J. Paul Thaxton.
Dr. Thaxton is a native Mississippian, born in Oktibbeha county. After two years at the University of Mississippi he transferred to Mississippi State University and received his bachelor's degree with a major in Entomology in 1964 and in 1966 received his MS in Animal Physiology. He then accepted a position as Instructor of Biology at Northeast Louisiana State College and taught there for one year prior to entering the University of Georgia. He received the PhD in Poultry Science in 1971.
In January, 1970, he joined the faculty at North Carolina State University as Assistant Professor. In 1973, he was promoted to Associate Professor, and then to Professor in 1976. His research included studies on the influence of environmental factors on development and expression of immune competence in broilers, layers, Japanese quail, and turkeys. He trained over 25 graduate students and served for five years as head of the Graduate Physiology Program. He taught Avian Physiology courses to both undergraduates and graduate students.
Then, in 1985, Dr. Thaxton took a leave of absence from NCSU and entered the business world. He and H. V. Smith founded Embrex, Inc. From 1985 to 1990, he served as Director and later as Vice President of Research and Development at Embrex. After completing development and commercialization of the first system to deliver vaccines and biologics to embryonating eggs he returned to academia, accepting a position as Professor of Poultry Science at Mississippi State University in 1990 where he continues to teach, conduct research, and train graduate students.
Dr. Thaxton has authored over 300 publications, 11 patents and trained 32 graduate students. He is a member of Poultry Science Association, Southern Poultry Science Society, World Poultry Science Association, Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Society of Sigma Xi, and Gamma Sigma Delta. His honors include the Poultry Science Association Research Award in 1974, the Research Award from the NCSU Chapter of Sigma Xi in 1976, Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence from the Governor of North Carolina in 1987 and the Faculty Research Award from the Mississippi State University Alumni Association in 2001.