Prof Robert Webster (75), who was born in Otago and grew up near Balclutha, has stepped down after 33 years as director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza Viruses in Lower Animals and Birds.
He has been succeeded by Dr Richard Webby (37), who has a microbiology doctorate from Otago University.
Dr Webby joined Prof Webster's laboratory at St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States, in 1999 for a postdoctoral fellowship and never left.
Prof Webster, a world authority in bird flu who has headed the Memphis-based WHO laboratory since 1975, recommended the director post be transferred to Dr Webby.
"It's time to hand the torch to the next generation of young people," Prof Webster said.
Otago University, where Prof Webster had earlier gained a BSc and MSc in microbiology, recently established the Webster Centre for Infectious Diseases.
This aims to develop diagnostic methods, antimicrobials and vaccines to address problems caused by infectious diseases.
Dr Webby said Prof Webster's legacy had been to highlight the importance of the "avian reservoir of influenza as it relates to human health."
Bird disease was now known to be "the initial source for all human flu," he said.
Dr Webby used a reverse genetics approach to make the first seed strain for the H5N1 flu virus.
Time magazine subsequently hailed the vaccine as one of the major scientific achievements of last year.
In 2004, Dr Webby was named as one of the "Scientific American 50", being identified as a research leader in public health and epidemiology.
