By Keith Norman, For The Jamestown Sun
JAMESTOWN — A 1983 Jamestown High School graduate is helping test vaccines for tuberculosis at the University of Washington. He credits his parents and his high school science teacher for helping him develop the skills and curiosity to fight that battle.
Kevin Urdahl said he started working on tuberculosis research in 1999.
“I wanted to find something that was unique and would make a difference in the world,” he said.
After graduating from Jamestown High School, he got his undergraduate degree from Concordia College at Moorhead, Minnesota, graduating as the fourth generation of the Urdahl family to study there. He then studied at the University of Minnesota, graduating with a combination of an MD and Ph.D. degrees.
This was followed by experience treating patients in Australia and Kenya. Most of his experiences dealt with infectious diseases in children and adults.
“I realized infectious diseases were killing people,” he said. “Tuberculosis is the biggest killer in the world and it is still killing 1.5 million people around the world each year.”