Robert Wayne Atchison, who retired after more than 30 years as emeritus professor of infectious diseases and microbiology in the Graduate School of Public Health in 1993 — after gaining international recognition for discovering adenovirus-associated viruses (AAVs) that needed another virus to replicate but could be genetically altered to deliver treatments for several diseases — died on Jan. 17, 2026, at 95.
Charles R. Rinaldo, now a Department of Medicine faculty member in infectious diseases at the School of Medicine, met Atchison in 1978 when both were Public Health faculty.
“He stood out as a world-class electron microscopist (EM) and an excellent teacher,” Rinaldo said. “Most important was his discovery, with his department Chairman William Hammon and research associate Bruce Casto in 1965, of adeno-associated viruses. Indeed, I consider this to be one of the most important scientific discoveries at the University of Pittsburgh and its School of Public Health. I recall Bob explaining to me how ‘Chance favors the prepared mind’ as he and his two colleagues’ publication had ‘scooped’ an outstanding virologist who was also studying adenoviruses and had found evidence of AAVs.
“I fondly remember Bob’s warmth for his family,” Rinaldo also recalled, “as he would open his office and lab to his young daughters while he was working, which was not commonly done.”
Robert Wayne “Bob” Atchison was born on Sept. 19, 1930, in Pratt, Kansas. He earned both his bachelor of arts (1952) and master of arts (1955) degrees in bacteriology from the University of Kansas–Lawrence. He received his PhD from the same institution in virology and anatomy in 1960. He enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1949, rising to the rank of major in 1969.
In 1960, Atchison joined the Pitt faculty as a virologist in a large cancer research program, from which he eventually set up his own research laboratories. Just five years into his career here, he and his colleagues published in Science the first biochemical and biological characterizations of an AAV. These viruses were uniquely unable to replicate without an accompanying adenovirus — the first of eight such viruses eventually found.
His work demonstrated that a great number of people already harbored such viruses, which later were shown to inhibit certain cancer-causing adenoviruses in animals. This AAV, and some AAVs discovered by others, were capable of being genetically altered to deliver treatments for blindness and sickle cell anemia, among other benefits. Atchison authored or co-authored more than 71 publications on viral-induced cancers and on a variety of human viruses, including a book chapter and an atlas of virus particles.
At Pitt, he taught graduate courses in virology, immunology and laboratory practices. He was thesis advisor and mentor to dozens of graduate students in master’s or doctoral programs, the latter of whom worked in his laboratories in virus and cell culture, histology and electron microscopy in the UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Department of Pediatric Pathology, where he was also an electron microscopist.
He belonged to the American Society for Microbiology (as vice president and president of its local branch), the American Society of Immunology and the British Societies of General Virology and Microbiology. At Pitt, he was chair of his school’s Budget Policy and Library Committees, a member of the University’s Budget Policy Committee, and chair of the Senate’s Elections Committee.
After retirement, he conducted research at Magee-Womens Hospital’s Research Institute for two years, and then conducted a molecular research and development laboratory at UPMC Children’s, where he also worked as a consultant in the pathology department until 2002.
He is survived by his wife of more than 73 years, Alice; daughters Cynthia J. Atchison and Cheryl L. Westine (Sven); son Brian W. Atchison (Elaina); grandchildren Tim Westine, Nick Westine, Allison Atchison, Tyler Atchison and Emily Atchison; and many nieces and nephews.
Memorial gifts are suggested to the American Cancer Society online or at P.O. Box 6704, Hagerstown MD 21741.
— Marty Levine