Edison graduate, Thomas Ficht, works on finding a cure for a deadly epidemic.
Ficht attended Edison back when it was an all-boys school and more of a vocational school in 1966. The shops were very different from what they are now; there was plumbing, electric, and carpentry shops.
He enjoyed his experience attending Edison. “Aside from being an all-boys school, it was a great educational opportunity because I got into the chemistry program which prepared me pretty well for a college,” said Ficht.
After graduating from Edison in ‘68, he attended the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.
“Right now we’re working on a vaccine to a prevent brucellosis in humans and it’s usually contracted by consumption of contaminated food products, milk and such, cheese and um there’s no safe way to treat. There’s no vaccines for humans to use so we’re targeting vaccines in cattle and sheep and goats in order to prevent transmissions to humans,” said Ficht.
Ficht is currently a professor at Texas A&M University in the Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences department.
He wants Edison students to use the resources they have around them to help guide them.
“Well you know I always think a lot about my instructors for teachers that I had when I was there um they were very helpful and um sorry I probably should have communicated with them better than I actually did because they were a great source of information for me,” said Ficht.
Edison students in the medical program should take Thomas Ficht as an example that you can go off into the world and do amazing things like cure cancer, AIDS, and other deadly diseases.