The Life and Legacy of Dr. Roger Estep
Written by Dr. William Watson, DVM, DACLAM
I arrived at Tuskegee Institute in August 1961 as a first-year student in veterinary medicine. Roger D. Estep was a fourth-year veterinary student at Tuskegee Institute at that time. The classes were small enough that everyone knew each other. Roger always presented himself in a professional and business-like manner. He entered veterinary school after receiving his undergraduate degree followed by his service in the U.S. Air Force. During his fourth and final year of veterinary school, Roger was a research associate in a physiology study involving Cardiovascular-Hemodynamics. This study was performed using horses with surgical implants to measure selected cardio dynamics hemodynamics both at rest and doing activity. This research was both novel and innovative research during this this time by using a horse as a model. The study was funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. The research team consisted of the following: Dr. Edward W. Harthorne, Chairman Department of Physiology at Howard University College of Medicine, Dr. Walter C Bowie, Head, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Tuskegee Institute School of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Raymond Adams, surgeon in the Department of Large Animal Medicine and Surgery, and Dr. Laval Cathran, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and a specialist in medical telemetry from Howard University. This research resulted in a greater understanding of the cardiovascular physiologic dynamics.
Graduating in May of 1962, Dr. Estep was recruited to Howard University to continue collaborating with Dr. Hawthorne and served as the first veterinarian director of the animal research facility at Howard University Medical College. Thus, Doctor Estep began his professional career in it the field of laboratory animal care and medicine. He was also a participant in the first veterinary medical symposium at Tuskegee Institute School of Veterinary Medicine initiated in the spring of 1965. The symposium focused on the care of laboratory animals used in research at medical schools (Howard and Meharry Universities) and the CDC in Atlanta. He was joined by two of his classmates who were also African American veterinarian pioneers in the field of laboratory animal medicine. During the early years of what is now ACLAM, the founders were grandfathered in as board certified, and selected veterinarians in administrative positions were granted board eligibility provided they passed the certifying examination within a specified time. Dr. Estep was in this category. Upon my graduation in 1965, I entered the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps and was assigned to the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Department of Laboratory Animals, Washington, D.C. Dr. Estep, his classmate, Dr. Charles Flennoy, who was the head of Georgetown University Animal Research facility, and I allotted time during several weekends as a study group. I was assigned to Vietnam in 1967 and Dr. Estep never took the examination though he continued to be active in the local and national AALAS (formerly known as the Animal Care panel). He was elected President of National AALAS in 1971, the first African- American elected to that position. He was an excellent president, and his contributions continued to be seen and felt beyond his years of service.
Dr. Estep served as director of the Howard University Animal Research Facility for several years. He was later appointed as Executive Assistant to the President of Howard University. He served in this position until December 1971 when he selected as the Director of Division of Research Resources for the National Institutes of Health. He administered and managed the activities of several hundred personnel responsible for providing a wide variety of services including, but not limited to, library, glassware, biomedical engineering and instrumentation, and veterinary resources to the intramural research program. The veterinary services included animal production, veterinarian and other professional support, specialized animal breeding programs, and veterinary consultation to intramural investigators. Doctor Estep returned to Howard University in 1972 as the Vice President of University Development and Relations, a position he held until his retirement. Doctor Estep continued providing his expertise and financial support to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (formerly Maryland State University), Tuskegee University (formerly Tuskegee Institute), and Howard University until his death in December 2021.
