Beth S. Williams

Elizabeth Storm Williams (November 15, 1951 – December 29, 2004) was an American wildlife veterinarian. She discovered chronic wasting disease and is also credited with preventing the extinction of the black-footed ferret.

Early life and education Elizabeth Storm Williams was born November 15, 1951, in Columbia, Missouri, to parents Martha Storm Williams and Walter F. Williams. Her father was a researcher at the University of Maryland, and one of her early jobs was working in his lab. She graduated with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Purdue University in 1977. She then went to Colorado State University, where she completed a residency training program and PhD in veterinary pathology. identifying it as a form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, and was later recognized as the foremost expert on CWD in deer and elk in the US.

She was part of the Wildlife Disease Association for more than twenty-five years, serving on many committees within the group, including as chair of its Student Activities Committee and Public Awareness Committee. She served on the editorial board of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases, and was made its Editor in 2000.

Williams was also an instructor, teaching at the University of Wyoming and Colorado State University. She was additionally on several national councils, including for the FDA, United States National Research Council, and National Academy of Medicine, as an expert on spongiform encephalopathies. Williams and Thorne have been called "one of the most productive husband-and-wife collaborations in the history of American conservation". as well as the Tom Thorne and Beth Williams Wildlife Research Center at Sybille, one of a few wildlife research centers in the US.