Norman Francis Conant

Norman Francis Conant (9 March 1908, Walpole, Massachusetts – 23 April 1984, Durham, North Carolina) was an American medical school professor and one of the pioneers of medical mycology.

Education Conant graduated in 1930 with a Bachelor of Science degree from Bates College. At Harvard University he graduated in 1931 with a master's degree and in 1933 with a Ph.D. His doctoral dissertation was supervised by William H. Weston Jr.

Career and research Soon after returning to the US, Conant became a research assistant at Massachusetts General Hospital and was invited by David Tillerson Smith to interview at Duke University for the position of instructor of mycology in the Duke University School of Medicine and mycologist for the Duke University Hospital. In 1935 Conant was appointed to the position, thus becoming "the first individual hired as a medical mycologist at a medical school." The textbook was a great success, and a 3rd edition in 1971. He was also one of the editors of the 12th edition of Zinnser Microbiology.

Conant became a professor at the Duke University Medical School and from 1958 to 1968 chaired of the Department of Microbiology.