Erf turned childhood curiosity into poultry immunology career
April 14, 2026
By Mary Hightower
University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Fast Facts
- Erf followed childhood interest in 'nature and how things worked'
- Canadian professor started Erf on poultry science path
(1,189 words)
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gisela Erf’s lauded career in poultry immunology began with a simple question from her master’s degree adviser: “Would you mind working with chickens?”
That moment brought focus to what would become Erf’s path in science.
Erf retired at the end of 2025 after more than 30 years within the University of Arkansas System where she conducted research through the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station as a faculty member of the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science. She also held the Tyson Endowed Professorship in Avian Immunology and taught classes through the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas.
Growing up in Wiesensteig, a small medieval town in southern Germany, Erf “was a very curious child, very interested in nature and how things worked,” she said.
Though not from a farm family, she and her sister had horses, including a rescue mare from which they had several foals.
“We rode the horses every day, taking advantage of the beautiful trails through meadows and woods,” Erf said.
“I did have veterinary ambitions until I spent part of my summer vacation in high school assisting/shadowing a local, large animal veterinarian,” she said. “I very quickly realized this was not for me. I did not cope well with difficult births, injury, very ill animals, etc.”
Still, Erf knew she wanted to pursue a career in science.
Pursuing science
After high school, she spent a summer with friends in New Brunswick, Canada, which led to a year studying science at the University of New Brunswick. She said that through friends, she “learned about the Nova Scotia Agricultural College and the many science-based problem-solving contributions one could make in agricultural sciences.”
She earned an associate degree in animal science and then moved to the University of Guelph to complete her bachelor’s and then master’s degrees. It was at Guelph that her adviser, Robert Etches, asked about working with chickens.
Erf then pursued a doctorate in immunology under the direction of James Marsh at Cornell University, evaluating the effects of thyroid hormones on cell-mediated immunity in chickens.
While Erf worked as an assistant professor of biology at Smith College, J. Robert Smyth, Jr., a poultry geneticist at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, invited her to collaborate in avian immunology. Smyth was studying the loss of pigment cells in chicken feathers and eyes — a condition known as vitiligo — and suspected the immune system was involved. With his mentorship, Erf obtained a National Institutes of Health grant to study loss of pigment cells in what is now known as the Smyth chicken line.
“This project reignited my passion for research, the chicken model, working with students in the laboratory and at the farm, attending professional meetings, and immersing myself in the research topic,” Erf said.
After the birth of her son Kyle, Erf applied to join the University of Arkansas’ new Poultry Science Department and Center of Excellence for Poultry Science as an immunologist, “hoping that five years of teaching experience and building a successful research program in immunology at an undergraduate institution would still make me competitive for this position.”
In 1994, she got the job.
Immunology work
Erf said that “throughout the years, we established the Smyth line autoimmune vitiligo model as an excellent model for human autoimmune vitiligo and associated autoimmune diseases for biomedical and translational research.”
Her work led to a patent for a method of testing immune responses using feather pulp — the skin tissue from which feathers grow.
Erf used what she calls a “living test-tube” to study immune responses in the same individual over time to injected vaccines and other antigens.
“The method came out of these vitiligo studies, and it has been an incredibly successful technique, in my opinion, to study these very complex inflammatory responses where the cells get recruited from the blood to the site of infection or injection,” Erf said in a 2024 story.
Erf said her research “contributions on the autoimmune disease chicken models may not be immediately obvious to the poultry industry, but by studying aberrant immune function, much can be learned about the development and function of the immune system on the whole animal, organ, cellular and molecular levels.”
“The fact that much of our research received funding from the National Institutes of Health has allowed me to build my research program in basic and applied poultry immunology and biomedical research and to develop an array of tools and approaches to study and evaluate immune system function in poultry,” she said.
Erf’s career has been highly lauded. In 2024, she was recognized as a Fellow of the Poultry Science Association. In 1999, in recognition of her commitment to teaching, she was awarded the Purina Mills Poultry Science Association Teaching Award. In 2005, her efforts in graduate mentorship and providing research opportunities to students were recognized by the Poultry Science Association's Helene Cecil Leadership Award.
She has served the Poultry Science Association in several capacities, including as a student presentation judge, session chair, section chair at annual meetings and as Poultry Science Section editor.
In 2006, Erf was named to the Tyson Endowed Professorship in Avian Immunology.
Lasting impact
Erf has made a lasting impact on poultry science through her research and work as a teacher, said David Caldwell, head of poultry science for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and Bumpers College.
“Dr. Gisela Erf retired as one of the world’s most recognized scientists in the field of avian immunology,” Caldwell said. “She built a program that was truly impactful to advancing the science in her field, and this had a profound impact on immunity, health, and wellbeing in poultry.
“In addition to her accomplishments in research, she was an incredible teacher, adviser, and mentor to students at all levels,” he said. “She was also one of the most supportive, collegial, and caring faculty members I’ve ever worked with in my career. While we are sad in many ways to see her go, we are truly exited for her as she enters retirement.
“We were fortunate to call her a colleague and friend for so many years,” he said.
Still busy
After retiring, Erf and her husband Jeff moved to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. She met Jeff at the University of Guelph, where he obtained a Ph.D. in horticulture. Though retired, she still has her hand in the profession.
“I am still actively engaged in mentoring two Honors students as director and two Ph.D. students as committee member, and completion and publication of research as principal investigator and collaborator,” she said, adding that the students will complete their programs in May.
“I also help with grant applications, grant and manuscript reviews, faculty evaluations, etc. at the national and international level, and hope to stay active in my scientific field,” Erf said. “I love the flexibility in my schedule, sleeping in, exercising, reading and traveling.
“Once we are settled in our new home, I am sure I will find many opportunities to have a fun and fulfilling retirement,” she said. “In May, we will travel to Germany to visit friends, and family and attend my 50th high school reunion.”
To learn more about ag and food research in Arkansas, visit aaes.uada.edu. Follow the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station on LinkedIn and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three system campuses.
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