'A Davis Hero': Toxicologist Shirley Gee Retires after 40-Year Career at UC Davis

DAVIS, CA – PHOTO: Bruce Hammock lab researcher Candace Spier Bever (right) presents a "Lab Mom" card to retiring Shirley Gee at the recent Pacificchem meeting in Honolulu. In the center is Bruce Hammock, distinguished professor of entomology, who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you preface her name with “research scientist” or “renowned toxicologist,” followed by “40 years of service at the University of California, Davis,” those words don't even begin to describe her or her work.

Shirley Gee, principal investigator, lecturer, mentor and the longtime manager of the Bruce Hammock research lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, recently retired, leaving a long chain of accomplishments, admiration, appreciation and affection extending locally, nationally and globally.

Gee, who joined the Hammock lab in 1985, managed a team of researchers that annually included some 40 scientists: graduate students, technicians, post graduates and visiting professors from all over the world.

“Forty seems like a crazy big number,” Gee said, “and I am a little overwhelmed by it.”

"Shirley Gee is a Davis hero," said Hammock, distinguished professor of entomology who holds a joint appointment with the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. "Her resume of 147 peer review publications is the envy of most faculty members, but Shirley's personal research was just a part-time job. She provided the infrastructure for an interdisciplinary laboratory averaging 40 people for decades; she was key to the infrastructure of the department ranging from installing and maintaining computers through chemical safety and control.”

“She has been a parent, colleague and friend to scores of visiting scientists and students from around the world,” Hammock said. “Shirley is a gifted teacher both in the classroom situation at UC Davis but also in outreach where she has provided training to governmental and industrial scientists from around the world. She was the principal investigator of multiple projects bringing a large amount of research funding to the campus. Internationally she best known as the face of the discipline of environmental immunoassay having edited two books in the area and working on a third volume now. Her impact in the field was demonstrated last December when she organized a symposium held in Hawaii on environmental biosensors, attended by scientists from around the world. In fact scientists, from five countries attended a surprise dinner for Shirley at the University of Hawaii."

The UC Davis toxicologist was among the first staff research associates at UC Davis to be given principal investigator status on grants. “On her own she developed a computer-based chemical and equipment inventory system in the laboratory which could be used throughout the university,” Hammock said.

In 2011, Gee received the UC Davis Staff Assembly's Citation for Excellence, presented by the chancellor. “Shirley seeks ways to help the lab and the department be successful,” the nominators wrote. “She is extremely efficient and effective” and a “can-do person skilled at anticipating and solving problems in a friendly, courteous and timely manner.”

Her fellow employees praised her competency and friendliness. “Her input is critical to every project underway in our lab,” Hammock related. “One research project brought almost $2 million in direct costs to the campus last year; she is one of the unsung heroes who keeps this program going.”

A UC Davis alumnus and a longtime member of the Society of Toxicology and American Chemical Society, Gee holds a bachelor of science in biological sciences and a master's in pharmacology and toxicology (1981).

Gee's work has been recognized repeatedly with achievement awards and publications in peer-reviewed journals. Her area of expertise is the development of "ELISA" (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays) for pesticides and other environmental pollutants and their metabolites. "Shirley has trained students from around the world,” said close associate Candace Bever, a UC Davis researcher in the Hammock lab. “In fact our last immunoassay lab meeting had scientists from China, Japan, Thailand, Uruguay, the Ukraine and even the U.S." (See her accomplishments at

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What will she miss about UC Davis and the Hammock lab?

“I won't miss much about UC Davis,” Gee said. “That's because I don't have plans to leave the Davis community and as a member of the retiree community I pretty much will still have access (and at discounted rates) to all the cool things about UC Davis, the library, Mondavi, the Arboretum. As for the Hammock lab, well, of course, it is all the people. Bruce has been a steadfast friend for many years and I will miss our daily interactions. It has been wonderful to share hopes and dreams of the students and postdocs and visitors that have come through the lab.”

Retirement plans?

“I have nothing specific planned immediately except for some travel. The fantastic thing about working in this lab is that I have made many friends that live all over the world. I will enjoy touching bases with them again in person. As for long term plans? Those that know me, know that I will not sit still for long. There is going to be something out there that tweaks my interest and that I will give it to wholeheartedly.”

"Shirley Gee is one of the truly amazing people that I have known,” Hammock said. “ She looks for things to do, and everything she does is accomplished efficiently and creatively. She is understated but perfect at every goal. Then she accomplishes all this while being encouraging, kind and understanding. Having Shirley as a colleague and particularly as a friend has been one of the most wonderful gifts in my life. We all wish her well."

Said Hammock lab researcher Christophe Morisseau: “To put it simply, we are becoming orphans. Shirley has been the lab's Mom for many years, and took care of numerous time consuming administrative duties as well as directing the ‘immunoassay' part of the lab. Like a Mom, she cannot be replaced.”