[1] He was the founder and first president of The American Society of Parasitologists, and founder-editor of the Journal of Parasitology.

[2] His father, Richard Halsted Ward, was a professor of biology at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

[2] For two years, from 1888 to 1980,[3] he participated in postgraduate study in European universities in cities like Göttingen, Freiburg, and Leipzig, and in biological facilities at Naples, Heligoland, and Villefranche-sur-Mer.

He founded the Journal of Parasitology in 1914,[1] and was the first president of The American Society of Parasitologists (ASP).

[7] He was permanent secretary of the American Association for the Advancement of Science from 1933 to 1937, continuing as its executive committee member till 1941.