Dr. Stuart E. Knapp was born on August 23, 1928 in Monroe, Washington. He attended Pacific University to obtain both his bachelor's and a master's before moving onto the University of Idaho, finishing his PhD in Parasitology at Kansas State University. Upon graduation, Dr. Knapp pursued a career as a professor and administrator at various institutions of higher learning before accepting the position of Vice President of Academic Affairs at Montana State in 1978. He continued to actively participate in his field, including conducting research on a variety of topics within the parasitology and veterinary medicine fields.

Salmon poisoning is caused by the microorganism Rickettsia that lives within members of the Salmonid family. Most cases of Salmon poisoning occur when canids eat dead fish or their remains from riverbanks that are prevalent during spawning. Salmon poisoning is mostly found along the western slope of the Cascade mountains. After canids ingest the poisoned fish, they become ill within seven to twelve days. Before extensive research into the cause, an infected canid had a ninety percent chance of the disease becoming fatal. In the early 1920s, Dr. Bennett T. Simms, a professor of veterinary medicine at the Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) in Corvallis, began collecting research data on salmon poisoning. His work was continued by Dr. J. N. Shaw, also of OSU, in the 1940s. Dr. Knapp collected the research notes of Simms and Shaw during the course of his own work on the topic.