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Aiming for Excellence in Research and Graduate Education
Aiming for Excellence in Research and Graduate Education
by Dr. Edwin Hahn
Having taken on the position of Associate Dean for Research and Advanced Studies last summer, I would like to share with you the major goals of this office. As you can see, the research dean position has been expanded to include “advanced studies.” This is a logical and strategically important change because if colleges of veterinary medicine are to attract quality faculty and enhance their training programs, there must be increased numbers of trained DVM/PhDs who are attracted to academia.
My goals in the area of advanced studies include expanding our residency programs, helping departments with issues of ethics and recruitment, and building cross-disciplinary collaborations.
Research programs unquestionably must become more multidisciplinary. As scientists develop specialized expertise, it becomes necessary to form teams to examine the complex entwining of human and animal health care.
Recent State of Illinois Venture Tech funding has augmented the College research infrastructure and graduate programs by encouraging interdisciplinary investigative efforts. Productivity from this invigorated enterprise will help turn this investment into a permanent legacy. In this way, we can strengthen our college programs in the fields we have identified as areas of programmatic strength: namely, infectious disease, reproductive biology, oncology, cardiology, and environmental toxicology.
But state funds alone will not be sufficient to elevate our research programs to the level we envision for them. An analysis of composite data from the American Veterinary Medical Association confirms that Illinois ranks well in terms of federal and state support for research. An area where we need more activity, however, is in the sector of private, foundation, and corporate grants. We must explore these sources, along with those of traditional support, in order to strengthen our financial foundation.
Yes, times are tough at the moment, but I firmly believe that periods of temporary economic downturn present marvelous opportunities for planning and reorganization. By taking a dual approach—striving for research excellence and improvements of graduate education—we will generate synergistic opportunities to expand our stature in the veterinary research community.
Two Named to Zoonosis Research Posts
With the recent emergence of new diseases and the threat of the use of pathogens in bioterrorist activities, the College of Veterinary Medicine is putting renewed emphasis on its Center for Zoonosis Research, which was established in 1960. Dr. Roberto Docampo (right), veterinary pathobiology, was recently named scientific director of the Center; Dr. Uriel Kitron (left), also veterinary pathobiology, was named associate director.
A primary goal of the Center is to develop “a synthesizing approach to zoonoses and infectious disease research based on the unique expertise in veterinary and medical research from the molecular to the ecosystem level.”
More information is available at http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/czrid/index.cfm.
Veterinary Clinical Medicine Announces Changes
The Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine has recently undergone significant administrative realignment. Three assistant head positions have replaced the previous designation of two assistant heads, who served as chiefs of staff of the Small and Large Animal Clinics.
Dr. Paul Gerding, associate professor of ophthalmology, has assumed responsibility as assistant head and chief of staff of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Dr. David Sisson, professor of cardiology, has assumed responsibility as assistant head for curriculum and instruction. Dr. Peter Constable, associate professor of food animal medicine, has assumed responsibility as assistant head for research and graduate studies.
“I believe the formation of these positions appropriately reflects and emphasizes the three major missions of the department: service, instruction, and research,” says Dr. Warwick Arden, department head. “These faculty members have been selected for their track record of creativity, enthusiasm, and excellence in the designated mission areas.”
In addition, the sections of Food Animal Medicine and Surgery (FAMS) and Production Medicine/Theriogenology (PMT) will be combined in January into a new section of Farm Animal Reproduction, Medicine and Surgery (FARMS). The new section will be divided into three industry-focused working areas: dairy/ruminant health, swine health, and equine reproduction. It will be headed by Dr. Dawn Morin, associate professor of food animal medicine.
“This union will provide an effective framework for comprehensive delivery of service and instruction in areas related to agricultural animal production, from individual animal medicine to large population herd health,” notes Dr. Arden. “Dr. Morin is extremely well qualified to lead this large and diverse section, bringing expertise in both individual animal and herd clinical medicine and basic and applied research and a passion for high quality instruction.”
Envirovet Program Expands in Baltic RegionFaculty from the College of Veterinary Medicine have helped create a program to strengthen ecosystem health education, research, and practice in the Baltic region. Envirovet Baltic brings together scientists from the United States and the nine countries bordering the Baltic Sea: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, and Russia.
Modeled after the Envirovet Program developed by Dr. Val Beasley, veterinary biosciences, the Baltic program will focus in part on educating veterinarians, animal scientists, and other professionals in the health and environmental fields through intensive courses, symposia, workshops, and field exercises.
Dr. Borje Gustafsson, veterinary clinical medicine, who serves on the steering committee of the Envirovet Baltic, worked with scientists at Swedish and Estonian universities to organize a planning workshop, which was held in August in Saaremaa, Estonia. Representatives from seven countries attended. More than 20 scientific papers were presented, with topics ranging from the role of veterinary medicine in ecosystem health to the interface between areas managed for native biota and areas managed primarily for human needs, such as cities and agricultural zones.
Four faculty members from the College of Veterinary Medicine—Dr. Gustafsson; Dr. Kimberlee Beckmen, veterinary biosciences; and Drs. Larry Firkins and Tony Goldberg, veterinary pathobiology—conducted fact-finding projects during the two weeks prior to the workshop. They presented their reports, which featured governmental and non-governmental institutions and organizations in countries of the Baltic region, at the workshop.
Financial support for the workshop was provided by the University of Illinois International Programs and Studies Office and by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Support from the Wallace Genetic Foundation, Inc., Washington, D.C., enabled the fact-finding projects and reports.
As the program evolves, organizers hope it will promote transatlantic harmonization of environmental health standards as well as help Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland prepare to meet environmental standards required to enter the European Union.
Representatives from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United States attended the Envirovet Baltic planning workshop held August 15-19 in Estonia.
Dr. Gary Jackson Retires
“The time has really gone fast,” says Dr. Gary Jackson, who retired on July 31 after 33 years at the College. Having worked with now his fourth dean, Dr. Jackson has experienced much at Illinois while serving as a professor, assistant department head for veterinary biosciences, and interim associate dean of research.
Dr. Jackson says he has enjoyed complete academic freedom during his career at Illinois. As a neuroendocrinologist, he conducted research focused on the brain’s control of reproduction. His studies, which used chickens, rats, sheep, and monkeys as models, were well funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Morris Animal Foundation, and the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Dr. Jackson took sabbaticals at outstanding institutions: the Oregon Primate Center in 1977; the University of Bristol, England, in 1985; and Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, in 1993.
“I have felt really privileged to have had such opportunities at Illinois,” he says.
When Dr. Jackson began teaching physiology at Illinois in 1969, he looked out into his class to see shirts, ties, and only two women. Despite the changes he has seen in dress, attitude, and diversity of the student body, Dr. Jackson says, “Overall, the students are as good as they ever were, although I worry about a few who arrive poorly prepared for the demands of this curriculum.”
Dr. Jackson says he has seen changes and advances in teaching, research, and mentoring in the College. “The overall quality of the faculty is better as well,” he says.
Dr. Jackson has many plans for his retirement. “The great thing about being an academic,” he notes, “is that if your health is still good, there are so many things that you can do.” For example, he will continue a USDA-funded research project as well as writing scientific reviews, but, being retired, he can enjoy “taking days off without feeling guilty.” He will co-administer a reproductive biology course for undergraduates and is considering developing a graduate course called “Science and Public Policy,” which would focus on reactions to the Endocrine Disrupter Hypothesis.
Dr. Jackson also hopes to finish a book about his life growing up in Missouri entitled “Going After the Cows.” He plans to take time enjoying fishing and photography as well. Dr. Jackson and his wife will stay in Champaign-Urbana, but they will enjoy traveling.
Dr. Deoki Tripathy Retires
Dr. Deoki Tripathy arrived at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in 1964 to begin a master’s degree program in virology and has been here and active in his field ever since. Despite his official retirement as a professor in veterinary pathobiology on August 21, he has research to finish and papers to write and is looking forward to continued service in the veterinary profession.
Dr. Tripathy earned a DVM degree in India and came to Illinois with a University of Illinois fellowship. After completing a master’s working with avian pox viruses, he pursued a Ph.D. researching leptospira and evaluating leptospira vaccines for cattle and swine. During this time he worked with a new leptospira that was isolated from the urine of a bull and named it Leptospira illini (now know as Leptonena illini).
Much of his virology work has been in the development of rapid diagnostic methods and avian vaccines because, he says, “the ultimate aim is rapid disease diagnosis and development of vaccines to prevent disease.” His research led to eradication of duck hepatitis at the world’s largest commercial duck operation, which is in northern Indiana. During the 1970s his team was the first in the College to begin the DNA work on veterinary pathogens, which provided impetus towards development of recombinant vaccines using pox viruses as vectors. By the late 1980s, his team had generated the first recombinant vaccine on campus.
Dr. Tripathy recalls his sabbaticals in Switzerland and India as valuable learning experiences in molecular biology. “If you want to embark on something new, you have to learn it yourself first,” he says.
Currently, Dr. Tripathy is researching pox viruses in endangered wild bird species in Hawaii, supported by a grant from the Morris Animal Foundation, in birds from the Galapagos Islands, and in zoo birds, including a condor at the San Diego Zoo. With support from the US Poultry and Egg Association he is also examining pox viruses isolated from pox outbreaks in commercial flocks previously vaccinated with fowlpox virus vaccines. He has shown that these viruses have developed strategies for prolonged survival especially by insertion of reticuloendotheliosis virus (a retrovirus) in the genome of fowlpox virus—an example of natural genetic engineering.
During almost 40 years at the College, Dr. Tripathy has worked in two buildings under eight department heads and five deans. He became a full professor in 1983. In addition to his research he has taught the poultry disease course and lectured in virology and bacteriology.
Aside from continuing his work, Dr. Tripathy looks forward to devoting time to traveling, gardening, and researching ornamental plants.
College Leaders Say “Cheese” at Fair Auction
At the 2002 Illinois State Fair, College leaders made the winning bid for the Grand Champion Colby Longhorn Cheese. The 12-lb cheese, made by the Walnut (Ill.) Cheese Co., was bought by associate dean for academic and student affairs Dr. Gerald Pijanowski, associate dean for development Terry Rathgeber, College dean Dr. Herb Whiteley, and associate dean for research Dr. Ned Hahn. It was served at a reception for College faculty, campus administrators, and representatives of the Illinois dairy industry on October 9.
AVMA Films Recruitment Video at Illinois
Dr. Gerald Pijanowski, associate dean for academic and student affairs, was one of dozens of College faculty and students filmed for a new veterinary recruitment video being produced by the American Veterinary Medical Association. A film crew spent October 14 and 15 at the College, shooting interviews and background footage. The video, to be entitled “Dedicated To Service,” is due out in early 2003. The video and an accompanying CD-ROM will be distributed to junior and senior high schools across the United States.
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