New Leadership Team Set to Continue College's Tradition of Excellence
The past two years have seen many changes at the College of Veterinary
Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The College's departmental structure
was dramatically altered, Dr. James L. Voss retired as dean and was replaced
by Dr. Lance Perryman, administrative positions were shuffled, and five
new individuals were brought on board to head up the four new departments
and the James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
The new leadership team is now in place on campus, and proper introductions
are in order.
Dr. David Lee
Director, James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital
In the U.S. News and World Report college rankings, Colorado State's
Professional Veterinary Medical program is ranked second only to Cornell
University. The new director of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital could
help change that as he definitely has the insider's track on what is happening
at Cornell and how the College might beat them next year. Dr. David Lee
received his bachelor's of science, D.V.M. and MBA from Cornell and had
worked at Cornell since 1996 where he was executive director of the College
of Veterinary Medicine's external affairs and marketing, and previously
executive director of strategic planning and business development.
"Cornell has always been an important part of my life -- in my immediate
family, we probably have 10 degrees from Cornell - but in the last few
years I have been looking for a change," said Dr. Lee. "There
were only a handful of schools I would have considered, and Colorado State
University was one of them. The Veterinary Teaching Hospital is rich with
tradition but also has a very dynamic and invigorating atmosphere, and
I am very excited to be here."
Dr. Lee's own research interests focus on organizational behavior and
how to motivate people, as well as practice management, and he hopes to
help not only the hospital improve its business workings but also teach
courses in practice management to students in the Professional Veterinary
Medical Program.
"The hospital is a very customer-service focused organization,"
said Dr. Lee. "But we have many customers including our clients,
patients, students, veterinarians, alumni, and the State of Colorado.
We need to understand and meet the special needs of each of these customers,
realizing that just focusing on the financial aspects won't get us to
where we need to be. A balanced approach, looking at the internal and
external stakeholders' perspectives, is key to making our constituents
happy."
One of Dr. Lee's first objectives as director is to improve and update
the hospital's internal processes, including moving from paper patient
records to electronic records that can track care and be available all
over the hospital to faculty and students via PDAs or laptop computers.
The goal is to have the hospital go paperless and wireless so everyone
can communicate with ease, and patient records are updated real-time.
Dr. Lee would like to tap the College's alumni base to support the College
through development efforts, and work within the College's 25-year plan
to continue to improve hospital facilities. He also would like to undertake
a survey of hospital customers to get a better idea of attitudes toward
and feelings about the hospital.
Dr. D. Paul Lunn
Department of Clinical Sciences
Though a native of Great Britain, Dr. Lunn has spent most of his professional
career in the United States where he has enjoyed the research and teaching
opportunities afforded him particularly in equine medicine. Dr. Lunn joined
the College on August 15 as head of the Department of Clinical Sciences,
coming to the College from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School
of Veterinary Medicine where he served as Associate Dean for Clinical
Affairs and Director of the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital.
"We liked the idea of living in Colorado and, as I was previously
a hospital director, I was interested in departmental administration and
the opportunities it afforded for working closely with faculty,"
said Dr. Lunn. "This is a very exciting position and I am looking
forward to helping the faculty meet their goals and the goals of the Department."
Dr. Lunn is especially interested in growing the Department's programs
in basic, applied and clinical research. His own research interests are
primarily in large animal medicine with a focus on equine immunology and
infectious disease.
"Although my focus here primarily will be my administrative duties,
I am looking forward to bringing my research program to Colorado and to
the new collaborative opportunities that will result," said Dr. Lunn.
"I also love to teach and hope to participate in the classroom whenever
possible."
Dr. Lunn received his B.V.Sc. from the University of Liverpool in Great
Britain in 1982 and then completed an internship in Large Animal Medicine
and Surgery at Ontario Veterinary College. After a two-year period in
general practice, Dr. Lunn completed a three-year Large Animal Medicine
Residency and M.S. degree program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In 1991, he completed his Ph.D. work at the University of Cambridge, Great
Britain. He is a Diplomate, 1992, of the American College of Veterinary
Internal Medicine and a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Dr. Lunn joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty in 1991 as
an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Sciences, School of
Veterinary Medicine.
Dr. Barbara Sanborn
Department of Biomedical Sciences
Dr. Sanborn comes to Colorado State University from the University of
Texas Medical School in Houston, where her career focused on molecular
aspects of hormone action in the reproductive system and the development
of women's health programs. As new head of the Department of Biomedical
Sciences, she'll draw from her Texas experience where, among other things,
she ran a busy research program, served as Vice-Chair of the Department
of Biochemistry, was director of an NIH Training Grant, and Research Director
in the Office of Women's Health, University of Texas Health Science Center
Women's Health Initiative. She also served as President of the Society
for the Study of Reproduction.
"I was looking for an administrative challenge and a department
with growth potential and found both here at Colorado State," said
Dr. Sanborn. "We have robust reproduction biology and neurobiology
groups here and a strong core of people who are interested in ion channel
physiology and biochemistry."
Dr. Sanborn received her Ph.D. from Boston University. From early in
her career, she has been interested in reproductive hormone actions and
how hormones work at the molecular level. Her work looks at signaling
mechanisms and how these signals affect the biology of the cell. As her
research progressed, she became more involved in women's health research
and educational outreach for both the lay public and medical professionals.
At the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Dr. Sanborn held
a primary appointment in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology and a joint appointment in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology
and Reproductive Sciences. She had a very active research program, part
of which she has moved to Colorado State. In addition to her administrative
duties, Dr. Sanborn will continue as a researcher, something she feels
gives her the ability to relate to the challenges facing faculty within
her department.
"I moved my two NIH grants here with me and now have my laboratory
set up in the Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Laboratory at the
Foothills Campus," said Dr. Sanborn. "In addition to my research
and administration duties, I also am interested in keeping a hand in teaching
and working with our graduate students."
Dr. Sanborn has several priorities as new head of the Department of Biomedical
Sciences. She would like to complete the integration of the Department
and create a greater sense of collegiality as well as an integrated approach
to graduate education. Dr. Sanborn is committed to enhancing career development
opportunities for faculty and to developing a clear plan for future growth,
including planning for a new basic sciences building. The Department is
actively recruiting new faculty members for open positions to complement
an already nationally recognized research and teaching program.
Dr. Jeffrey Wilusz
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
Dr. Jeffrey Wilusz took over as head of the Department of Microbiology,
Immunology and Pathology on Aug. 1. Dr. Wilusz came to Colorado State
University from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
- New Jersey Medical School, where he was a Professor in the Department
of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics as well as that Department's Vice
Chair, and was Assistant Dean for the medical school's M.D./Ph.D. program.
Dr. Wilusz said his first task is to learn the workings of the Department
in order to clearly understand its missions in teaching, research and
outreach. From there, he has a number of topics of particular interest.
"I'm interested in developing new collaborative research projects,"
said Dr. Wilusz. "We have so many talented people within the Department,
I think that wherever we aim our efforts we will be successful. Of course,
in order to be successful we have to make sure we have the equipment,
resources, and personnel to get the job done, and that also will be a
priority for my office."
On the teaching side, Dr. Wilusz would like to see an increase in the
undergraduate research presence and the introduction of more technology
into courses so that teachers can teach and students can learn more efficiently
and effectively. He also wants to make sure that the Department is teaching
the most up-to-date material possible.
"In a way, we need to work backwards," Dr. Wilusz said. "We
need to understand what our students need to know when they graduate four
years from now. The question we need to ask ourselves is what do our students
need and how do we get there?"
Dr. Wilusz said he is looking forward to the challenges of being a department
head. He enjoys working with people and the organizational work of being
an administrator. He also hopes to keep a hand in teaching, something
for which he has received numerous awards, as well as oversee an active
research program. He has moved his own laboratory to Colorado State from
New Jersey, along with five people who had worked in his laboratory and
two grants from the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Wilusz is a graduate of Rutgers University (Cook College) in New Jersey
where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in animal sciences. He
received his Ph.D. in molecular virology from Duke University and received
postdoctoral training at Princeton University, Department of Biology.
His major research interests revolve around the control of gene expression
at the post-transcriptional level. These areas include a biochemical and
molecular description of mechanisms, factors and RNA elements involved
in mRNA stability, polyadenylation signal recognition, and regulated messenger
RNA-protein complexes.
Dr. John Zimbrick
Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences
Dr. Zimbrick comes to the College from Purdue University where he was
a Professor of Health Sciences and member of the Purdue Cancer Center.
Although he had not planned on leaving Purdue, the opportunity to come
to Colorado and lead the nation's only combined environmental health/radiological
health program was too tempting to pass up.
"When this job came up, it certainly got my attention," said
Dr. Zimbrick. "I looked at the description and realized that this
Department was unique in the United States. It is the only department
that combines toxicology, epidemiology, industrial hygiene, radiation
and cancer biology, and health physics. The Department's broad spectrum
has a common theme of health effects of various physical, chemical, and
biological agents, and there is not another place like it. We are in a
position to do things as a Department that just can't be done anywhere
else, and I am very excited about that."
As he familiarizes himself with the Department, Dr. Zimbrick already
has developed objectives. Initially, he would like to bring faculty and
staff together with a shared vision of the Department. He also would like
to start a Department-wide research initiative to examine the effects
of combined exposures to radiation and secondary agents on living systems.
Dr. Zimbrick would like to complete the work required to establish undergraduate
programs in health physics (also known as radiological health) and industrial
hygiene. He also would like to update the Department's Web page and try
to enhance alumni giving to departmental scholarships.
"We have started the process leading to accreditation of the health
physics program," Dr. Zimbrick said. "We feel this will be a
very positive development for the Department, as this degree is in high
demand across the country, and just a handful of programs are available
to meet industry and government requests for graduates with degrees in
health physics."
On the research side, Dr. Zimbrick currently has a National Institutes
of Health grant focusing on spatial properties of radiation-produced clusters
of damage in DNA. He also would like the Department to partner with the
Flint Animal Cancer Center in studies with specific interest in the use
of the MRI, particularly using new magnetic resonance techniques to enhance
images of tumors and study tumor metabolism.
"There is so much we can do here with the resources we have,"
said Dr. Zimbrick. "I would really like to see us take this Department
up to the next level and make it preeminent in the fields of environmental
and radiological health sciences. I think that we can provide education
and leadership in these areas for the country and the world."
Dr. Zimbrick attended the University of Kansas, where he received his
master's and Ph.D. in radiation biophysics. He was a member of the faculty
there from 1969 until 1984 and also served as chair of the Radiation Biophysics
Department. After KU, Dr. Zimbrick was a scientific review administrator
with NIH, and then joined Battelle-Pacific Laboratory, where he was Chair
of the Biology and Chemistry Department and held a joint appointment at
Washington State University. He then became Director of the Board on Radiation
Effects Research of the National Academy of Sciences before joining Purdue
University in 1997.
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