Bennie Osburn's name will be placed before the board of regents next week as the recommended successor to Frederick Murphy as dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine and director of veterinary medicine programs for the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Osburn, 59, is the school's associate dean for research and graduate education and an authority on the pathology of fetal diseases and the pathogenesis of viral diseases.
If approved by the board, his appointment will be effective Sept. 1.
"Dr. Osburn is a distinguished member of our community with a record of outstanding accomplishments as associate dean," said Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef in recommending his appointment. "The School of Veterinary Medicine is the finest in the world. Under Bennie's leadership, I'm certain that it will continue to develop and prosper."
Osburn is to succeed Murphy, who announced last September he is stepping down from that post to return to the faculty.
"I am delighted to be recommended to lead the world's premier veterinary school and its outstanding faculty, students and staff," Osburn said. "We have much to look forward to in the years ahead, including implementation of plans for a new veterinary medicine complex and the completion of the Center for Comparative Medicine and the Center for Vector-Borne Diseases. Dean Murphy has positioned the school well to bring these initiatives to successful completion."
Osburn said he intends to ask John Pascoe, currently as-sociate dean for academic programs, to serve as executive associate dean "to help achieve our goals in managing the school's diverse programs in animal health, comparative medicine, environmental and global health and animal well-being."
Osburn received a Ph.D. in comparative pathology from UC Davis in 1965, and a B.S. and a D.V.M. (doctor's degree in veterinary medicine) from Kansas State University in 1959 and 1961, respectively.
From 1964 to 1968, he was a member of the veterinary medicine faculty at Oklahoma State University and a special research fellow in ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University from 1968 until he joined the UC Davis faculty in 1970. He served as head of the infectious diseases and immunology unit at the California Regional Primate Research Center from 1975 to 1983 and as associate dean from 1975 until the present. From 1988 to 1992, he also served as acting director of the Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center in Tulare.
Osburn is the author or editor of two books and more than 230 articles in refereed journals or conference proceedings. His numerous honors include the Beecham Award for Research Excellence from SmithKline Beecham and recognition as Distinguished Veterinary Immunologist from the American Association of Veterinary Immunologists, both in 1990. He received the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine's 1996 Alumni Achievement award.
His national leadership roles include chairing the Board on Veterinary Medicine of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, 1994-95, chairing the biomedical sciences committee of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, 1991-present, and chairing the U.S. Department of Agriculture's agricultural biotechnology research advisory committee, 1988-91.
