Dr. Bennie I. Osburn, associate dean for research and graduate education at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, has been named its new dean. As dean, he will also serve as director of veterinary medicine programs for the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. His appointment, effective Sept. 1, was approved today by the UC Board of Regents. An authority on the pathology of fetal diseases and the pathogenesis of viral diseases, Osburn, 59, succeeds Dr. Frederick A. Murphy, who last September announced his intention to return to the faculty after five years as dean. "Dr. Osburn is a distinguished member of our community with a record of outstanding accomplishments as associate dean," said Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef. "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 said he was "delighted to be appointed to lead the world's premier veterinary school and its outstanding faculty, students and staff. 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 has asked Dr. John Pascoe, currently associate 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. Osburn's professional society memberships include the International Academy of Pathology, American Association for Veterinary Immunologists, American Society of Virology, Sigma Xi, Phi Zeta and Phi Kappa Phi.