Faculty & Staff
Significant Gift from Jordan Smelski Foundation will fuel Purdue Veterinary Medicine research on deadly brain eating amoeba
October 1, 2026
A researcher in the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Comparative Pathobiology has received a generous gift of more than $100,000 from the Jordan Smelski Foundation for Amoeba Awareness and Mr. Steve Smelski to support research of the deadly amoeba Naegleria fowleri. Christopher Rice, PhD, assistant professor of parasitology and principal investigator of the Rice Research Group, leads a research team seeking to discover and repurpose drugs against primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a rare but typically fatal infection caused by Naegleria fowleri.
Purdue Veterinary Medicine Unites with Purdue United Way Campaign
October 1, 2026
With the goal of raising $700,000 by November 4 to support local nonprofit organizations that help individuals and families in Greater Lafayette, the Purdue United Way campaign took off September 23 with an official campaign launch on the front lawn of the Purdue Memorial Union. Purdue Veterinary Medicine, along with the university’s other colleges and units, will participate with the help of PVM faculty and staff ambassadors working to make it easy for people in the college to respond, whether by giving, or by indicating that they do not wish to give. As part of the PVM drive to support the campaign, Dean Bret Marsh and his wife, Polly, are contributing a match for campaign contributions from college faculty and staff. Additionally, a drawing will be held to select winners from those who contribute.
“Paws Up” – for Dr. Yasumasa Iimori – brought to you by the PVM Wellness Committee
October 1, 2026
This week we commend Yasumasa Iimori, DVM, PhD, who is a resident in Emergency and Critical Care in the Purdue University Veterinary Hospital.
PVM well-represented by students, faculty and staff at annual AABP meeting
September 17, 2026
The American Association of Bovine Practitioners’ (AABP) 59th Annual Conference last month in Minneapolis, Minnesota, included significant representation from the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine. A total of 17 students from the 2nd- and 3rd-year classes attended along with faculty and staff and Purdue Veterinary Medicine alumni. Two Purdue veterinary students received special recognition.
In Memory: Dr. Kevin Thomas Schultz (PU DVM ’76)
September 17, 2026
The Purdue Veterinary Medicine community is saddened to learn of the passing of an alumnus, Dr. Kevin T. Schultz of Dawsonville, Georgia, on August 15, 2026. He was 74.
“Paws Up” for Dr. Kenitra Hendrix and Dr. Craig Bowen – brought to you by the the PVM Wellness Committee
September 17, 2026
This week we share appreciation for Dr. Kenitra Hendrix, Associate Dean for the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories, and Dr. Craig Bowen, Associate Director of the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and Department Head of Accessioning.
‘Purdue Pursuits’: A PVM angle on Purdue’s teaching and learning reading groups
September 4, 2026
Crafting meaningful and engaging course experiences has been at the top of Dielson Vieira’s mind ever since he joined the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine’s faculty in 2024.
As a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Vieira is already adept at applying innovative teaching practices to classroom environments, but that doesn’t stop him from seeking out new ideas, approaches and perspectives — insights he gains through outlets like Purdue’s teaching and learning reading groups.
Top tier biology journal publishes PVM study that unlocks secrets of a drug-resistant fungal pathogen, which causes serious infections in humans
September 4, 2026
Though the name “Candida auris” is far from a household term, public health experts know it well because the multi-drug-resistant fungal pathogen, which causes serious human infections, has been classified as an urgent threat by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Antibiotic Threats Report (2019). Dr. Shankar Thangamani, Associate Professor of Microbiology and University Faculty Scholar in the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Comparative Pathobiology, is researching C. auris, aided by a 2.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). New research findings, just published in Nature Microbiology, show how C. auris adapts and evades the immune system.
In Print: ‘Translational Research Methods for Tauopathies’
September 4, 2026
A just-published 300-page volume edited by Jessica Fortin, Purdue assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Basic Medical Sciences, provides a significant new resource for researchers studying a group of neurodegenerative diseases known as tauopathies. “Translational Research Methods for Tauopathies” provides detailed protocols intentionally selected to serve as a basis for research laboratories seeking to further treatments for such debilitating neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer’s and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Taco ’bout our amazing people!
August 21, 2026
With the conclusion of the summer season rapidly approaching, faculty and staff at the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine were treated to a taco luncheon on Friday, August 14 in appreciation of their excellence and dedication throughout the year. Though the event couldn’t take place in the Lynn Hall Courtyard as originally planned, the rainy weather that day did not dampen the celebration of the college’s incredible faculty and staff.
