Purdue Professor of Large Animal Surgery Named Veterinary Clinical Sciences Department Head

Dr. Timothy Lescun, a board-certified large animal surgeon, has been appointed head of the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences in the Purdue university College of Veterinary Medicine.

Dean Bret Marsh, DVM, made the announcement Monday, March 9. “I am grateful for Dr. Lescun’s service as Interim Department Head since January 2025, and I know he will continue to provide exceptional service to the Department and to our College,” Dean Marsh said.

Dr. Lescun earned his BVSc degree at the University of Melbourne, Australia in 1994 and completed his residency at Purdue in 1999. He became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS) a year later, joined the PVM faculty in 2002, and earned his PhD at Purdue in 2015. He has been involved in training 25 veterinary surgery residents, acting as program director since 2024. He also serves as director of the college’s Center for Clinical Translational Research.

“It is an honor to be given this opportunity to lead the VCS department,” Dr. Lescun said. “I am excited to serve in this role and to help our faculty, staff and students achieve their goals as we move into a new chapter for PVM.”

Last fall, Dr. Lescun was elected to the ACVS Board of Regents as the new ACVS large animal regent. He has an extensive record of involvement in the ACVS, having served on the Research Committee and the Examination Committee, including as chair of each; the ACVS Foundation Board of Trustees; and most recently as chair of the Working Group to Reassess the Examination Process. He also has served as a seminar chair, abstracts reviewer, Large Animal Residents’ Forum judge, and as a member of the editorial review board for the Veterinary Surgery journal.

Dr. Lescun’s election to the ACVS Board of Regents coincided with another honor he received through the ACVS last fall when he became an “Honored Mentor” – a designation that is a result of past residents recognizing him through donations to the ACVS Foundation. Dr. Lescun says as a Purdue faculty member, he has enjoyed teaching surgery to veterinary students and residents and helping them develop their careers.

Dr. Lescun is recognized as a leader in the field of equine and translational orthopedic medicine and has pioneered a finite element analysis method to investigate the response of bone to implants such as screws in fracture repair. In his role as CCTR director, he oversees core facilities in the college that support preclinical biomedical research on campus. His clinical interests include general surgery, lameness and orthopedic disease in performance horses, orthopedic infections, and fracture fixation. His current research interests include modeling and simulation of orthopedic conditions of the horse.

Congratulations Dr. Lescun on being appointed Veterinary Clinical Sciences Department Head.

Writer(s): Kevin Doerr | pvmnews@purdue.edu

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