After providing dedicated and exceptional leadership for the College of Veterinary Medicine’s research programs, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs Harm HogenEsch stepped down in August, concluding his long-standing tenure in that position, which was marked by record-setting success. Dr. HogenEsch was appointed in 2008 by then-Dean Willie Reed to serve in the administrative post that oversees the college’s Office of Research. Stepping in to fill the vacancy on an interim basis is Dr. Sanjeev Narayanan, head of the Department of Comparative Pathobiology, who was appointed interim associate dean for research effective August 14.
In announcing the leadership change, the interim dean of the college at the time, Dr. Kathy Salisbury, thanked Dr. HogenEsch for providing 16 years of strong and impactful leadership for the Office of Research. “Under his leadership, research funding in the College almost doubled from approximately $8.7 million in 2008-09 to more than $15 million in 2022-23,” Dr. Salisbury said. “As he returns to the faculty, I know he will continue to contribute to the success of the College. I am grateful for his hard work, dedication and commitment to PVM.”
Board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, Dr. HogenEsch is the Distinguished Professor of Immunopathology in the college’s Department of Comparative Pathobiology. He earned his DVM degree at the University of Utrecht and then pursued graduate training in the Department of Pathobiology at the University of Illinois. After earning his PhD there in 1989, he worked for several years as a pathologist at the Institute for Ageing and Vascular Research, TNO, in Leiden in the Netherlands, before coming to Purdue in 1993 as a visiting assistant professor of Immunopathology. He then rose through the academic ranks and in 2001 was promoted to full professor and named head of the Department of Comparative Pathobiology. He served seven years in that role, before being promoted to associate dean for research.
Dr. Narayanan has served as head of the Comparative Pathobiology Department since 2017, and will continue in that role while also fulfilling the responsibilities of interim associate dean for research. Double board certified by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists (virology and immunology), Dr. Narayanan holds a faculty appointment as professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology. In announcing Dr. Narayanan’s appointment as interim associate dean, Dr. Salisbury said that Dr. Narayanan would work closely with the college’s Senior Leadership Team to further the mission and vision of the Office of Research, the college and the university. “Dr. Narayanan is committed to growing our research programs and fostering interdisciplinary research with a special interest in One Health,” Dr. Salisbury said.
Dr. Narayanan earned his BVSc degree (DVM equivalent) at Madras Veterinary College in India and worked as a veterinary surgeon before heading to Kansas State University where he earned his MS and PhD degrees in 1997 and 2001, respectively. During that time he served as a graduate research assistant in the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry and then the Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology. He later worked as a post-doctoral research associate and instructor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas before returning to Kansas State University in 2002 to complete a residency in veterinary anatomic pathology at the KSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. In 2003, he was appointed as an assistant professor and later received successive promotions, becoming a full professor in 2016.
