PHILADELPHIA, PA­-Dr. Christopher Hunter has been named chair of the Department of Pathobiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. “The School can look forward to exciting advances in the Pathobiology Department,” said Dr. Joan C. Hendricks, the Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine, in making the announcement. “Dr. Hunter aspires to build a department that serves the complex missions of teaching, healing and research both within the department and across the School. He will be a clear and focused advocate for the future of the department and an enthusiastic partner in advancing Penn Vet in the University, in the profession and beyond.”

The department has a strong focus on basic research in cancer and infectious disease and provides vital diagnostic laboratory services for patients at both the Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital in Philadelphia and the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at New Bolton Center. It offers the largest veterinary biopsy service in the world. Pathobiology faculty head the School’s initiative in the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System.

In addition to his new position, Dr. Hunter is a professor of parasitology at Penn Vet. He is active in the advancement of graduate education at Penn, and he is on the editorial boards of several journals; he has served on numerous scientific review committees, including the National Institutes of Health, and the Howard Hughes and the Gates foundations.

Dr. Hunter was raised in Scotland and received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in zoology and parasitology from the University of Glasgow before completing his training in the immunology of infectious disease at Stanford University. He joined the faculty of Penn Vet in 1996.

Dr. Hunter’s research interests include understanding how the immune system controls infections and how this information can be used to design better ways to manage inflammation.