Deans of Penn Vet

From its inception in 1884, with Rush Shippen Huidekoper, MD, as Penn Vet's inaugural dean, the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has been led by visionary thinkers. Here is a list of our deans:

Andrew M. Hoffman, DVM, DVSc

Term: 2018-Present

Dean Andrew Hoffman is an acclaimed researcher, clinician, teacher, and mentor who, prior to becoming Penn Vet's Dean, served as director of the Regenerative Medicine Laboratory and professor of large animal internal medicine at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.

At Tufts, Hoffman has energetically contributed to all areas of veterinary research, teaching, and clinical care. His leadership of regenerative medicine and stem cell research programs resulted in important contributions to both animal and human health, demonstrating the profoundly positive impact of veterinary research. He regularly mentored faculty with an interest in clinical translational research and helped colleagues fully appreciate the career options available to them thanks to the versatile skills provided by a veterinary education.

Hoffman has significant clinical experience in large animal (dairy-equine) practice and in caring for and investigating animals as diverse as dogs, cats, horses, sheep, camelids, rodents, dolphins, and wildlife. He has led and served on numerous school- and university-wide committees, including chairing the Cummings School’s Admissions Committee and is a member of the Faculty Affairs Committee of the Tufts University Faculty Senate.

Hoffman is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, past president of the Veterinary Comparative Research Society, and a member of the International Society for Stem Cell Research and International Society of Extracellular Vesicles. His research programs have received continuous funding from the National Institutes of Health for nearly 20 years. He has authored more than 100 publications, including many in leading scientific and clinical journals.

Hoffman earned his undergraduate degree with honors in biology from the University of Delaware, received his veterinary degree from Cornell University, and holds a doctorate in veterinary science from the University of Guelph in Canada.

Joan C. Hendricks, VMD, PhD

Term: 2006-2018

Dean Hendricks believes that veterinarians play an integral part in ensuring public health and food safety, guarding against bio- and agro-terrorism and working to protect the environment. She has played a lead role in lobbying to state legislators on behalf of the School. This broad view of the impact of veterinarians in society is encompassed by the One Health Initiative.

Before taking on the role as Dean, Dr. Hendricks served as a faculty member for Penn Vet for more than 20 years. In her role as a faculty member, Dean Hendricks became the first woman to hold an endowed professorship at the School when she was named the Henry and Corinne R. Bower Professor of Small Animal Medicine in 2001. She has also served as chief of critical care in the Department of Clinical Studies at Philadelphia and is founding director of the Veterinary Clinical Investigation Center (VCIC). Dean Hendricks holds a secondary appointment as professor in the Department of Medicine at Penn’s School of Medicine and has served in a leadership position in the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association (PVMA).

Dean Hendricks’ work has been widely published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) and the Journal of Applied Physiology, and she is frequently invited to lecture at major conferences around the world. During her sabbatical year, she investigated how molecular biology could be applied to neuroscience, specifically to the field of sleep and sleep disorders, in which Dean Hendricks is a recognized expert. She has studied bulldogs extensively and published pioneering studies on the molecular biology of sleep in fruit flies in the high-impact journals Nature Neuroscience and Neuron.

In 1979 and 1980, Dean Hendricks earned her VMD and PhD from the School, respectively. She also carried out her residency and postdoctoral fellowship at Penn. She has a bachelor of science in biology and psychology from Yale University.

Alan M. Kelly, BVSc, MRCVS, PhD

Term: 1994-2005

Dean Kelly completed his undergraduate work at the University of Reading and received his veterinary degree from the University of Bristol, both in the United Kingdom. He received his PhD in pathology from Penn in 1967 and joined the faculty of Penn Vet the following year. Dean Kelly served as chair of the school’s Department of Pathobiology from 1990 until his appointment as acting dean in January 1994. A renowned researcher on muscle disease and muscular dystrophy, he has authored more than 100 book chapters and scientific papers and is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the American Society for Cell Biology and the Pennsylvania Muscle Institute. He received the University’s Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1974.

Edwin J. Andrews, VMD

Term: 1987-1993

A graduate of Penn Vet, Dean Andrews came to the school at a very difficult time and worked extremely hard to achieve a balanced budget, reconfigure its administrative structure, assist faculty in continuing to develop excellent teaching and research programs and attract and retain distinguished faculty. At the point of achieving extraordinary success, the threatened loss of support from the Commonwealth placed the school in further difficulties, at which point Dean Andrews worked even more diligently. As he sought to find new funding and worked to recover the threatened appropriation, he also attempted to find creative ways that would enable the school to do its business in a more economical fashion.

Robert R. Marshak, DVM

Term: 1973-1987

A graduate of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Dean Marshak joined the faculty of Penn Vet in 1956 as professor and chair of medicine, later becoming chair of clinical studies. His work in bovine leukemia led to the establishment in 1965 of the National Cancer Institute–sponsored Bovine Leukemia Research Center at New Bolton Center. As dean, his energy and vision were the catalysts for building the new small animal hospital in Philadelphia, expansion of the large animal hospital at New Bolton Center, introduction of aquatic veterinary medicine and development of veterinary specialties parallel to and in cooperation with those in human medicine. A dedicated "cow doctor," he returned to research and teaching in dairy farming at the completion of his deanship, and both the school itself and the field of veterinary medicine have benefited from his personal and professional contributions.

Mark. W. Allam, VMD

Term: 1953-1973

Mark W. Allam graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a V.M.D. in 1932. He served on the faculty of Veterinary surgery and medicine at the University of Pennsylvania from 1932 to 1977, as chairman of the department of surgery, 1951-1955, as dean of the School of Veterinary medicine, 1952-1973, and as assistant vice-president for Health Affairs of the University, 1973-1977. He was a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and member of the American Veterinary Medicine Association. He served as president of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, 1962-1966; and was named Honorary Associate in the English Royal College of Veterinary Associates in 1983.