The college has named new heads for the veterinary science and poultry science departments.

Channa Reddy, distinguished professor of veterinary science since 1991, has been named head of the Department of Veterinary Science. "Dr. Reddy has demonstrated outstanding leadership in our college," says Dean Robert Steele. "He is internationally recognized for his research contributions, he is an outstanding educator, and will provide visionary guidance for the department."

Reddy has spent much of his academic career at Penn State, coming to the University as a postdoctoral fellow in the chemistry department in 1975. His research focuses on determining how antioxidant enzymes protect cells from oxidative damage.

He is an internationally recognized expert on prostaglandins and leukotrienes, compounds that are involved in the pathophysiology of many diseases. He currently is studying the molecular mechanisms that affect the antioxidant functions of vitamin E and selenium. Reddy's research program has attracted more than $10 million in grants, mostly from the National Institutes of Health, over the past 20 years.

"The Department of Veterinary Science is very complex, involving research, teaching, extension, and diagnostics," Reddy says. "It is a challenge to strike a balance and find harmony among all these functions. That is what attracted me to this position."

Reddy was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1992 and received the Research Career Development Award from the National Institute of Health for the years 1983 to 1988. He also was named an "Eminent Scientist of Telugu Origin" by Osmania University, Hyderabad, India, in 1993 and received the Indian Council of Agricultural Research Merit Award in 1970.

He teaches graduate courses on pathophysiology of disease mechanisms, cell biology, and the biochemistry and physiology of prostaglandins and leukotrienes. He has mentored 20 postdoctoral scholars, hosted 8 visiting scientists, and advised more than 20 doctoral students. Reddy also advises undergraduate students in the animal bioscience major.

Reddy has served on many advisory boards, including assignments for the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the American Cancer Society, and the United States Department of Agriculture. He also is a member of the Penn State Gerontology Center Advisory Board and served on the steering committee for Penn State's Life Sciences Consortium.

Reddy earned bachelor's degrees in both science and education in chemistry and biology from the Regional College of Education in Mysore, India, in 1969. He earned a master's degree in biochemistry from Mysore University in Mysore in 1971 and received a doctoral degree from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India, in 1975.

He was named assistant professor of veterinary science at Penn State in 1981 and was promoted to associate professor in 1985. He spent a sabbatical year studying physiological chemistry at the Institute for Cell Biology in Linkoping, Sweden, from 1988 to 1989. In 1988, he was promoted to full professor and was named distinguished professor in 1991. He also was director of the University's Pathobiology graduate program from 1990 to 1995 and served as an interim head of the Department of Veterinary Science from 1994 to 1996. He is currently director of the Center for Molecular Toxicology.

Robert Elkin, professor of animal sciences at Purdue University has been named head of the Department of Poultry Science.

"Dr. Elkin will provide the vision and leadership that will guide our poultry science department into the new century," says Dean Steele. "We are extremely pleased that a nationally known scholar of his stature will be joining our college."

Elkin joined the faculty at Purdue as an assistant professor in 1981. He was promoted to associate professor in 1986 and to professor in 1999. His research has focused on modification of avian cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism, and amino acid nutrition and metabolism in poultry. He has authored or co-authored 51 papers and 40 abstracts in refereed scientific journals and has delivered invited lectures at numerous state, national, and international research symposia.

He has taught courses in laboratory techniques, monogastric nutrition, and natural toxicants in feedstuffs.

Elkin, whose work on the pharmacological reduction of egg cholesterol content has received popular coverage in the national news media, has won numerous honors, including the American Feed Industry Association Nutrition Research Award in 1997, an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Research Fellowship in 1995, a Fulbright Scholar Research Award in 1992Ð93, and the American Egg Board Research Award in 1991. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, the Poultry Science Association and other academic and professional organizations.

Elkin received his bachelor's degree in animal science with distinction from Penn State in 1975, his master's degree in nonruminant nutrition from Purdue in 1977, and his doctorate in nutritional biochemistry from Purdue in 1981.

--John Wall and Chuck Gill