On March 29, the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine announced the establishment of two endowed chairs in oncology and four endowed professorships in other veterinary areas. Six professors in the college have been named to the positions.
“We are extremely grateful to the individuals whose generosity and belief in our college made these opportunities possible,” said Dean Peter Constable, who has been appointed as the inaugural Louis I. Mund Professor in Veterinary Medicine.
“These endowed faculty positions will further enhance our mission to create advanced biomedical knowledge and health treatments for animals and people, provide transformative educational experiences for students, and deliver compassionate care for animal patients,” he said.
Named faculty appointments signify excellence and prominence in scholarly endeavors, including research, teaching, and service. Those so honored have achieved distinction beyond that conferred by professorial rank.
The appointments take effect in August at the start of the 2024-25 academic year. Formal investiture ceremonies to celebrate these appointments will be held in the coming months.
Khan Family Chairs in Veterinary Oncology
Two faculty members have been appointed to named chairs established by the Khan Foundation on behalf of business leader Shahid Khan, his wife Ann Margaret Khan, and their children Tony and Shanna Khan. The Khan family made the gift in part because of their gratitude for the extraordinary level of care provided to their dogs, Louie and Shanelle. Both dogs were treated for cancer at the college’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
- Dr. Laura D. Garrett will be the inaugural Khan Family Chair in Veterinary Clinical Oncology.
Dr. Garrett returned to her Illinois alma mater as faculty in 2006. She currently heads both the Specialty Medicine Section and the Oncology Service within the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. She is also the coordinator of communication training within the college. Her areas of focus include clinical service, resident and veterinary student training, and communication skills in the medical setting. Her leadership roles in veterinary medicine include having served as president and then chair of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM), president of the Veterinary Cancer Society, chair of the ACVIM Oncology Specialty Board examination committee, and member of the planning committee for the World Veterinary Cancer Congress.
- Dr. Timothy M. Fan will be the inaugural Khan Family Chair in Veterinary Oncology Research.
Within the College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Fan serves as assistant head for research and graduate studies in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine as well as the director of the Veterinary Clinical Trials Center. On the University of Illinois campus, Dr. Fan has been instrumental in the growth of the Cancer Center at Illinois, where he is associate director for translational research and development. He is also a core member of the Anticancer Discovery from Pets to People theme at the Carl Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. Dr. Fan first came to Illinois as a small animal rotating intern in 1995, then returned in 1998 to complete a residency in oncology, earn a PhD, and join the faculty, eventually building the nationally recognized Comparative Oncology Research Laboratory.
A chair is the highest named faculty appointment title at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Dr. John Anderson Coyne Professorships
Two faculty members have been appointed to named professorships through a 2022 gift from the family of Dr. John Anderson Coyne, a 1974 graduate of the College of Veterinary Medicine.
- Dr. Kimberly A. Selting will be the inaugural Dr. John Anderson Coyne Professor in Small Animal Clinical Practice.
Dr. Selting joined the oncology team in 2017 to guide the college’s acquisition of a state-of-the-art linear accelerator. Nationally she has served as president of both the Veterinary Cancer Society and the Veterinary Cooperative Oncology Group. This year she will assume the presidency of the American College of Veterinary Radiology.
- Dr. Heidi Phillips will be the inaugural Dr. John Anderson Coyne Professor in Small Animal Surgery.
Dr. Phillips joined the college in 2012 to lead the small animal soft tissue surgery service. Her interests include microsurgery and surgical treatment for brachycephalic syndrome in dogs and cats. She also has a faculty appointment within the Regenerative Biology & Tissue Engineering theme at the Carl Woese Institute for Genomic Biology.
Dr. Coyne and his family have made many other generous gifts to the college. These include support for scholarships and naming the lobbies of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and its Veterinary Medicine South Clinic.
Delores R. Pajak Professorship
- Dr. Pamela A. Wilkins is the inaugural Delores R. Pajak Professor in Companion Animal Practice.
Dr. Wilkins, who joined the college in 2008, is a boarded specialist in both veterinary internal medicine (large animal) and veterinary emergency and critical care. She is the recipient of the Intervet/Schering-Plough AH International Equine Emergency and Critical Care Educator Award in 2009, the Boehringer-Ingelheim World Equine Veterinary Association Applied Research Award in 2018, the Ira M. Zaslow Distinguished Service Award from the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society in 2018, the Doug T. Byars Equine Educator Award, Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society in 2019, and the Specialty Lifetime Achievement Award in Large Animal Internal Medicine from the ACVIM in 2023.
The college is grateful to the Delores R. Pajak Trust for establishing this important recognition.
Louis I. Mund Professorship
- Dr. Peter D. Constable will be the inaugural Louis I. Mund Professor in Veterinary Medicine.
Dean Constable was a faculty member at the college from 1993 to 2006, returning in 2014 as dean. He has led the college through a period of remarkable growth. The numbers of faculty, veterinary students, and graduate students have each grown under his leadership. The clinical caseload, external research funding, and investments into facilities expansion and renovation have also grown. Dean Constable’s areas of research and clinical expertise include medical and surgical diseases of cattle, acid-base physiology, fluid therapy, and biomedical statistics. He is the senior author of the definitive text Veterinary Medicine: A Textbook of the Diseases of Cattle, Horses, Sheep, Pigs, and Goats, now in its eleventh edition. In 2023, he received the Robert W. Kirk Award for Professional Excellence from the ACVIM in recognition of his outstanding achievements and dedicated service.
This professorship was made possible through the Louis I. Mund Veterinary Medicine Endowment, established to support faculty members whose field of expertise is cattle. Mr. Mund was a resident of East Carondelet, Ill.
These new chairs and professorships are the first endowed faculty positions to be created within the college since 2004. That position, the Billie Alexander Field Chair in Reproductive Biology, is currently held by Dr. Indrani Bagchi.
