Florida Veterinarian, Fall 2012 - University of Florida College of ...

Peck appointed as associate dean for research
Ammon B. Peck, Ph.D., an
immunology researcher and
professor at the University
of Florida, has been named
associate dean of research and
graduate studies at the UF
College of Veterinary Medicine,
effective Sept. 1.
Photo by Jesse Jones
Peck currently is a professor in the
College of Medicine’s department
of pathology, immunology and
laboratory medicine, with a
joint appointment in the College
of Dentistry’s department of
oral biology. He helped build
the graduate student program
in immunology and molecular
pathology within the College of
Medicine during the 1980s and
early 1990s.
Dr. Ammon Peck
Since then, Peck has continued to
be engaged in classroom lectures, seminars and journal clubs
in addition to directing independent research projects and
mentoring undergraduate and graduate students as well as
postdoctoral fellows and residents pursuing research careers.
He will succeed Charles Courtney, D.V.M., Ph.D., following
Courtney’s retirement from the position after 30 years of
service on the college faculty.
Peck has been involved in many aspects of service while at
UF, including serving as president of the College of Medicine
faculty and as a member and vice-chairman of the Academic
Health Center’s Institutional Review Board. He also coestablished
and co-directed the Type II Center for Research on
Women’s Health, an intercollegiate center encompassing all six
AHC colleges.
An active entrepreneur and consultant, Peck co-founded Ixion
Biotechnology, Inc., to commercialize research discoveries in
diabetes and hyperoxaluria. The company received the Tibbetts
Award from the Small Business Association in Washington, D.C.
in 2000.
Peck’s recent research has focused on three main areas:
molecular mechanisms underlying autoimmune diseases;
pathogenesis of human and animal diseases involving
hyperoxaluria; and stem cell biology. His laboratory’s research
on hyperoxaluria and stem cells has received wide-spread
national and international press coverage.
Among the many honors Peck has received in his academic
career are the 2012 International Association of Dental
Research’s Distinguished Scientist Award for Salivary Research;
the College of Medicine’s Exemplary Teacher’s Award in 2008;
the Council of Biotechnology Award from Tsurumi University,
Yokahama Japan in 2002; UF’s Step Professorship in 2001;
and the UF Research Foundation’s Distinguished Professor
designation in 1999.
Peck received his Ph.D. degree in medical microbiology from
the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1972. From 1974 to 1982
he worked at Uppsala University and the Karolinska Institute
in Sweden, overlapping his appointment at UF in 1979.
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