111368 Vet Med Profiles - University of Minnesota College of ...

FacultyO & ARichard Isaacson, Chair,Department of PathobiologyRichard Isaacson joined the faculty July 1, 2001 to serveas chair of the Department of PathoBiology. A professorof microbiology and immunology, he joins the Collegefrom the University of Illinois.O:A:Why were you interested in chairing adepartment?One of my favorite aspects of research is pullingtogether and working with the research team. Forme, the greatest reward in academia is helping others getexcited about research. In this job, I have the opportunityto mentor junior and senior faculty members in additionto students. It also gives me an opportunity to provideleadership and strategic development for the departmentand researchers. Working as a team, we will be ableto accomplish great things.O:A:Why Minnesota?There are only 27 veterinary colleges in the U.S.and this was one of the few dream jobs available.The department is full of young, vibrant, well respectedfaculty who are known nationally and internationallyfor their work. I can’t say that about many other veterinarycolleges.In addition, this is a good fit for my research interests,especially with the new Center for Animal Health andFood Safety. And the genetic techniques and facilitiesavailable to me will really facilitate my research.O:A:What is your personal area of research?I study bacterial infectious disease, trying to understandhow pathogens cause disease at the molecularand genetic level. For example, one of the problems wehave with bacteria such as salmonella is that the animalsshow no clinical signs of the bacteria. The animals appearperfectly healthy at slaughter and then the bacteria get inthe food chain. We’re trying to understand the specificmechanism on how salmonella infects animals yet doesn’tmake them sick.O:A:You are not trained as a veterinarian. Why didyou choose to do your research in veterinarymedicine?I like conducting research with the natural host, theactual diseased animals, where you can test and verifywhat you’ve done right away. Human medicalresearch is more ambiguous because you have to test yourtheory in lab animals first and the results in people maynot be the same. In veterinary medicine, what we findapplies directly to the disease.Richard Isaacson, Chair,Department of PathoBiology6