Biography
Dr. Richard French, D.V.M., is dean of the School of Animal Studies, and the Allerton Chair of Animal Health Sciences, at Becker College. A veterinary pathologist, Dr. French has served as an instructor and collaborator with the USDA, Plum Island Animal Disease Center for 10 years, as well as both the Agricultural Research Service and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Dr. French is an expert on zoonotic diseases, diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, particularly those with public health significance like H1N1 and avian flu. Previously director of the New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Dr. French comes to Becker from the University of New Hampshire, where he supervised the pre-veterinary program, for which he was recently honored as academic advisor of the year; helped reorganize the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture; and helped lead development of a cooperative wildlife disease center involving Cornell University, Tufts University, the University of Connecticut, and the University of New Hampshire. Dr. French has also served as a tenured faculty at the University of Connecticut and as a pathologist in the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory. Dr. French acquired his D.V.M. from the University of Illinois, and ran a small animal practice for several years before returning to the academic world. He received a master’s degree in parasitology and a doctoral degree in neuropathology, and he completed a residency in anatomic pathology. He is a member of the USDA National Animal Health Emergency Response Corps, and has authored numerous publications, including the first report of West Nile virus in the northern hemisphere (Science, 1999).