Baines chosen as dean at LSU

Louisiana State University in February announced Dr. Joel D. Baines had been named the new dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Baines currently is the associate dean for research and graduate education and the James Law Professor of Virology at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Baines will begin at LSU on Sept. 1, pending approval by the LSU Board of Supervisors. If approved, he will fill a position left vacant since December 2013 when Dr. Peter F. Haynes retired.

“Dr. Baines is well-respected in the field of veterinary medicine and brings a wealth of knowledge and research with him to LSU,” said LSU Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Stuart Bell.

Dr. Baines is a professor in the Cornell Department of Microbiology and Immunology and has been associated with the department since 1993. He received a VMD degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 and, five years later, a doctorate from Cornell in the field of molecular virology of feline coronaviruses.

He obtained postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago in the laboratory of Dr. Bernard Roizman, studying the molecular virology of herpes simplex virus replication. Dr. Baines’ study of herpes simplex virus assembly has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1995.

“I am thrilled to accept this position and look forward to facilitating the education, research, and service missions of the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine,” Dr. Baines said. “I am also eager to facilitate opportunities that foster synergistic collaborations with colleagues at partner colleges, campuses, and institutions to advance basic and clinical discovery in both veterinary and human medicine.”