NC State names Meurs as veterinary dean
Dr. Kate Meurs has been named dean of North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, effective April 1. She will be the first female dean of the veterinary college and the inaugural Randall B. Terry, Jr. College of Veterinary Medicine Endowed Dean’s Chair.
Dr. Meurs has served as interim dean since Jan. 18, following the departure of Dr. D. Paul Lunn to become dean of the University of Liverpool School of Veterinary Science. He had served as dean of the NC State veterinary college since February 2012.
NC State Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Warwick Arden, another former dean of the NC State veterinary college, announced Dr. Meurs’ appointment March 15.
“Dr. Meurs is one of the foremost leaders in veterinary medical education and an incredibly strong researcher and teacher as well,” said Dr. Arden in an NC State news release.
Dr. Meurs joined NC State in 2011 as associate dean for research and graduate studies at the veterinary college. In 2020, she was named the Randall B. Terry, Jr. Distinguished Professor in Comparative Medicine.
Under her leadership as associate dean, annual extramural and federal research funding grew. She developed the veterinary college’s first undergraduate research program, along with a combined degree program with the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Public Health that allows students to earn a veterinary degree and a master’s of public health.
Her work helped grow the Comparative Biomedical Sciences graduate program both in number of students and in the diversity of the student body, along with the addition of two new concentration areas. In 2017, she was integral in launching the Biomedical Partnership Center on the veterinary college’s campus.
Prior to joining NC State, Dr. Meurs served in faculty and administrative positions at Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine and The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Dr. Meurs is board certified from the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in cardiology. Her areas of interest include familial aspects of cardiovascular disease, especially cardiomyopathy. She received her veterinary degree in 1990 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also holds a doctorate in genetics from Texas A&M University. Dr. Meurs completed a small animal internship at NC State and a cardiology residency at Texas A&M University.
“My internship at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine in 1990 had a profound impact on the trajectory of my career and I am so grateful for the opportunities that the program provided me,” Dr. Meurs said in the NC State news release. “I was fortunate to return to the college 10 years ago and be part of its growth in the past decade. I am so honored to now have this opportunity to step into this leadership role of this outstanding college with the incredibly talented and dedicated faculty, staff, students and trainees.”