The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine has appointed Dr. Jane Sykes as chief veterinary medical officer (CVMO) of the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, effective June 1, 2016 for a five-year term. She served as interim director of the hospital for the past year, following Dr. David Wilson. Dr. Wilson was appointed director of Veterinary Medical Center Facilities Planning. As CVMO, Dr. Sykes has administrative responsibility for the management and fiscal integrity of the hospital, ensuring the academic quality of the clinical learning environment for DVM students and house officers, and the provision of clinical care and operational efficiency of all academic and clinical service activities. She is also responsible for ensuring the ethical and professional conduct of the nearly 500 hospital faculty and staff members; compliance with the California Veterinary Medicine Practice Act; and creating a culture of inclusion in support of diversity that embraces the UC Davis Principles of Community. Dr. Sykes reports directly to Dr. Michael Lairmore, dean of the SVM. “I am so thrilled to support our team of talented and caring clinicians, staff, and students to bring cutting-edge veterinary care to animal owners throughout California and beyond,” Dr. Sykes said. “As our new Veterinary Medical Center becomes a reality, I have no doubt that we will be able to accelerate the rate we make medical breakthroughs and dramatically improve the health and well-being of animals.” Skyes said that under the leadership of Wilson, the hospital has grown more than they could have imagined. “I look forward to an even higher level of patient care, clinical discovery, and educational success for our future veterinarians and veterinary specialists. This is an exciting time for our hospital, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity,” she said. Dr. Sykes is a board-certified veterinarian (internal medicine) with research focus in infectious diseases of small animals. She has been a faculty member at UC Davis since 2002, and has previously served the hospital as chief of the Internal Medicine Service, infectious disease control officer, and director of the Small Animal Clinic. Sykes previously served as president of the Specialty of Small Animal Internal Medicine within the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. She also completed a term as president of the International Society for Companion Animal Infectious Diseases, an organization she co-founded in 2006, and is the author of the textbook Canine and Feline Infectious Diseases. Dr. Sykes hails from Melbourne, Australia. Prior to coming to UC Davis, she completed a residency at the University of Minnesota, where she was also a clinical faculty member.
