Follow Veterinary Practice News on Twitter at @vetpetnews. A Colorado State University professor who worked as a registered nurse before earning her veterinary degree has been promoted to lead CSU's Professional Veterinary Medicine Program. Melinda Frye, DVM, MS, Ph.D., Dipl. ACVIM, will take over in July as associate dean in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. In her new role, Dr. Frye will oversee a veterinary school that U.S. News and World Report ranks as the nation?s third best. She will replace Dean Hendrickson, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, who is stepping down to return to teaching and equine surgery. Frye earned her veterinary degree from Colorado State in 1996. The four-year DVM program enrolls about 138 students annually. "Dr. Frye has an impressive and diverse range of experiences and achievements that will benefit our students and our veterinary program," said Mark Stetter, DVM, Dipl. ACZM, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. "Beyond her admirable credentials in teaching, research and clinical service, it's wonderful to have an accomplished woman in a role that so visibly demonstrates what our students can do in science, medicine and the veterinary industry." Frye will become the first woman to oversee the Colorado State veterinary school, whose student body is 80 percent female. "I look forward to building on Dr. Hendrickson's strong efforts directed to training for unconventional veterinary roles, focusing on a broader array of careers," Frye said. "At CSU, we plan to start pairing students with faculty mentors in unconventional career pathways to help open the doors to new and different options." Among those options are foreign and zoonotic disease, epidemiology, veterinary law, laboratory animal medicine, ecosystem health, conservation medicine, and livestock herd health and management, the university reported. Frye worked in human critical care after earning her nursing degree at Oregon?s Linfield College. She later chose veterinary school over medical school because of her love of animals. As a veterinarian, Frye worked at a mixed-animal clinic in Idaho and returned to CSU to complete an equine medicine residency and work toward her doctorate in physiology. Now an assistant professor of cardiovascular physiology, she has taught graduate-level physiology for seven years. Her research has focused on understanding mechanisms of left ventricular hypertrophy associated with obesity and high fat diet, the university noted. Previous: First VS Cases of 2014 Confirmed in Texas Want more Veterinary Practice news? Go here. <HOME>
