Research is an essential part of Auburn's mission statement.
Carl Pinkert, who was recently selected as associate vice president for research, plans to continue Auburn's focus on research.
John Mason, associate provost and vice president of research, announced Pinkert's selection.
Pinkert commenced his position this week.
Pinkert will assist Mason in promoting and developing multidisciplinary research across campus.
"Our challenge will be to facilitate the needs and development of all colleges, schools and programs at Auburn to enhance research and scholarly activities," Pinkert said.
He also said he will head a task force to implement strategies for research enhancement and work on projects to improve proposal development and submission.
In addition, Pinkert will represent the Office of the Vice President for Research in state and national arenas to support efforts to commercialize advancements developed from research.
Pinkert has experience promoting research initiatives in his most recent position as associate dean for research and graduate studies and professor of pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
He has also served on several federal research panels and various Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges committees.
Pinkert will continue to teach students as well as pursue personal research efforts on the use of animal transgenesis technologies.
His research has broad implications for human and animal health and primarily targets potential cures for mitochondrial diseases.
These diseases impair the function of many tissues of skeletal muscle, the nervous system and organs such as the heart and kidney.
These painful diseases debilitate and potentially lead to premature death in those diagnosed.
Effective treatments for these diseases exist do not exist.
Pinkert and researchers, however, are using genetically modified mouse models to evaluate therapies that can be directly applied to humans.
Dr. Byron Blagburn, professor of pathobiology, worked with Pinkert in the college of veterinary medicine and said he believes Pinkert is more than qualified for this role.
"Dr. Pinkert's excellent background and experience in research has resulted in very effective oversight of our diverse programs of research in the college of veterinary medicine," Blagburn said.
"I am confident that he will be an equally effective steward of research programs at the University level."
Prior to joining Auburn's faculty in 2006, Pinkert was the director of the transgenics program and a professor of pathology at the University of Rochester.
Previously, he worked at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for nine years.
Pinkert earned his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in animal reproductive physiology and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania where he studied gene expression in transgenic animals.
He has received several awards including the Doerenkamp-Zbinden Foundation Research Prize in 1997. This biomedical research award honors research, which impacts the welfare of animals in research.
Pinkert said his time at Auburn has been a phenomenal opportunity for him and his family, and he is appreciative for his newest role at the University.
"I am most grateful to Dr. Mason for this new opportunity and very much appreciate the consideration and support that I have received from Dean Timothy R. Boosinger and the faculty of the College of Veterinary Medicine," Pinkert said. "I look forward to putting what has been learned to date to use helping the Auburn University research enterprise."
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