For immediate release: Oct. 30, 2008
Contact: Anne McMillin, APR
Health Science Communications
Office 775-682-9254
Mobile 702-292-4247
amcmillin@medicine.nevada.edu

Kenneth W. Hunter, Sc.D., named chair of School of Medicine's Department of Microbiology and Immunology

RENO/LAS VEGAS , Nev.—Kenneth Hunter, Sc.D., has been named chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. He will assume his new role on November 1 for a period of two years.

          Hunter, an immunologist and microbiologist, has been with UNR since 1989 when he arrived to assume the position of vice president for research and dean of the graduate school. He held that position for 11 years before assuming the full-time position of professor of microbiology and immunology at the School of Medicine in 2001.

          “I am very secure that Ken is an excellent chair through our current (financially) difficult times,” said Ole J. Thienhaus, M.D., MBA, dean of the School of Medicine. “I am also pleased that departmental faculty, in a serious and thorough group process, have expressed their confidence in Ken as the new chair.”

          Working with numerous post-graduate, graduate and undergraduate students in his laboratory, Hunter’s eclectic research work focuses on infectious diseases, cancer and neuro-immune diseases such as muscular sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome and autism while his teaching responsibilities include instructing immunology and parasitology to second year medical students.

           Hunter will lead the department during these austere fiscal times as it seeks to hire new faculty.

          He replaces cancer researcher William Murphy, Ph.D., who takes a new position with the University of California at Davis.

As the state’s only public medical school, the University of Nevada School of Medicine has been a leader in healthcare, medical education and research in Nevada since 1969. The School of Medicine includes 16 clinical departments including family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, surgery, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and five nationally recognized departments in basic science including microbiology and biomedical engineering. The more than 185 doctors of University Health System, the school’s clinical practice, offer care in more than 40 medical specialties and subspecialties with eight physician offices in the Reno/Sparks area and seven in Las Vegas. The school is committed to a best practices approach to medicine and is dedicated to exceptional healthcare for Nevada now and in the future. For more information visit www.medicine.nevada.edu.