Media contacts:
Poul Olson, 404-727-9254, polson@rmy.emory.edu
February 19, 2003


 



Else Named Associate Director for Animal Resources at Yerkes National Primate Research Center



ATLANTA ­ February 19, 2003 ­ James Else, D.V.M., has been named associate director for animal resources at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University. Dr. Else’s responsibilities include overseeing animal care and husbandry, veterinary medicine, animal records and non-human primate enrichment at the Yerkes Main Station and Field Station.



"We are honored to have someone of Jim’s international stature serve as Yerkes’ associate director for animal resources," said Stuart Zola, Ph.D., Yerkes director. "His extensive experience in veterinarian medicine and program development will be an enormous asset to the Center and our world-class research programs."

Dr. Else has 25 years of senior-level management experience in various scientific, academic and government institutions. He is considered a leading authority in conservation medicine, specifically the impact of environmental change on veterinary heath, public health and emerging infectious diseases. His areas of speciality include primatology, lab animal husbandry, natural resource management, epidemiology and ecosystem health.

Dr. Else’s appointment as Yerkes associate director for animal resources is the second time he has held the position. From 1989 to 1991, he worked at Yerkes as associate director and associate research professor.

"I am excited about returning to Yerkes and working with the dedicated and skilled staff of the Division of Animal Resources," said Dr. Else. "Together, we will enhance an already outstanding operation."

Dr. Else has published more than 80 scientific papers and a three-volume book on non-human primates. Before returning to Yerkes, he served as director of the Tufts Center for Conservation Medicine at the Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in North Grafton, Mass., where he also was an associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Population Health. In addition, Dr. Else was co-director of the Envirovet Program in Wildlife and Ecosystem Health, a multi-institutional veterinary training program that he will continue to manage from Yerkes.

From 1994 to 1999, Dr. Else served as an advisor to the Ministry of Tourism in Uganda. He was deputy director for science for the Kenya Wildlife Service from 1991 to 1994.

Dr. Else holds a doctor of veterinary medicine and masters’ degrees in preventive veterinary medicine and medical entomology from the University of California at Davis.

The Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University is one of eight National Primate Research Centers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The Yerkes Center is a multidisciplinary research institute recognized as a leader in biomedical and behavioral studies with non-human primates. Yerkes scientists are on the forefront of developing vaccines for AIDS and malaria, and treatments for cocaine addiction, Parkinson’s disease and cardiovascular disease. Other research programs include cognitive development and decline, childhood visual defects, organ transplant rejection and social behaviors of primates. Leading researchers located worldwide seek to collaborate with Yerkes scientists.

Return to February Index






For more general information on The Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center
call Health Sciences Communication's Office at 404-727-5686,
or send e-mail to hsnews@emory.edu





Copyright © Emory University, 2001. All Rights Reserved.