Lorson Selected as CVM Interim Associate Dean

University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine Interim Dean Carolyn Henry recently announced that Christian Lorson will serve as interim associate dean for the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, effective Aug. 1. The associate dean vacancy was created when Henry, DVM, MS, ACVIM (oncology), was named interim dean.

As associate dean, Lorson will provide administrative leadership, supervision and coordination of all research activities of the college; oversee research development; manage research resources; and ensure research compliance with requirements of MU’s Institutional Review Board, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, MU’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety, and laboratory animal welfare laws and regulations.

Other responsibilities will include assisting the dean, department chairs, directors of graduate studies, and faculty in the management of graduate programs within the college, and serving as a liaison to the MU Office of Research and Graduate Studies. He will also have a variety of administrative duties.

Lorson, PhD, is a professor in the CVM’s Department of Veterinary Pathobiology and an investigator at the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center. Lorson has research interests in molecular genetics, gene therapy, RNA processing, neurodegeneration, and animal models of disease.

The Lorson lab has a particular focus on spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a devastating disease that is the leading genetic cause of infantile death worldwide. The lab is collaborating with several groups to develop new drugs, with a goal of moving closer toward clinical trial. Lorson has served as scientific director at FightSMA since 2005.

Lorson received his PhD from the MU School of Medicine and received postgraduate training at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston.