Chair, Small Animal Clinical Sciences

Chair of the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences

The primary responsibilities for this leadership position include

  1. Recruitment, mentoring, development, evaluation, and promotion of SACS faculty members
  2. Coordination and oversight of major departmental responsibilities, including veterinary student instruction, research and scholarly activities, graduate student education, and outreach activities
  3. Working collaboratively with the Associate Deans for Clinical Services and Chief Medical Officer for the UF Veterinary Hospitals to ensure delivery of high-quality patient care, veterinary student teaching, house officer training, and clinical research in the UF Veterinary Hospitals by SACS faculty
  4. Overall supervision of department staff, resources and budget

Finally, as a member of the CVM executive leadership team, the Chair serves as the primary departmental liaison with the CVM development team, other UF colleges and academic units within the UF Academic Health Science Center, and the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences as well as the State of Florida.

You Belong at a University that is Rising

The University of Florida, the flagship university of the state of Florida, is a top-tier research institution with a long history of training outstanding undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. UF is currently ranked #5 among U.S. public research universities by U.S. News and World Report. 

The College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) is part of the UF Academic Health Center, which includes five other health-related colleges (Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Public Health & Health Professions) and is one of only three academic health centers in the nation where all six health-related colleges are located on a single campus. Colleges, major research centers, institutes, and clinical enterprises collaborate on interdisciplinary translational and clinical research.

The Small Animal Hospital has one of the largest caseloads in the country with a multitude of specialized clinical services centered on quality and innovation. A dedicated Clinical Studies team oversees and supports clinical trials and translational studies throughout the college, assists with patient visits, and supports administrative and compliance tasks associated with clinical research.


“Being Chair of the Small Animal Clinical Sciences Department has been my most meaningful and satisfying job in more than 20 years in academia. Come be a part of the future of SACS.”

Dr. Chris Adin, outgoing Chair of the Department and current Executive Associate Dean

Research

Leading studies and collaborating across departments and other health-related colleges at the University of Florida’s Health Science Center

Research

The Opportunity

The Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences invites applications and nominations for the position of clinical or tenure-track Chair and Associate or Full Professor.

The new Chair will serve as the chief administrative officer of the department and, as such, will provide strong leadership across all facets of the department missions as well as participate selectively in clinical service, research and/or teaching activities that are most closely aligned with the individual’s training and interests.

In addition to being a part of the UF Academic Health Center, UF CVM is aligned strategically with the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and has strong ties with the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

Together, these alliances create opportunities for vibrant interdisciplinary research collaborations that are fostered through campus-wide institutes and centers, including the Breathing Research and Training Center, Clinical Translational Science Institute, the Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology, the One Health Center of Excellence, Artificial Intelligence and many others. The UF Veterinary Hospitals bring additional opportunities for clinical/translational research through a diverse and robust caseload of small, large, and exotic animal patients each year. 

The Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences

The incoming SACS Chair will join and lead a dynamic department with more than 75 faculty members who have specialty board certifications and diverse research interests that encompass Cardiology, Clinical Trials, Community Outreach, Dermatology, Dentistry, Diagnostic Imaging, Emergency/Critical Care, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Nutrition, Oncology (medical, surgical, and radiation), Ophthalmology, Primary Care, Shelter Medicine, Surgery (orthopedic and soft tissue), and related areas of expertise.

The combined UF Veterinary Hospitals support an expansive clinical enterprise with a diverse caseload of more than 57,000 patient visits per year that support veterinary student, intern, and resident training in nearly all major specialties.

The hospitals are led by two Associate Deans of Clinical Services, allowing the Chair sufficient opportunity to focus on the development of faculty in teaching, research, and service. The Chair of this large department is supported by Associate Chairs, Directors, and a well-staffed administrative team. The college also provides funding for research technicians and maintains expansive research facilities that range from gait analysis laboratories to molecular biology labs. A significant array of donated funds are available to support faculty research and strategic initiatives within the department.

Department faculty members provide high-quality graduate student training in areas of their research expertise with opportunities for collaboration in a vibrant interdisciplinary environment that promotes and supports excellence in research, education, and clinical service.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The College of Veterinary Medicine believes that human and intellectual diversity is paramount to academic excellence. As a college, we understand that our commitment to diversity is a shared responsibility among our faculty, staff, students, alumni and others who are part of the community.

Together, we are committed to build and expand individual and organizational efforts that foster respect, dignity, fairness, caring, equity, and self-esteem. The College of Veterinary Medicine aims to provide equitable access and opportunity through the development of policies and initiatives that foster diversity and inclusion.

The College of Veterinary Medicine is committed to recruiting and retaining, on a nondiscriminatory basis, people who are members of groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education. By championing educational equity, and fostering inclusivity in our classrooms, laboratories, and clinical environments, we will promote a veterinary global awareness that creates a new generation of graduates from diverse backgrounds, who will enrich the profession and our world.

The University of Florida is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The University is committed to non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations, genetic information, and veteran status in all aspects of employment including recruitment, hiring, promotion, transfers, discipline, terminations, wage and salary administration, benefits, and training.

SACS Faculty are Collegial, Generous, Compassionate . . . Friends at Work and Play . . . Valuing Professional Fulfillment and Work-Life Balance

The department faculty and staff take pride in their collegiality and support for each other, gathering for regular walk/run clubs, social events, volunteerism, and even international adventure travel. Come be a part of the future of SACS.

Service Learning

Pets Are Wonderful Support

PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support) is a completely donation-funded and student-run organization at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. We provide free veterinary care for the pets of people with disabilities and low socioeconomic status in the Gainesville area.

PAWS Decorative thumbnail

Riding and Running Club

Team Vet Med

Going on a run or bike ride and want some company? Feel free to post time and location on this page!! We also love to support events you care about, so if there is a run or bike ride raising money for a great cause, let us know!!

TVM decorative thumbnail

International Learning

Project HEAL

We are a group of rising sophomore, junior, and senior vet students supervised by faculty Drs. Brian DiGangi and Owen Rae. We partner with the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, a veterinary college in Ecuador to provide spay/neuter and vaccination clinics for small animals and anti-parasitic treatments to cattle, horses, and small ruminants.

HEAL decorative thumbnail

TOWN-GOWN COLLABORATION

Operation Catnip

A nonprofit organization founded by UF faculty and staff is now the largest university-based trap-neuter-return program for community cats in the world. Of the 7,116 cats spayed and neutered in 2022, more than 6,000 surgeries were performed by veterinary student volunteers.

CCMC decorative thumbnail

Disaster Response AND Rescue

UF Veterinary Emergency Treatment Service

Volunteer veterinarians, staff, and veterinary students have assisted in hurricanes, hoarding cases, disease outbreaks, oil spills, and technical rescues involving a variety of species and emergencies.

UFVETS team

Saving Shelter Pets

Summer Lovin’ Adoptathon

The Student Chapter of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians writes grants, purchases marketing media, and provides veterinary care to host the single largest pet adoption event of the year for the county animal shelter.

Adoptathon end of day list

The University of Florida

Located in Gainesville since 1906, The University of Florida has 16 colleges, a major academic health center, a championship winning athletic program, a top-ranked undergraduate online program and, in keeping with its land-grant mission, one of the nation’s most comprehensive agriculture and natural resources programs. All are based at the University’s 2,000-acre campus, joining its historic red-brick core with advanced facilities and preserved natural areas and connecting to adjacent innovation, commercial and residential districts.

UF has 55,000 students, 30,000 employees, 5,500 faculty members, a $5 billion annual budget, and more than 140 mission-focused units across the state of Florida. It is the Sunshine State’s only member of the Association of American Universities comprising the nation’s 60 leading public and private research universities. More than 51,000 students have applied as freshmen for the 2021-22 academic year — a new record.

Several qualities distinguish UF among today’s leading public research universities. The first is its highly comprehensive breadth on a single campus, facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration among, for example, faculty within the adjacent colleges of journalism, engineering, and medicine.

The second is its unwavering support from the state of Florida, which has endorsed UF’s drive to become one of the nation’s very best public research universities — supporting those efforts since 2013 with hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding to grow its faculty ranks by 500 members.

UF’s third exceptional quality is its dynamism. Like Florida, the nation’s third-largest state and among the fastest-growing, UF is undergoing rapid transformation as it pursues the overarching aspiration to be “a premier university that the state, nation and world look to for leadership.”

The University of Florida is the #5 public university according to US News and is known for a unique combination of academic excellence and friendly culture. 21 Division I sports teams at UF have won more national championships than any other school in the US over the last 20 years.

Decorative mage of UF building
Football game
Bauman Center
Campus lake
Sandhill cranes
Bell tower

The City of Gainesville

Our campus is in the center of Gainesville, a vibrant and growing community that has numerous cultural amenities in a setting with great natural beauty. As the home to Florida’s largest and oldest university, it is one of the state’s centers of education, medicine, cultural events and athletics. The University of Florida and UF Health Shands Hospital are the leading employers in Gainesville and provide jobs for many residents of surrounding counties.

Gainesville is also the largest city in Alachua County and is the county seat, with approximately 269,000 residents county-wide. It serves as the cultural, educational and commercial center for the north central Florida region and ranks highly on pet-friendly scorecards. The city owns a regional transit system, a regional airport just minutes from town, a 72-par championship golf course, and many miles of paved and cross-country bike trails.

Known for its preservation of historic buildings and the beauty of its natural surroundings, Gainesville’s numerous parks, museums, lakes, and crystal-clear springs provide outdoor entertainment to thousands of visitors. Because of its beautiful landscape and urban “forest,” Gainesville is one of the most attractive cities in Florida. The city is in a central location to both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, providing easy access within a day’s drive to beaches, nature preserves, and water-based activities. 

Downtown Gainesville at night
Dinosaur skeletons
Tacos
Santa Fe Reiver kayakers
Kanapaha water lilies
Group of bicyclists

Could You Be Our Next Chair? Let’s Talk!

Search Committee Members (Chair: Julie Levy)

Sheila Carrera-Justiz
Department: Small Animal Clinical Sciences

Sheila Carrera-Justiz

Clinical Associate Professor; Neurology Service Chief
Phone: (352) 392-2235
Klibs Galvão
Department: Large Animal Clinical Sciences

Klibs Galvão Med.Vet., MVPM, PhD, DACT, DACVPM

Associate Chair & Professor
Phone: (352) 294-4788
Chen Gilor
Department: Small Animal Clinical Sciences

Chen Gilor

Associate Professor, SA Internal Medicine
Phone: (352) 392-2235
Julie K Levy
Department: Small Animal Clinical Sciences

Julie K Levy

Fran Marino Endowed Distinguished Professor Of Shelter Medicine Education
Phone: (352) 258-6658
Adesola Odunayo
Department: Small Animal Clinical Sciences

Adesola Odunayo

Michael Schaer Endowed Distinguished Professor Of Emergency And Critical Care, Associate Chair and Clinical Associate Professor
Phone: (352) 392-2235
Luisito S Pablo
Department: Department of Comparative, Diagnostic & Population Medicine

Luisito S Pablo

Clinical Professor – Anesthesiology
Phone: (352) 226-4582
Amy E Stone
Department: Small Animal Clinical Sciences

Amy E Stone DVM, PhD, ACVPM

Clinical Associate Professor; Primary Care & Dentistry Service Chief
Phone: (352) 392-2235
Helena D Zomer
Department: Department of Physiological Sciences

Helena D Zomer

Research Assistant Professor