Malcolm Roberts Steps Down as Head of Population Health and Pathobiology to Return to the Faculty

Malcolm Roberts is stepping down as head of the Department of Population Health and Pathobiology at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and returning to a fulltime faculty position.

By any measure, Dr. Roberts has fashioned an impressive veterinary career since he earned a Bachelor of Veterinary Science degree with honors from the University of Liverpool in 1967.

By degrees, he has a Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Medicine) from the University of Bristol and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina.

By qualifications, he is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and a Fellow and Member of both the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists.

By the numbers, Dr. Roberts has produced chapters in 15 books, 29 abstracts, and 49 proceedings, 89 articles in refereed journals, and some 100 continuing education and research presentations.

By experience, he has practiced and taught equine medicine in England, South Africa, Australia, and at Cornell University and the University of Missouri in the United States before he was recruited to join the fledging NC State College of Veterinary Medicine as a professor of equine medicine in 1981. The college graduated its first class in 1985.

His more than three decades of service helped shape equine medicine at NC State. Dr. Roberts led the equine section from 1981 to 1990, served as acting department head from 1982 to 1988, served as the head of what was then the Department of Food Animal and Equine Medicine from 1990 to 1999, directed the Physiology Graduate Program from 2006 to 2009, and served as the interim head of the Department of Population Health and Pathobiology from 2008 to 2011 when he was named head of the PHP department.

“I’ve known Dr. Roberts as a widely renowned equine medicine clinician since the time I was a resident in training,” says Paul Lunn, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. “He has an impressive body of publications in a wide array of medical areas, many of which I’ve studied repeatedly at different stages of my own career in this field. Anyone would be proud of this record of academic contribution. To know he is going to recommit his efforts to new teaching innovation is great news for our students and DVM program. NC State already owes Dr. Roberts a big debt for all he’s done but, importantly, he is not done yet!”

In the 30 plus years Dr. Roberts advised five college administrations and served on numerous committees and subcommittees involving the hospital, equine health, research, education, planning, graduate studies, faculty concerns, and admissions among other focus areas that helped guide the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine to its current position as one of the top-ranked programs of veterinary medicine in the United States.

Dr. Roberts now turns his focus on teaching and research and hands the administration of the PHP department to Paula Fedorka Cray, a scientist with the United States Department of Agriculture and a leader in food safety research.