Nathaniel White of Hamilton, Va., the Theodora Ayer Randolph Professor of Equine Surgery at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) at Virginia Tech, has also been named director of the college's Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Va.

White has been serving as interim director of the center since April 1, 2003, and assumes permanent leadership as the top candidate to emerge from a comprehensive national search conducted by VMRCVM and Virginia Tech.

"I'm very pleased and honored by this appointment," said White. "The Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center is a big part of the veterinary college and Virginia Tech's commitment to the regional equine community. I think the center has established a lot of momentum and has very exciting prospects for the future."

White joined the center as assistant director in 1985 and was appointed the Theodora Ayer Randolph Professor of Equine Surgery in 1987. White will retain the Randolph professorship until late August, when, pending action by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, he will be named the Jean Ellen duPont Shehan

"Dr. White is a scholar and clinician of the highest order," said Dr. Gerhardt Schurig, dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. "Over the past year of his interim administration he has demonstrated many aspects of leadership excellence. Dr. White has a strong sense of our history and our capabilities, and he is also very committed to helping the college and Virginia Tech grow and develop our research enterprise."

White earned his DVM degree from Cornell University in 1971 and completed an internship and residency program in equine surgery at the University of California at Davis. He also earned a M.S. degree in pathology from Kansas State University. He is board certified by the American College of Veterinary Surgery (ACVS) and he has served as Chairman of the Board of Regents of the ACVS and President of the ACVS Research and Education Foundation.

White currently serves as director of the ACVS Veterinary Symposium, a major international veterinary continuing education event. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, and holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the University of Maryland at College Park.

White has published 139 publications in refereed academic journals and has authored several textbooks, including The Acute Equine Abdomen, Current Techniques in Equine Surgery and Lameness, and the Handbook of Equine Colic.

As assistant director for clinical services at the center prior to his appointment as interim director, White supervised all aspects of clinical care at the advanced equine referral center which treats about 2400 horses a year with a full-time staff of 60 employees.

He has also worked closely with the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center Council, an advisory organization that develops private support and provides operational guidance for the center that has become an integral part of the regional horse industry.

The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine is a two-state, three-campus professional school operated by the land-grant universities of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and the University of Maryland at College Park. Its flagship facilities, based at Virginia Tech, include the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, which treats more than 40,000 animals annually. Other campuses include the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Va., and the Avrum Gudelsky Veterinary Center at College Park, home of the Center for Government and Corporate Veterinary Medicine. The VMRCVM annually enrolls approximately 500 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and graduate students, is a leading biomedical and clinical research center, and provides professional continuing education services for veterinarians practicing throughout the two states.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top 30 research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.

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