Thomas J. Inzana, professor biomedical sciences and pathobiology in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, was recently reappointed the Tyler J. and Frances F. Young Chair in Bacteriology by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

The Tyler J. and Frances F. Young Chair in Bacteriology is named for an alumnus and his wife, who endowed the position in their memory. Tyler J. Young earned his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences in 1934, a master’s degree in that subject in 1938, and his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Auburn University in 1940.

Inzana joined the veterinary college in 1987, and since that year, has served as director of clinical microbiology in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. In addition, he served for more than four years as coordinator for the Center for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases within the college. He also served as the associate vice president for research programs in the Office of the Vice President for Research and continues to serve in that office as the university’s research integrity officer.

Inzana continues to be a highly productive researcher, particularly in the areas of writing peer-reviewed research publications, editing clinical diagnostic manuals, writing and editing book chapters, presenting abstracts, giving invited lectures and presentations at professional meetings, and serving as a panel reviewer for national and international grants and peer-reviewed journals.

He has served as principal investigator on extramural grants from the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Defense, and industry and has received three patents for intellectual properties arising out of his vaccine research at Virginia Tech.

Inzana is a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Microbiology and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. He also is a member of the American Society for Microbiology, the American Academy of Microbiology, the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, the Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases, and the International Endotoxin and Innate Immunity Society.

In 2003, Inzana was named the first Tyler J. and Frances F. Young Professor of Bacteriology, and was named the Tyler J. and Frances F. Young Chair in Bacteriology in 2009.

Inzana received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from the University of Georgia and his doctoral degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

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