New Hires Expand Pathology Expertise
Sep 09 2013
Charles River is pleased to welcome Dr. Wendell Davis as our new Scientific Director of Pathology and Dr. Matthew Smith as our new Veterinary Pathologist, II. Dr. Davis joins us from Biogen Idec where he served as Director of Comparative Pathology and Discovery Toxicology. Dr. Smith brings several years of experience from his senior pathology role at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Their addition expands our large, multidisciplinary pathology team, which includes pathologists certified by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and the European College of Veterinary Pathologists. Our pathology team also has expertise across the spectrum of major therapeutic areas and routinely assesses and interprets data from regulatory and investigative/research studies.
Dr. Wendell Davis
Dr. Wendell P. Davis joins the staff of Charles River Sherbrooke site following a 25-year career in veterinary medicine and pathology.
He received a Bachelor of Science in animal science at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and continued his education at the Ohio State University where he received his DVM in 1987. Following graduation he spent the next seven years in private veterinary practice in Southern Maine.
In 1994, he completed a residency on anatomic pathology at Michigan State University’s Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory. Following this, he received research training through postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the University of New Hampshire in the areas of environment pathology and animal models of diet-induced atherosclerosis, respectively. In 1998 he was board certified by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in anatomic pathology and spent the next several years in diagnostic pathology, teaching and researching as a clinical professor with the NH Veterinary Diagnostic laboratory and animal science department at UNH.
In early 2007, Dr. Davis joined Biogen Idec’s comparative pathology group as a senior scientist in comparative pathology. For the next two years he provided pathology support to discovery and development programs in the neurology, oncology and immunology therapeutic areas. In the fall of 2009, Dr. Davis was promoted to Director and Head of the Comparative Pathology group. In 2010, following the establishment of a Preclinical Safety department in R&D at Biogen Idec, Dr. Davis took on the role of head of discovery toxicology with responsibility for re-establishing an active discovery toxicology function while continuing to lead the toxicology pathology group.
During his tenure as the head of toxicologic pathology and discovery toxicology functions at Biogen Idec, Dr. Davis had the opportunity to establish strong collaborative working relationships with pathology groups at several Charles River sites around processes such as peer review, standardized reporting templates and preference documents, issue resolution and the use of historical control data. He is looking forward to joining the Charles River family and sharing perspectives gained from these experiences to his new role.
Dr. Matthew Smith, DVM, PhD, DACVP
Matthew Smith joins the Charles River team in Nevada from Bristol-Mysers Squibb. He holds a Bachelor of Science in microbiology from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. He later attended the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia and graduated with a DVM in 2000. After veterinary school, Dr. Smith completed a three year residency in anatomic pathology at the University of California, Davis and then continued on at UC Davis to complete a PhD in comparative pathology in 2008. Matthew joined Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2008, first in Syracuse, New York and later in Mt. Vernon, Indiana as a veterinary pathologist in preclinical drug safety evaluation.
As someone who has worked with Charles River from the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Smith knows the excellent reputation that Charles River has within the pharmaceutical industry and the high quality of the work that is done here. He is very happy and excited to be part of the Charles River family and looks forward to many years here.
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