The Pomeroy Chair in Avian Health was created in May 1985 in honor of Professor Emeritus Benjamin Pomeroy (1911 – 2004). The only endowed poultry chair in the U.S., it is associated with the College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Pomeroy’s accomplishments include groundbreaking work that helped control salmonella, mycoplasma, and other potentially devastating infection that once threatened the poultry industry.
Fund Activity
Professor Jagdev Sharma, one of the world’s leading experts on avian disease, holds the Pomeroy Chair in Avian Health. Professor Sharma is well-known for co-inventing the inovo vaccine that protects poultry embryos from destructive disease. He earned his B.V.Sc. from the College of Veterinary Science, Punjab University, India, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in animal virology from the University of California, Davis His major academic interests are immunology, infectious viral disease, and avian cellular immunology. Professor Sharma’s many honors include the 2002 Pfizer Excellence in Poultry Research Award. He was also awarded the 2003 Rapid Agricultural Response Fund for a project entitled, “Pathogenesis and Control of Avian Pneumoviruses of Turkeys.”