Dr. Timothy Hackett Named Interim Director of Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital

Note to Reporters: Photos of Drs. Timothy Hackett and Dean Hendrickson are available with the news release at http://www.news.colostate.edu.

Dr. Timothy Hackett, a board-certified emergency and critical care veterinarian and professor at Colorado State University, has been named interim director of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital. He replaces Dr. Dean Hendrickson who was promoted to associate dean for Professional Veterinary Medicine at CSU.

The Veterinary Teaching Hospital is the public face of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, which integrates one of the top-ranked U.S. veterinary programs in the nation with nationally recognized programs in biomedical science, infectious disease, cancer research and environmental and radiological health science. The college leads the way in helping animals, people and the planet.

The hospital had 32,000 patient visits in the last fiscal year.

“I strongly believe that these changes are integral to the success of the College – success which is dependent upon on a strong senior leadership team,” said Dr. Mark Stetter, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “Drs. Hackett and Hendrickson are actively engaged in the College’s missions of teaching, research and service, and understand intrinsically the essential role leadership plays in keeping CSU one of the top-notch veterinary teaching programs in the nation.”

Hackett, a professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences, has become a leader in CSU’s Emergency and Critical Care Service and an expert resource for the community on pet First Aid and medical emergencies of companion animals. Under his leadership, the Emergency and Critical Care Service has grown in caseload and service expertise, including a new urgent care service, additional faculty and residency positions and a planned remodel and expansion.

He graduated from CSU with his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1989, and has been practicing emergency and critical care medicine for 22 years. Before becoming a CSU faculty member in 1996, Hackett served as the first Diplomat in Emergency and Critical Care in Southern California.

Hendrickson’s promotion reflects the success in his practice and research specialties.

Hendrickson is a board-certified surgeon specializing in equine surgery and professor in Clinical Sciences. At CSU, he contributed to the development of life-like artificial tissues students use to practice surgical techniques – a technology that has now spun out of the university into a company. Hendrickson has also had the opportunity to work with mega-vertebrates, conducting – with Stetter – surgical birth control to limit elephant overpopulation in parts of Africa. Hendrickson joined the faculty in 1994 from the University of Wisconsin. He replaces Dr. Peter Hellyer in the dean’s office now that Hellyer has returned to his faculty position in Clinical Sciences and clinical position in the Anesthesia and Pain Management Section of the hospital.

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