Cummings Joins Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences

Dr. Kevin Cummings, formerly of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, recently joined the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences at the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (CVM) as an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology.

After graduating with his DVM from Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine in 1996, Cummings went into private practice for five years as a mixed and small animal veterinarian in New York and Virginia.  In 2002 he returned to Cornell as an instructor, running a series of six courses including Public Health and Preventive Medicine.  While teaching at Cornell, he was twice nominated for the Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association Teaching Excellence Award.  In addition to teaching, he became a Graduate Research Assistant in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences in 2006.  He received his PhD in Population Medicine and Epidemiology from Cornell University in 2010.

His primary research interests include pre-harvest food safety (in particular the epidemiology of Salmonella and other foodborne pathogens), zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and hospital biosecurity.  In his new position, he will mentor many students in his own lab and will teach both veterinary students and graduate students in the classroom.

"I am very excited to join the team at the CVM," explains Cummings.  "I am looking forward to a collegial and exciting work environment where I can develop my research program, collaborate across disciplines, teach students, and grow professionally.  I know this opportunity will be ideal for accomplishing these goals."

When Cummings is not in his office, lab, or the classroom, he enjoys birding and spending time outdoors with his wife Jodi, and he is an avid baseball fan.