Directors of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences
Patrick Drew, Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, of Neurosurgery, of Biology, and of Biomedical Engineering, is currently serving the Huck Institutes as Interim Director after having served as Associate Director of the Huck Institutes and Associate Director of the Penn State Neuroscience Institute.
Dr. Drew received his bachelor of science degree in biology from the California Institute of Technology and doctorate in neuroscience from Brandeis University. Following graduation, he spent six years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego before joining the faculty at Penn State as an assistant professor in the departments of Engineering Science and Mechanics, and of Neurosurgery, in 2010.
Troy Ott, Professor of Reproductive Physiology, served the Huck Institutes as Interim Director after having served as Associate Director for Graduate Education from 2015-2023, a position he held until he became the dean of the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences in July 2024.
Dr. Ott is a Penn State alumnus, earning a B.S. in Animal Production in 1984. He obtained a Master's in Reproductive Physiology from Auburn in 1988 and did his PhD work at the University of Florida, graduating in 1992. After several years as a research scientist at Texas A&M, he received his first academic position at the University of Idaho. He came home to Penn State as an Associate Professor in 2006 and was promoted in 2012.
Andrew Read, Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and Entomology and Eberly Professor of Biotechnology, was named Director of the Huck Institutes in 2019 after having served as the Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics. Dr. Read held the position until he was selected to serve as Penn State's Senior Vice President for Research in 2024.
Dr. Read received his BSc(Hons) 1st Class in Zoology from the University of Otago (New Zealand) in 1984. He earned his D.Phil. from the University of Oxford in 1989. He is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of The Royal Society, a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is a recipient of a Scientific Medal from the Zoological Society of London (1999), the Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Naturalists (1991), and the Thomas Henry Huxley Award from the Zoological Society of London (1991).
Peter J. Hudson, Willaman Professor of Biology, was director from 2006 to 2019. Author of more than 200 scientific papers, Dr Hudson has an international reputation in the study of the dynamics of infectious diseases, particularly those that affect wildlife, and in population dynamics.
Dr. Hudson received his DPhil in Zoology from the University of Oxford in 1979. He worked for the Game Conservancy Trust from 1979 to 1995, first as a Research Scientist, then as Upland Research Manager. In 1995, he moved to the University of Stirling as a Reader in Wildlife Epidemiology, and in 1998 was promoted to a Personal Chair in Animal Ecology. In 2002, he accepted the Willaman Chair in Biology at Penn State, where he established the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics.
C. Channa Reddy, Distinguished Professor, was director from 2002 to 2006. Dr Reddy has an international reputation in the field of molecular enzymology, particularly the enzymes associated with the prostaglandin and leukotriene biosynthesis. In 1992, Dr Reddy was elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr Reddy received his doctoral degree in biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1975. After completing his postdoctoral work in the Department of Chemistry at Penn State in 1979, he accepted a research associate position in the Center for Air Environment; he later joined the Department of Veterinary Science (now Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences), becoming distinguished professor in 1991, and Head of the department in 1999. He also has served as director of the Pathobiology Graduate Program, director of the Center for Molecular Toxicology and director of the Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Toxicity Graduate Program.
Nina V. Fedoroff, Willaman Professor of Life Sciences and Evan Pugh Professor of Biology, was director at the Life Sciences Consortium's inception. Author of Mendel in the Kitchen: A Scientist's View of Genetically Modified Foods (2004), Dr Fedoroff is internationally renowned for her work in plant molecular biology and genetics.
Dr Fedoroff earned a bachelor's degree in biology and chemistry, summa cum laude, at Syracuse University in 1966.