Oliver Garden, BVetMed, PhD, FHEA, FCPP, FRCVS, DACVIM, DECVIM-CA
​Founder & President

Dr. Oliver Garden, the Kenneth Burns Endowed Chair in Veterinary Medicine and Dean of the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine is the Founder and Chair of the Executive Board of the Veterinary and Comparative Clinical Immunology Society. He is a Board-certified internist with a PhD in clinical immunology and gastroenterology. Alongside his administrative and clinical responsibilities, he is also the Principal Investigator of the Garden Immune Regulation Laboratory, which has expertise in two key areas: (1) the biology of regulatory cells of lymphoid and myeloid origin in the context of the cancer microenvironment and autoimmune disease, particularly myasthenia gravis, immune-mediated hemolytic anemia, and other hematological immune-mediated diseases; and (2) the development of antigen-specific vaccinal and cellular immunotherapies for antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases, including myasthenia gravis and autoimmune encephalitis. Previously a member of the Comparative Physiology & Medicine and Infection & Immunity research themes at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), University of London, Oliver led the Oncology Special Interest Group until December 2016, when he moved to Penn Vet.  He currently holds a Visiting Professorship at the RVC and recently became the Dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in August 2021. (Board term ends 2026)