Editor's Note: Please click on link to view or download high-resolution photograph of Joseph Silva.

January 18, 2006

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Former UC Davis School of Medicine Dean Joseph Silva has joined the ranks of expert civilian physicians and scientists serving on the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, an 18-member committee providing advice to the Department of Defense on the prevention and control of diseases and injuries among military men and women.

Silva, who led the medical school at UC Davis until last year, will serve on a subcommittee focusing on infectious disease prevention and control. Before becoming dean in 1997, Silva spent 14 years as a professor and chair of the university's internal medicine department, where he specialized in infectious and immunologic diseases.

“I am very honored to serve as a member of this important committee,” said Silva. “Much of my medical career has focused on the study and treatment of infectious disease, and I hope to contribute insights from research and experience that will help protect the nation's health.”

Established at the beginning of World War II, the board had its origins in the military's need to control influenza and other epidemic diseases. Since that time, the panel's efforts have helped advance medical science and health for the entire nation. Silva indicated that one of his areas of focus would be on the avian flu threat, which is causing worldwide concern because of its potential to become a deadly pandemic.

Among his many accomplishments, Silva has published more than 150 peer-reviewed medical articles, 19 book chapters and 103 medical abstracts. A graduate of Northwestern University Medical School, he also served as a major in the United States Air Force Medical Corps and was honorably discharged as a disabled veteran.

During Silva's tenure as dean, research funding for UC Davis School of Medicine more than doubled, from $44 million to more than $100 million by 2003. He also oversaw substantial growth in the areas of vascular disease, infectious diseases and neuroscience research efforts at the school.

Silva's appointment is for a two-year term on the Armed Forces board. He joins six other physicians on the subcommittee: Francis A. Ennis (University of Massachusetts), Gregory C. Gray (University of Iowa College of Public Health), John Glen Morris, Jr. (University of Maryland School of Medicine), Michael N. Oxman (Veterans Administration Medical Center, San Diego), Michael D. Parkinson (Lumenos) and Gregory A. Poland (Mayo Vaccine Research Group).