Paul Bowser, professor of aquatic animal medicine at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell, was presented the S.F. Snieszko Distinguished Service Award at the 50th annual Western Fish Disease Workshop and American Fisheries Society (AFS) Fish Health Section Annual Meeting in Utah in early June.

The award is the highest award from the AFS Fish Health Section and is a career achievement award for service and contributions to the field of aquatic animal health.

"Paul has served in the highest offices and many other committees of the Fish Health Section," said Ronald P. Hedrick, professor at the University of California-Davis. "He is a major player in fish health nationally and internationally and continues in that capacity as a leader in major disease issues in the northeast."

Bowser coordinates the activities of the Aquatic Animal Health Program at the Vet College and serves as the associate director of the AQUAVET Program, a joint educational program in aquatic veterinary medicine that is sponsored by the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Vet College at Cornell. Prior to joining Cornell in 1985, Bowser held faculty positions at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State University and at the Bodega Marine Laboratory of the University of California-Davis.

Bowser's research has focused on parasitic, bacterial and viral diseases of fish; tumor biology in fish; evaluation of new therapeutic compounds in fish; and emerging diseases of fish. Most recently his laboratory group has been heavily involved in the investigation of viral hemorrhagic septicemia that has been found in a wide diversity of fish species in the Great Lakes Basin.

He received his B.S. from Cornell, M.S. from Iowa State University and Ph.D. from Auburn University.