On January 1, 2020, Dr. Diego Diel assumed the position of Director of the Virology Laboratory at the AHDC. Dr. Diel succeeds Dr. Ed Dubovi who has directed the laboratory with great distinction since 1981.
 
Dr. Diel obtained his DVM, and MS and PHD degrees in virology from the Federal University of Santa Maria in Brazil and has been a visiting scholar, instructor, and postdoctoral research associate at the Department of Pathobiology of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as a postdoctoral research microbiologist in the Exotic and Emerging Avian Viral Diseases Research Unit of the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, Georgia. He joined the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine July 1, 2019 as Associate Professor after serving as Assistant Professor and Section Leader of Virology at the Animal Disease Research Diagnostic Laboratory at South Dakota State University in Brookings.
 
Dr. Diels’s research interests include understanding the molecular mechanisms of viral immune evasion that contribute to virus virulence and disease pathogenesis with the goal of translating this basic knowledge into improved vaccines or vaccine vectors for disease prevention and control. He furthermore works on diagnostic assay development and livestock feed biosecurity.
 
Please welcome Dr. Diego Diel in his new position.