“Genomics and the global beef cattle industry"

E. John Pollak, PhD.
Director
U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, Clay Center, NE
United States

Dr. Pollak was appointed as Center Director of the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in January 2010.  He received his B.S. degree in Animal Science from Cornell University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Animal Breeding from Iowa State University in 1973 and 1975, respectively.  Dr. Pollak started his career in 1975 as an Assistant Professor in the Animal Science Department at the University of California in Davis, California.  He completed a 29+ year career at Cornell University holding the rank of professor in the Animal Science Department, and division leader of the animal breeding group.  He currently is an Emeritus Professor at Cornell University and an Adjunct Professor at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Dr. Pollak was the first Director of the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium (NBCEC) where he led the development of programs and projects, fostered interactions among researchers, organized multidisciplinary research teams, built coalitions with industry partners, and conducted research.  Dr. Pollak currently leads the Scientific Organizing Committee of the World Congress on Genetics as Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP) in planning the 2014 International meeting and has served as a member for two terms (eight years) on the international committee and as the organization’s president for one term.  He was the international advisor to the Queensland province funded project, SmartGene, on DNA technology based selection tools and currently serves as an advisor on the Industry and Scientific Advisory Committee of the Livestock Gentec Centre, located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.