Barry A. Ball, professor and John P. Hughes Endowed Chair in Equine Reproduction at the University of California, Davis, accepted the position of the Albert G. Clay Endowed Chair in Equine Reproduction at the University of Kentucky’s Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center. Ball will join the UK Department of Veterinary Science as a faculty member in December.

“The appointment of Dr. Barry Ball to the Albert G. Clay Endowed Chair in Equine Reproduction will help us form a critical mass of researchers in the field of equine reproduction at the Gluck Equine Research Center,” said Mats Troedsson, chair of UK’s Department of Veterinary Science and director of the Gluck Center. “Dr. Ball’s interest, expertise, and research credentials make him a good fit within our group and provide a valuable addition to the horse industry in Kentucky. We are very fortunate to have the support of the Clay family to allow us to recruit internationally-recognized researchers like Dr. Ball to the Gluck Center.”

Ball received his doctorate in veterinary medicine from Cornell University, his doctor in veterinary medicine from the University of Georgia, and did his undergraduate studies in animal science at Virginia Tech. In 1987 he received his board certification as a diplomate in the American College of Theriogenologists, a branch of veterinary medicine concerned with reproduction. He holds veterinary licenses in North Carolina and California. Ball has been a faculty member at UC Davis since 1996.

At UC Davis, Ball’s research in equine reproduction emphasizes gamete biology, fertilization, embryonic development, embryonic loss, and endocrinology. Ball also served as the vice-chair in the department of population health and reproduction from 2005-2006. The Clay Chair, established in 1999, was originally designed to focus on stallion reproduction. When Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome severely impacted Kentucky’s breeding season in 2002, the Gluck Equine Research Foundation board voted to change the focus of the position to neonatal pathology before the focus was changed again and broadened to encompass all equine reproduction research. The current focus of the Clay Chair is to develop a research program that leads to the advancement of knowledge and understanding of equine reproduction as related to biology, physiology, endocrinology, pathology, or immunology