Christopher W Olsen
Department of Pathobiological Sciences
Office: 2268
Education
- Interim Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, UW-Madison
- BS 1979, St. Lawrence University
- DVM 1982, Cornell University
- PhD 1992, Cornell University
- Postdoctoral Fellowship 1995, University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Dr. Olsen was the recipient of the 1996 Norden Distinguished Teacher Award and the 2005 Walter F. Renk Distinguished Professor Award from the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine.
Research
Dr. Olsen's research career at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine spanned 1992-2012 and was devoted to issues of influenza virus molecular epidemiology and pathogenesis. In particular, his lab's work contributed to the understanding of zoonotic infections with swine influenza viruses, the molecular evolution of influenza viruses in pigs, and aspects of influenza virus infection of respiratory epithelial cells (including creation of an in vitro differentiated respiratory epithelial cell model system). Upon accepting a campus-wide administrative position in 2012, he discontinued his active research program. During his research career, he published 60 referreed research papers, 86 research abstracts, and multiple book chapters and proceedings papers. He was an invited speaker at conferences throughout Northa America, Central America, Europe, Africa and Asia. His lab was awarded $1.9 million in external competitive grants and Dr. Olsen was co-investigoator on over $4 million in other grants.
Responsibilities
Dr. Olsen became a professor of public health in the School of Veterinary Medicine in 1995, after a three-year post-doctoral fellowship under Dr. Virginia Hinshaw. He was named Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in October, 2006. In this role, he managed a team of staff in the Office of Academic Affairs that are responsible for admissions to the DVM program, curriculum and other academic affairs issues, continuing veterinary medical education, and student affairs. Dr. Olsen is also a senior advisor to the UW-Madison Center for Global Health and a program faculty member in the UW-Madison Master of Public Health degree program. In September 2012 he was tapped to become Interim Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning for the entire UW-Madison campus.
Graduate Training
During Dr. Olsen's research career he served as the primary mentor for three PhD students, two post-doctoral fellows, was a graduate program committee member for 22 MS or PhD students, mentored 11 DVM students and one MD student on research projects, and mentored 14 MPH students on their pulic health field projects.
Recent Publications
Crawford, P.C., E.J. Dubovi, W.L. Castleman, I. Stephenson, E.P. Gibbs, L. Chen, C. Smith, R.C. Hill, P. Ferro, J. Pompey, R.A. Bright, M..J. Medina, C.M. Johnson, C.W. Olsen, N.J. Cox, A.I. Klimov, J.M. Katz, and R.O. Donis. 2005. Transmission of equine influenza virus to dogs. Science 310:482-4
Bateman, A.C., M.G. Busch, A.I. Karasin, N. Bovin, and C.W. Olsen. 2008. Amino acid 226 in the hemagglutinin of H4N6 influenza virus determines binding affinity for 2,6-linked sialic acid and infectivity levels in primary swine and human respiratory epithelial cells. Journal of Virology 82:8
Bateman, A.C., R. Karamanska, M.G. Busch, A. Dell, C.W. Olsen and S.M. Haslam. 2010. Glycan analysis and influenza A virus infection of primary swine respiratory epithelial cells. The importance of NeuAca2-6 glycans. Journal of Biological Chemistry 44:34016-34026.
Bateman, A.C., M.G. Busch, A.I. Karasin, and C.W. Olsen. 2012. Infectivity phenotypes of H3N2 influenza A viruses in primary swine respiratory epithelial cells are controlled by sialic acid binding. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, published online February 21, 2012, DOI: 10.1111/j.17
Bateman, A.C., A.I. Karasin, and C.W. Olsen. 2012. Differentiated swine airway epithelial cultures for the investigation of influenza A virus infection and replication. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, published online April 24, 2012, DOI: 10.1111/j.1750-2659.2012.00371.x