Qualls Named Distinguished Alumnus

Friday, September 21, 2018

Charles Qualls, DVM, Ph.D., DACVP, was recently named a 2018 Distinguished Alumnus by the Alumni Society of Oklahoma State University’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences. Qualls of Thousand Oaks, Calif., earned his DVM degree from Oklahoma State University in 1973. In 1980, he earned a PhD in Comparative Pathology while concurrently completing a residency in Veterinary Pathology from the University of California, Davis. In 1982, Qualls became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists.

Qualls spent the majority of his career in academia with faculty appointments at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, and at Oklahoma State University where he attained the rank of professor. His work focused on toxicologic pathology. He has authored or co-authored more than 90 peer reviewed publications and made numerous scientific presentations as well as mentoring many young pathologists.

In 1999, Qualls joined GlaxoWelcome as a senior principal pathologist and advanced to positions of project director/pathologist and director of molecular and ultrastructural pathology. In 2005, he joined Amgen, Inc., as executive director.

At Amgen, Qualls built a department of investigative toxicology focusing efforts on de-risking early stage molecules using cutting edge, often novel technologies. The department’s focus was on changing the drug development paradigm toward relevant, predictive in vitro models. He retired in 2014. Shortly after, Qualls formed Qualls Preclinical Solutions, LLC, and today consults in relation to drug safety.

Throughout his career, Qualls was involved in numerous professional committees including the International Health and Environmental Sciences Institute’s Technical Committee on the Application of Genomics to Mechanism Based Risk Assessment. He has also been active in several organizations including the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, Society of Toxicologic Pathologists, Society of Toxicology, American Veterinary Medical Association, the Charles Louis Davis DVM Foundation and the International Society of Ecosystem Health to name a few.

Qualls will be honored at the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award Luncheon hosted by OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences on Friday, Oct. 12, at 11:30 a.m. in the Wes Watkins Center located on the OSU Stillwater campus. Tickets are $36 each and may be purchased through the center’s alumni affairs office at 405-744-5630.