Pedro Villegas-Narváez
AAAP Hall of Honor

Born in Líbano, Tolima, Colombia in 1943, Pedro Villegas obtained his Veterinary degree from the Universidad del Tolima in Colombia in 1967. He completed his Master’s degree at Texas A&M University in 1971 under the direction of Dr. Charles Hall and his PhD at The University of Georgia in 1975 under the direction of Dr. Stanley Kleven.  He is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiology (ACVM) and charter member of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians (ACPV).  He holds honorary degrees from the University of Tolima, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and Universidad Mayor de San Marcos (Lima, Perú).  From the American Association of Avian Pathologists (AAAP), he has received three awards: Special Service Award in 2003, Poultry Research Award in 2007, and the Lasher-Bottorf award in 2010.  In 1999 he received the Inventor Award from the University of Georgia for the discovery of the VG/GA (Villegas-Glisson/Georgia) vaccine strain of Newcastle disease.  In 2013 he was elected to the Hall of Honor of the World Veterinary Poultry Association.
He started working in his native country at the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) and in 1977 he moved to The University of Georgia.  During his tenure at Georgia he mentored numerous graduate students at the Master and PhD levels.  His main work has been in the area of avian virology and control of poultry diseases.  He has published close to 100 peer reviewed articles covering different avian viruses.  He has given near 300 presentations in 56 different countries.  He founded and was editor during 14 years of Avicultura Professional (Professional Poultry) a quarterly trade publication edited in Spanish with circulation in LatinAmerica.  He translated all the summaries for Avian Diseases for nearly 20 years.  At the University of Georgia, he has organized nine times the International Seminar in Poultry Pathology and Production, held every 4 years in Spanish language and attended by Veterinarians from all Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries.
With his wife Angela they have two sons (and one daughter, and is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia and consultant for major poultry companies.