Gaspar A. Farkas has been named associate dean for academic and student affairs in the School of Public Health and Health Professions.

He succeeds Dale Fish, associate professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and senior associate dean for academic and student affairs, who retired on Jan. 2.

Farkas, an associate professor in the school’s Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences (ENS), has been a member of the UB faculty since 1994. He has served in a number of administrative positions, including as ENS interim chair and associate chair for graduate studies.

He holds a PhD in experimental medicine from McGill University, with postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia and Erasmus University in Brussels, Belgium. He conducted research in the Mayo Clinic’s Thoracic Research Unit from 1987-94.

His research and publications address respiratory muscle mechanics, obstructive sleep apnea, obesity, central control of ventilation and exercise.