Linda Lowenstine (D.V.M., 1973; Ph.D., Comparative Pathology, 1983), professor in the Department of Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, is being recognized with the 2009 Alumni Achievement Award for her contributions to the advancement of comparative pathology in nondomestic animal species.

Lowenstine, who earned both a D.V.M. degree in 1973 and a Ph.D. in comparative pathology in 1983 from UC Davis, is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists. She was a postgraduate research pathologist for the California Regional Primate Research Center from 1978 to 1981, when she joined the faculty of the School of Veterinary Medicine. She served for two years (1994–96) as director of pathology for the San Diego Zoo, where she helped to establish the joint UC Davis-San Diego Zoo pathology residency program, now recognized as one of the best of its kind.

Lowenstine is considered one of the world's leading experts in zoo and wildlife pathology. Her distinguished scholarship has been fundamental in establishing pathology as a cornerstone of wildlife conservation and disease management. Her research studies have contributed to the knowledge of pathology, pathogenesis and the natural history of spontaneous diseases of captive and free-living wildlife, particularly marine mammals, nonhuman primates, and birds.

Her investigations into spontaneous diseases affecting macaques helped lead to the discovery of simian AIDS viruses; subsequent research showed that these viruses also occur in a variety zoo-housed and wild primates. Her long-term study of mortality in mountain and lowland gorillas aims to better understand diseases and improve the management of free-ranging and captive populations. In her role as histopathologist and scientific advisor to the California Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, she has maintained a 30-year collection of post-mortem data on marine mammals. She and her colleagues have identified and described many of the major diseases affecting pinnipeds in coastal California, including the pathogenesis and immunology of herpesvirus infection of California sea lions. As pathologist and advisor to the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, she has provided critical data about diseases transmissible between humans and mountain gorillas that ultimately led to changes in regional ecotourism policies. For many years she has been pathology advisor for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Taxon Advisory Group for Great Apes, providing critical data that contribute a scientific basis for setting new standards for the care of apes in zoological collections. She was elected a fellow of the Zoological Society of San Diego in 1997.

She has served as coordinator and chair of the annual Primate Pathology Workshop and is co-organizer and chair of the annual Wildlife Pathology Workshop for the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians (AAZV). The workshops are unique educational programs that often provide young zoo and wildlife pathologists their first opportunity to give a scientific presentation. She has taught or mentored 27 graduate students and numerous pathology residents.

Lowenstine is a member of the Working Group on Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events for the Office of Protected Resources of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. She is also pathology advisor for the AZA Species Survival Plans for gorillas, orangutans, bonobos and common chimpanzees, thick-billed parrots and Sumatran rhinos.

She received the 2008 Duane Ullrey Achievement Award from the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians for contributions to the science of zoo and wild animal health and service to the AAZV.