Ken Burtis received his UC Davis undergraduate degree in 1976, thinking he would go to Stanford Medical School and become a doctor.

"I was a pre-med with such a total focus on getting into med school that I neglected to think much about whether I really wanted to become a physician," Burtis said, "and it took my arrival at med school to make me realize that I didn't."

He stayed at Stanford, but studied biochemistry instead. He received a doctorate, did postdoctoral work at Stanford, and returned to Davis at the first opportunity.

The year was 1988, and Burtis had a choice between positions at Harvard Medical School or Davis. He said the decision was easy: "Having been an undergraduate here, the whole campus feels like home to me."

He started as a genetics professor and later became associate director of the Genome Center. On Aug. 1, he became interim dean of the new College of Biological Sciences.

"One of the biggest differences I've noticed is that when doing research you tend to focus very hard on one problem at one time," Burtis said. "That's the nature of doing research. As dean, there are so many issues that you're constantly required to jump from one topic to another."

His new job requires a greater time commitment, but Burtis said he has still managed to continue with his rather unusual hobby: endurance horseback riding.

The "extreme sport," as Burtis described it, involves competing against other riders along 50- to 100-mile courses that can take a day or more to complete.

Burtis and his wife, Lindy, who introduced him to the sport, participate in the grueling races once a month. For their last ride, in late October, the couple trekked 100 miles over the Nevada desert over two days. Unfortunately, he said, his added responsibilities have detracted from his training time.

"That weekend," he said, "the horse was prepared but the dean was not."

During a typical day as dean, Burtis might handle such diverse tasks as meet with Provost Virginia Hinshaw, write a letter of recommendation for a student, work with the Stem Cell Advisory Board, attend a meeting about the proposed neuroscience building, and host a weekly "Dinner with the Dean" at the Segundo dining commons.

"It's a very time consuming job," Burtis said. "I now have a great appreciation for the job deans do."

Burtis is not swallowed up by administrative work, though. He said he still makes time for his genetic research on Drosophila, a genus of small flies. In particular, he studies DNA repair in the flies. "Every cell in the body is accumulating hundreds of mutations a day," Burtis said. "If those weren't repaired, it'd be bad news."

Burtis said his research is particularly applicable to aging — which is essentially an accumulation of DNA damage – and cancer, which can be caused by certain malfunctions in genetic code.

Burtis also makes time for his undergraduate students. He employs several in his lab, and this quarter he is teaching a freshman seminar called University 101 -- to help students understand how the campus functions.

"I'm probably the only dean teaching a freshman seminar," he joked.

Burtis is due to remain interim dean until the conclusion of a national search for a permanent dean. Burtis said has not decided whether he will apply.

If you had not entered the genetics field, what would you be doing instead?

Well, I dropped out of medical school after one week, so I might have been in medicine if I'd stuck it out. Who knows?

What are the best and most challenging parts of your job?

I like it when I can solve a problem, whether it's a research problem or a budget problem.

The most challenging part?

Insoluble problems.

Read any good books lately?

The (campus) book project, The Kite Runner. I started it around 9 one night, thinking I should take a look at it because the chancellor's retreat was coming up. I stayed up all night reading it; I couldn't put it down. I thought it was great.

What's your guilty pleasure?

Eating a whole carton of Cherry Garcia ice cream. I've got a sweet tooth.