Kent Pinkerton holds joint appointments in the School of Medicine and School of Veterinary Medicine, and Director of the Center for Health and the Environment. He studies the health effects of environmental air pollutants on lung structure and function and the interaction of gases and airborne particles within specific sites and cell populations of the lungs in acute and chronic lung injury. He also researches the effects of environmental tobacco smoke on lung growth and development.

Dr. Pinkerton has received many honors and awards including  the University of California Distinguished Teaching Citation (2008), Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award, School of Veterinary Medicine (2006) and the School of Veterinary Medicine Favorite Teacher Award (Class of 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003). In 2010, he was a Visiting Professor at Nanjing Medical University, China. He completed his Ph.D. degree in Pathology at Duke University.