Paul S. Cooke received a Ph.D. in Physiology in 1983 from the University of California-Berkeley. Following an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California-San Francisco, in 1987 he joined the Department of Veterinary Biosciences at the University of Illinois, where he rose to the rank of full professor. In 2004, Dr. Cooke was named the Billie A. Field Endowed Chair in Reproductive Biology, the first endowed chair in the history of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. He served as the Field Chair from 2004 to 2011, when he moved to the University of Florida to take the position of chair of the Department of Physiological Sciences. He served in this position from 2011 to 2021, and is now a professor in the department.