Bringing Together Disease Diagnosis and National Education

Jesse Hostetter, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVP, in the Department of Veterinary Pathology, teaches “Emerging and Exotic Diseases of Animals – Remembering the Zebras”,a national web-based continuing education course for veterinarians offered through the Veterinary Information Network (VIN). This is the first class of its kind currently being taught in the United States. Dr. Hostetter uses a systems approach with this web-based course to review the major exotic and emerging animal diseases (vesicular diseases, BSE, AI, etc.) focusing attention to the clinical signs and gross lesions of these diseases in various species and the role of the practitioner and other professionals in responding to their presence. Major emphasis is placed on including exotic diseases in the differential diagnosis of various clinical presentations and the importance of laboratory support for the diagnosis of both “horses and zebras”. This course was developed by faculty from Iowa State University Center for Food Security and Public Health (CFSPH), University of California, Davis, and University of Georgia, and reviewed by subject experts. USDA APHIS personnel collaborated on the project. A faculty member from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Prince Edward Island added an overview module, as well. Funding for development of this course came from the USDA CSREES Higher Education Challenge Grant Program in 2000.

In addition, Dr. Steve Sorden, formerly in the department, and Dr. Aaron Lehmkuhl, graduate student and USDA-APHIS Veterinary Medical Officer, are currently working on another USDA CSREES Higher Education Challenge Grant project in collaboration with Dr. Claire Andreasen, Department of Veterinary Pathology; Dr. James Roth, Director of the Center for Food Security and Public Health (CFSPH); the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP); and DHS-USDA-Plum Island Infectious Animal Disease Center (PIADC) to use pathology images to illustrate a foreign animal, emerging and zoonotic disease web-based resource. http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/DiseaseInfo/factsheets.htm

Dr. Holly Bender, associate professor of veterinary pathology, has received the 2004 National Carl J. Norden-Pfizer Distinguished Teacher Award from the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges. The award recognizes outstanding instructors who contribute significantly to the advancement of the profession of veterinary medicine through their ability, dedication, character and leadership. Dr. Bender was selected by a committee of peers from a group of nominees from each of the 28 veterinary colleges in the United States.  Dr. Bender led the development of Diagnostic Pathfinder, an innovative clinical instructional software tool. The software teaches students a methodology for diagnostic reasoning and instructs them to gather and analyze laboratory data before arriving at a diagnosis.

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Dr. Amanda Fales-Williams, assistant professor of veterinary pathology, received the Iowa State University Foundation Award for Early Achievement in Teaching which recognizes a tenured or tenure-track faculty member who has demonstrated outstanding teaching performance unusually early in his or her professional career.  Dr. Fales-Williams has made skillful and creative use of computer technology to bring more experiential and real-world learning into her courses in the senior clinical pathology rotation and necropsy rotation. She is a collaborator on two federally funded projects to develop Web sites for teaching histopathology. Her research involves educational learning and assessment, antimicrobial peptides and pulmonary pathology. She is a diplomate with the American College of Veterinary Pathologists.

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Biomedical Informatics Research Group

Click on the image  to read about the article from the Spring 2003 issue.

The Biomedical Informatics Research Group (BIRG) is a multi-disciplinary group of researchers dedicated to the improvement of medical education through scholarly research and software development. The Director of the BIRG is Dr. Holly Bender, a recognized expert in veterinary clinical pathology who has received 16 teaching awards in the past 14 years. Other members of the group include: Drs. Jared Danielson, Rick Mills, and Pamela Vermeer. This group directs the continued development of the Diagnostic Pathfinder, a novel computer-based learning tool that helps veterinary students acquire diagnostic problem solving skills. The Pathfinder is the first software program of its type in medical education and is now in use at Iowa State University. In addition, the Pathfinder is implemented in partnership with BIRG at three other colleges of veterinary medicine in North America: the University of Wisconsin, the University of California at Davis and the University of Guelph. Since 1998, BIRG has generated in excess of $1.78 million in grant funding with $1.24 million from the Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnership, and $180,000 from two USDA Higher Education Challenge Grants. The BIRG brought $1.1 million in funding to Iowa State when recruited from their previous institution. The BIRG will continue to seek funding for research and development that informs and improves educational practice in both human and veterinary medicine, and related fields.

Global Parasitology Research Group

Leishmania are protozoan parasites that cause leishmaniasis in human beings and dogs that vary in severity and can be fatal. There has been a lack of success in developing effective anti-protozoal disease prevention and treatment strategies. Drs. Jeff Beetham, Doug Jones, and Christine Petersen are working to determine how the parasite survives the immune response; identify and characterize novel proteins or other macromolecules involved in parasite resistance; and determine the mechanisms by which genes required for infection undergo regulated and differential expression. The goal is an increased understanding of immune-modulation and systems that can be used for vaccination strategies or to alter the host immune response.

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Infectious Disease Research-Paratuberculosis/Mycobacteriosis Laboratory.Dr. Jesse Hostetter in collaboration with USDA NADC studies the immunopathogenesis of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (Johne’s disease) in cattle. These studies involve characterizing why initial protective immunity breaks down during clinical disease, how the organism survives and multiplies in immune cells, and the use of novel compounds with antimycobacterial properties. These studies have led to a provisional patent (in collaboration with Dr. G. Krauss), and developing a new dendritic cell based assay for detection of Johne’s disease in asymptomatic cattle.

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J. G. Salsbury Endowed Chair

Infectious Disease and Innate Immunity Laboratory

Dr. Mark R. Ackermann is a pathologist with research interest in respiratory disease. He was part of a team that identified the molecular defect and characterized the pathology of bovine leukocyte adhesion deficiency (BLAD) in Holstein cattle. The findings resulted in a dramatic decrease in the incidence of BLAD and Ackermann and others of the team were awarded the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer Award for this work in 1996. Dr. Ackermann has studied the mechanistic basis for inflammation-induced damage as well as innate immunity of respiratory diseases of poultry, swine, cattle and sheep. His work with Mannheimiahemolytica, an important pathogen in shipping fever of cattle and sheep, along with his work with BLAD, resulted in his receipt of the Research Excellence Award by the American Veterinary Medical Foundation in 2002. Dr. Ackermann currently holds the J.G. Salsbury Endowed Chair at Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. He teaches Molecular Pathology courses, serves on necropsy and surgical pathology rotations, is director of graduate education, and is professor-in-charge of the image analysis/confocal facility at ISU.

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Graduate students have been recipients of NIH KO8 Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Awards

PhD students in the Department of Veterinary Pathology have received KO8 Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Awards from the National Institutes of Health. These awards have included research of models for diseases that affect human beings and animals and include: methods to understand respiratorysyncytial virus (RSV), the most common cause of respiratory disease leading to hospitalization in children; cell function in mycobacterial infection, an intestinal disease in cattle (Johne’s disease) caused by Mycobacteriumavium subsp. paratuberculosis as a model for intracellular bacterial persistence; integrating molecular and advanced technology in parasitic diseases important to global and public health; and the effect of the mucosal barrier on Shiga toxin absorption from Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection, which results in hemolytic anemia, renal failure, and thrombocytopenia that is a potentially fatal complication, predominantly in young children and the elderly as a food borne illness.

Dr. Branka Grubor and Dr. David Meyerholz both completed residency/PhD training in the Department of Veterinary Pathology and received the 2005 and 2004 Harold W. Casey Award, respectively, which is given nationally to one pathology graduate student for outstanding individual training in pathology for board-certification with high motivation and academic excellence. In addition, they both received the 2005 C.L. Davis Award as a resident/graduate student who has displayed superior scholarship, leadership, research, and diagnostic skills. It is the first time an institution’s graduate students have received these awards 2 years in a row.

Pathology Laboratories

The surgical Biopsy Service, Parasite Diagnostic Service, Clinical Pathology Laboratory, and Necropsy Service are in one unit, the Pathology Laboratories. These laboratories provide diagnostic services for the Veterinary Medical Center and for veterinary practices in Iowa and over 15 other states. These services link outreach, teaching and research by providing real life cases for veterinary and graduate students that are vital to the learning experience.

United States National Academy of Sciences Member

Dr. Harley W. Moon (1936 - ) DVM, PhD, Diplomate American College of Veterinary Pathologists, retired. Dr. Moon is the former Frank K. Ramsey Chair of Veterinary Medicine. He is internationally recognized for his research on mechanisms of intestinal infections of humans and animals. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences on the basis of his research on mechanisms of intestinal colonization by Escherichiacoli and on the development of vaccines to prevent such colonization in newborn pigs and calves. Prior to joining the Department he was Director of the U.S. Department of Agricultures Plum Island Animal Disease Laboratory and National Animal Disease Center. He was a research scientist at the National Animal Disease Center and collaborator-adjunct professor in the Department from 1972 to 1996. He has also served on the faculty of the colleges of Veterinary Medicine at the Ohio State University, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Minnesota. He was awarded honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Zurich and the University of Liege.

His activities in the National Academy of Sciences have included: Chair, Section 61, Applied Biology; Member, Class VI membership Committee for Agriculture and Applied Biology; Chair and Member of the Nominating Committee for Councilors and Officers. Dr. Moon's activities in the National Research Council (NRC-the research report writing and advisory arm of the National Academy of Sciences) have included membership on the study committees on Eradication of Bovine Tuberculosis, Ensuring Safe Food and Chair of the Committee on Agricultural Bioterrorism. He served as a Member of the NRC Panel on Animal Health and Veterinary Medicine and as a Member and Chair of the NRC Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Dr. Moon has served the American College of Veterinary Pathologists as Chair of the Education Committee, Member and Chair of the Examining Committee, Editorial Board Member and Associate Editor for the journal Veterinary Pathology, Council Member, and President of the College.

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2002 American Food Industry Association Research Award

Dr. Norman Frederick Cheville, DVM, MS, PhD, Diplomate American College of Veterinary Pathologists, retired.  Dr. Cheville was Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University (2000-2004). He received the DVM degree from Iowa State University (1959), and MS (1963) and PhD (1964) degrees from the University of Wisconsin. In 1968, he did a sabbatical study at the National Institute for Medical Research, London, studying under Anthony Allison. The honorary doctorate degree Doctor Honoris Causa was conferred by the University of Liége in 1986 for outstanding work in veterinary pathology. Dr. Cheville began his work at the Army Biological Laboratory, Fort Detrick, Maryland, in the Veterinary Corps of the U.S. Army, 1959-61. After 3 years as research associate at the University of Wisconsin under Dr. Carl Olsen, he moved to the National Animal Disease Center as Chief of Pathology Research 1964-89, and later as chief of Brucellosis Research Unit, 1989-1995, during which he led the team that developed a new vaccine for bovine brucellosis. Appointed chair of the Veterinary Pathology department at Iowa State University in 1995, Dr. Cheville taught the introductory course General Pathology in the veterinary curriculum. He was a Principle Investigator for the National Academy of Sciences study, Brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone Area (1998). Current research interests are paratuberculosis in cattle, and a National Research Council study on Dynamics of Ungulates of the Northern Range. Dr. Cheville has been Secretary Treasurer and President of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, President of the Conference of Research Workers in Animal Disease, and Editor of the scientific journal Veterinary Pathology. His honors include: Distinguished Professor, Iowa State University, 2000, Pfizer Excellence in Bovine Research Award, American Veterinary Medical Foundation, 1999; Distinguished Member, American College of Veterinary Pathologists, 1999; Outstanding Achievement Award, USDA, 1991; Distinguished Scientist Award, ARS, USDA, 1990; and the Alumni Merit Award, Iowa State University for "Outstanding contributions to human welfare & professional accomplishment" 1978. Dr. Cheville has published over 200 papers and 7 books, including Ultrastructural Pathology, Introduction to Veterinary Pathology, and Cellular Pathology. Recently, he received the 'The 2002 American Feed Industry Association Research Award' for outstanding contributions to support the livestock industry.