Purdue toxicologist is new Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory director
Stephen B. Hooser, a Purdue comparative pathobiology professor, succeeds Leon Thacker who has been the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL) director for the past 23 years. Thacker, also a comparative pathobiology professor, is remaining at the laboratory as a diagnostic pathologist and will return to teaching Purdue veterinary classes.
(Media-Newswire.com) - WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The head of the Toxicology Section of the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory has been named the new director of the state office, which is located on the Purdue University campus. Stephen B. Hooser, a Purdue comparative pathobiology professor, succeeds Leon Thacker who has been the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory ( ADDL ) director for the past 23 years. Thacker, also a comparative pathobiology professor, is remaining at the laboratory as a diagnostic pathologist and will return to teaching Purdue veterinary classes.
In making a joint announcement of Hooser's appointment with School of Veterinary Medicine Dean Willie Reed, Jay Akridge, interim dean of the Purdue College of Agriculture, said Thacker has set the bar high at the laboratory.
"Dr. Leon Thacker has transformed the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory into one of the premier veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the United States, known for its many contributions to the advancement of diagnostic medicine," Akridge said. "We thank him for his exemplary leadership."
The College of Agriculture is responsible for the management of the ADDL, and the veterinarians on its staff are members of the veterinary school's faculty. Akridge and Reed both expressed confidence that Hooser will successfully meet the challenges of the directorship.
"We are confident that Dr. Hooser will work with both ADDL faculty and staff to continue the facility's outstanding service to the animal owners in Indiana," Reed said. "He is committed to career development of staff and faculty and continuous quality improvement of the laboratory's work."
Hooser has been a Purdue faculty member and head of the ADDL Toxicology Section since 1994. He was promoted to full professor in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology last month.
"I'm honored to be appointed to this important position in a facility that has the task to diagnose animal diseases, thereby protecting the health of animals, both large and small, and people," Hooser said. "The laboratory's work is even more crucial now than in the past because of emerging and re-emerging diseases, and the ability for potentially dangerous illnesses to be carried globally more rapidly than ever."
A number of diseases can be contracted by both people and animals, he said. Some of these illnesses have the potential to become pandemics or be used as biological weapons that would threaten domestic animals and humans.
In the past seven years, ADDL faculty and staff have recognized, diagnosed and, in collaboration with the Indiana Board of Animal Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, prevented the spread of two exotic animal diseases that appeared in Indiana. The ADDL is an important protection against such catastrophes.
"As part of its disease diagnosis mission, ADDL also teaches veterinary and veterinary technician students and veterinary pathology residents," Hooser said. "In addition to teaching and clinical diagnosis of diseases, the ADDL faculty and staff contribute to development of new diagnostic tests to further safeguard Indiana and the country."
Hooser earned his bachelor's degree at Eastern Illinois University and a second bachelor's degree at the University of Illinois where he also earned his doctor of veterinary medicine, master's degree and doctorate. He completed postdoctoral work at the University of Arizona and TNO Food and Nutrition Research in Zeist, The Netherlands. He is certified by the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology.
The Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory identifies illness in livestock, poultry, companion animals and wildlife and conducts animal blood tests under federally mandated disease programs such as brucellosis, pseudorabies, bird flu and mad cow disease.
The facility is under joint jurisdiction of the State Board of Animal Health and Purdue's board of trustees and was established at Purdue in 1945 as one of the first buildings in the country dedicated to veterinary diagnostics. A branch laboratory is located at the Southern Indiana Purdue Agricultural Center ( SIPAC ) in Dubois County.
Writer: Susan A. Steeves, ( 765 ) 496-7481, ssteeves@purdue.edu
Sources: Stephen Hooser, ( 765 ) 494-7440, shooser1@purdue.edu
Leon Thacker, ( 765 ) 494-7440, thackerl@purdue.edu
Jay Akridge, ( 765 ) 494-8391, akridge@purdue.edu
Willie Reed, ( 765 ) 494-7608, wreed@purdue.edu
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