Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine has brought a leader in veterinary pathology to the university.

Harley W. Moon has been appointed as ISU’s first Frank K. Ramsey Endowed Chair for veterinary medicine. Moon will be recognized for this appointment April 19, at 4 p.m. in Benton Auditorium at the Scheman Building.

“I want to take the opportunity to thank the many people who have contributed to the chair and have made this possible. I want to emphasize how privileged I feel,” Moon said.

The newly created endowed chair, which started on March 1, the day Moon joined ISU’s faculty, is named for the former chair of the department of veterinary pathology, the late Frank K. Ramsey.

Ramsey was once a mentor to Moon.

“I want to live up to his expectations. He was extraordinary in his effectiveness as a teacher. He impacted on many students, young faculty members and research scientists at the National Animal Disease Center,” Moon said.

“This endowed chair will allow us to strengthen our research program. Dr. Moon has made tremendous contributions to our understanding of enteric diseases [such as diarrhea],” said Prem Paul, associate dean for research at the college of veterinary medicine.

Moon is internationally recognized for his work with the Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacterium.

“E. coli is carried in the intestinal tract of all mammalia and most vertebrate animals,” Moon said. He has spent most of his career studying pathologic E. coli (disease spreading) and has led the scientific community in discovering and describing a major pattern of disease in the intestinal tract of cattle and swine. This research has been used to characterize enteric diseases in other animals and humans.

“We have come up with vaccines that control this disease in cattle and swine,” Moon said.

Moon is the only veterinarian who has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and is only the second veterinarian to belong to the academy.

Moon was the former director of the National Animal Disease Center in Ames, and has studied in Switzerland and Australia.

“The Australians have a very long horizon, they tend to do things further ahead than we do. They take on very difficult problems with long term research,” Moon said.

The Ramsey chair was created with more than $1 million in private contributions from 700 ISU alumni and friends. The purpose of an endowed chair is to attract and retain the best scholars and provide a perpetual environment for research activities.