The new director of the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center has known he wanted the job since he was 13 years old. 

Dr. Tom Johnson became the new director of hospital operations at the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center on Feb. 9. He said the new position is the ideal way to have an impact on the future of veterinary medicine as a whole, and that has been his primary goal throughout his career.

Johnson, an ISU graduate, said his passion for veterinary medicine began one winter while working on his grandfather’s farm.

When Johnson was a boy, a veterinarian walked about a quarter of a mile in a blizzard to care for a sick calf that Johnson and his grandfather were raising.

“I was so impressed with the dedication to the profession, and that’s what really swayed me,” Johnson said.

After starting a veterinary clinic in his hometown of Spencer, Iowa, and practicing there for 27 years, Johnson worked as the executive director of the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association. He said his new position at Iowa State is significant because it allows him to impact the future of veterinary medicine.

“We have to produce what we call in the industry ‘practice-ready veterinarians’ that are not only confident and hard-working, but are also good citizens. I really stress that,” Johnson said.

Lisa Nolan, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, said Johnson’s experience makes him the ideal person for the job.

“Dr. Johnson is quite amazing, really, in that he has 27 years of experience practicing and about a dozen in the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association,” Nolan said. “And that is an organization in which most of the state’s veterinarians are involved in.”

Johnson said the biggest change at the College of Veterinary Medicine since he attended is the facilities. He said he is excited about what the college is capable of achieving while using them.

“It’s absolutely an amazing facility that, thanks to the state legislature and a lot of private donations, we have state-of-the-art equipment that lets us do some amazing things,” Johnson said.

Nolan said Johnson’s enthusiasm for his job is one of the primary reasons he was selected during the national search to fill the position.

“I don’t think you can talk to Dr. Johnson for very long without knowing that he loves this college,” Nolan said.