Dr. Bret Marsh on Transitioning Roles from State Veterinarian to Purdue’s Dean of Veterinary Medicine

Dr. Bret Marsh, who becomes the new Dean and CEO of Purdue’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Hospital. He had been Indiana State Veterinarian with the Indiana State Board of Animal Health for 30 years. Photo: Eric Pfeifer / Hoosier Ag Today.

After 30 years on the job as Indiana State Veterinarian with the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, Dr. Bret Marsh is leaving that role and taking up a new leadership position at Purdue University.

“I’m excited about the opportunities and ready to get started,” says Dr. Marsh, who becomes the new Dean and CEO of Purdue’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Hospital on Monday, Nov. 4.

Dr. Marsh shared with Hoosier Ag Today why he wanted to serve in this new role with Purdue.

“Certainly [Purdue] is my alma mater. It’s my home,” says Dr. Marsh. “I was the first generation of college student to go to Purdue. I entered the College of Agriculture as an Animal Sciences student, and then later matriculated into the College of Veterinary Medicine, so it’s been a part of me all along.”

“I’m really excited and encouraged to be engaged in this new role,” he says. “To transition from my Indiana State Veterinarian role, I’m hopeful that I can bring some of those skills and talents and into the role as Dean.”

Dr. Marsh is also one of the country’s leading researchers on foreign animal diseases—namely those impacting the livestock and poultry industries. He says he plans to continue to build on the state’s preparedness plan in case a disease—such as African Swine Fever—is ever diagnosed among Indiana’s swine herds.

“The college will be an important continuing contributor in that preparedness planning,” says Dr. Marsh. “Certainly Purdue’s Reed Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratories (ADDL) are absolutely critical for our state. That laboratory is a member of the national Animal Health Laboratory Network, so it is a laboratory that’s recognized by the USDA to do initial testing of suspect samples coming from animals that may have a foreign animal disease here in Indiana. Bringing these parties even closer together, I think, is going to be essential for us to be successful in the long term.”

CLICK BELOW to hear Dr. Bret Marsh’s full conversation with Hoosier Ag Today’s C.J. Miller, as he talks further about his new role as Dean and CEO of Purdue’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Hospital.