Dr. Rustin M. Moore was born and raised in West Virginia, the heart of Appalachia. He earned his BS from West Virginia University in 1986 and his DVM and PhD from the Ohio State University in 1989 and 1994, respectively. He became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1994.
He spent 12 years on faculty at the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine where his clinical interests included equine lameness, surgery, and colic and the associated complications. His research led to him being a principal or co-investigator on approximately 120 funded grants. In addition, he has authored or co-authored more than 15 academic book chapters, and his work has been published as 125 peer- or editor-reviewed manuscripts and 175 scientific abstracts.
Dr. Moore was recruited back to Ohio State in November 2006 as the Chair of the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, a position he served until 2014. He also simultaneously served as the Executive Director of the Veterinary Medical Center and Associate Dean for Clinical and Outreach Programs from 2009 to 2014, and then served as the Associate Executive Dean from 2014-2015 before being named the 11th Dean beginning September 2015.
A passionate advocate for animal health, Dr. Moore has led community outreach and disaster response initiatives, including the rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming of nearly 500 horses after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He serves on multiple boards, including the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and The Wilds, and the Ohio Wildlife Center, among others, and is currently the immediate past president of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges.
He is a sought-after speaker on topics such as the importance of creating and fostering a community in the college, university, community, and the veterinary profession where all people feel welcome, comfortable and can thrive. He also is invited to speak about the importance of biodiversity to conservation and sustainability, competency-based veterinary education and spectrum of care, health and wellbeing of people in the veterinary profession, and the One Health approach to animal, human, and environmental health.
He has been frequently invited to share his passion, perspective, and expertise about the human-animal bond since his 2016 TEDx talk titled “The Power of a Pet.” To that end, Dr. Moore authored the recently released book, Unleashing the Bond: Harnessing the Power of Human-Animal Interactions, a broad and deep exploration of the often-mystifying connection between humans and animals, which is available on Amazon. He donates a portion of proceeds of book sales organizations that promote, protect, and preserve the human-animal bond. Be sure to leave a book review.
