Bit of a Journey
Take a look at Dr. Dan Taylor’s resume and you will see he has two passions that don’t seem to align.
“I admit my career path has taken a few different directions,” Taylor said. “It’s been a little bit of a journey.”
That journey began when Taylor was in vet school at Iowa State. As a DVM student, he focused on small animal medicine. At the same time he was working toward a master of public health from the University of Iowa.
After graduating from Iowa State with both degrees, he went the small animal route, practicing at a rural Illinois clinic for a couple of years.
Then a new direction. He joined the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service as a meat and slaughter inspector, a career move more in line with his MPH background.
His desire to practice small animal medicine wouldn’t go away though. So, Taylor moved to Colorado where he was an emergency veterinarian for a clinic in Longmont. It was about this time he decided to seek a PhD in epidemiology from the Colorado School of Public Health.
Even while he was working on that degree, he continued his love of small animal medicine as a relief veterinarian in the Greater Denver area.
“I just needed to get my desire to practice small animal medicine out of my system,” Taylor said. “I definitely miss aspects of practicing, but I can honestly say I’m done being a small animal veterinarian, although my wife is a vet and I get to live vicariously through her.”
These days, Taylor’s career jumping has ended. After earning his PhD, he became a consultant with EpiX Analytics, a firm that provides businesses and government agencies with risk assessment and analysis as it relates to food safety.
It’s a career leap Taylor was excited to make.
“My work with EpiX is at least a 180-degree switch from practicing small animal medicine,” he said. “If there is a common thread, it will be that I’m still dealing with people.
“In both areas I had to learn how to relate to my customer in order to be productive and effective.”
Taylor describes his job with EpiX as “consultant type of work.” He models the risk companies will have specifically on biosecurity and biosafety issues.
“I’m focused on helping our partners make the right decisions,” he said. “It’s really impactful work, one I get to see results from every day.
“I always wanted to be in this type of setting that combined analytics with public health.”