Professor, Veterinary Pathology
Anatomic Pathology
Education
DVM, Iowa State University, 1986
PhD, Veterinary Pathology, Iowa State University, 1989
Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Pathologists, 1990
Past Experience
Dr. Mark Ackermann is returning to the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Department of Veterinary Pathology after spending almost a decade away from Iowa State. He was on the college faculty from 1996 to 2017 before leaving to become the director of the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Oregon State University and then serving as the director of the USDA National Animal Disease Center (NADC) in Ames for the past three years. He previously worked as a veterinary medical officer at the NADC after graduating with his DVM and was briefly director of anatomic pathology for Zoetis in 2021.
A Diplomate with the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, Ackermann has served as that organization’s secretary/treasurer and the also president.
Research
Throughout his career, Dr. Ackermann has been a high-achieving researcher. He helped discover and eliminate Bovine Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency and created a lamb model of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. He has authored 159 peer-reviewed publications and multiple book chapters. His grant funding has come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, Johnson & Johnson and many other biopharmaceutical companies.
Interesting Fact
Dr. Ackermann has reported out over 500,000 diagnostic reports.
Dr. Ackermann says…
“For diagnostic service, I especially enjoy surgical pathology of dogs and cats but for research I fell in love with RSV research, shipping fever and chronic enteropathy.”
September 2025