November 3, 2021
Dr. Pat Halbur, professor and chair of the Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine and the executive director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Iowa State University, has been named the recipient of the 2021 E.P. Pope Memorial Award from the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD).
The Pope Award is the highest award given by the AAVLD and is presented to an individual who has made noteworthy and significant contributions to the association in regard to implementing and advancing the recognition of the specialty of veterinary diagnostic laboratory medicine. The award is named in honor of Dr. E.P. Pope, a 1949 graduate of Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
A faculty member at Iowa State since 1990, Halbur’s research has focused on advancing understanding of the diagnosis, pathogenesis and control of swine infectious diseases including porcine respiratory coronavirus, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, porcine circovirus and swine hepatitis E virus.
He is a member of the National Academic of Inventors and served as president of the AAVLD in 2017. He has also served on several AAVLD committees.
“I have been very fortunate to spend much of my career as a diagnostic pathologist or in a leadership role in Iowa State’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory,” Halbur said. “Throughout my career I have had the opportunity to get to know, to stand on the shoulders of, and in some small way, carry on the work of some remarkable thought leaders in diagnostic medicine.”
