July 5, 2022 
Dr. Paul Plummer, professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine and the Anderson Chair in Veterinary Medicine, has been named as the associate dean of research and graduate studies in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Plummer also serves as the executive director of the National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education. The national institute seeks to improve the understanding of antimicrobial resistance to reduce its societal impact. Based at Iowa State University, NIAMRRE seeks to improve health for people, animal, and the environment.
Board certified in large animal medicine from the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the European College of Small Ruminant Health Management, Plummer leads an independent, extramurally funded research laboratory with a significant focus on zoonotic pathogens of livestock, antimicrobial resistance/stewardship/use, and livestock welfare. His laboratory uses a combination of experimental approaches that range from field work and sampling to benchtop genetic manipulation of bacteria.
While at Iowa State, Plummer has received both the Iowa State University Early Career Achievement Award for Research Excellence and the College of Veterinary Medicine Early Career Achievement in Research Award. He received the Zoetis Distinguished Veterinary Teacher Award in 2014.
Plummer earned his DVM degree from the University of Tennessee and he received a PhD in veterinary microbiology from Iowa State. He did a large animal medicine and surgery internship at Texas A&M University and was a large animal medicine resident at the University of Tennessee.
Plummer replaces Dr. Qijing Zhang, Clarence Hartley Covault Distinguished Professor in Veterinary Medicine, who served as the College of Veterinary Medicine’s associate dean of research for more than a decade. Zhang is leaving the post to focus on his efforts on his research laboratory. He was recently named to the National Academy of Sciences.