Few careers in veterinary medicine have combined clinical excellence, research, education, and visionary leadership as seamlessly as that of Dr. Rustin Moore. As dean of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine since 2015, Dr. Moore has helped reshape veterinary education while championing the human-animal bond, One Health initiatives, student wellness, and the future of the profession.
During his appearance on The People of Animal Health Podcast with Stacy Pursell, founder and CEO of The VET Recruiter, Dr. Moore reflected on the experiences that shaped his career—from growing up on a small hobby farm in the hills of West Virginia to leading one of the nation’s premier veterinary colleges. Throughout the conversation, one theme emerged repeatedly: success is built through service, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to both people and animals.
Growing Up in the Appalachian Hills
Dr. Moore’s love of animals began long before he entered veterinary school.
Born and raised in the Appalachian hills of West Virginia, he grew up on a modest 45-acre property that became his own personal laboratory for learning animal husbandry. Interestingly, while his parents were not farmers, he eagerly embraced the farming lifestyle himself.
“I grew up on what I call a hobby farm,” Dr. Moore explained. “My parents did not farm, but I did.”
His childhood included caring for virtually every type of farm animal imaginable.
“I had about every imaginable animal possible—from pigs to cattle, horses and ponies, rabbits, chickens, ducks, and a whole lot more.”
His interest wasn’t accidental. Local neighbors who balanced full-time jobs with raising cattle and sheep exposed him to agriculture, while his great-uncle and maternal step-grandfather also raised cattle. Those early influences nurtured a fascination with livestock that quickly evolved into something more.
Long before career counseling or aptitude testing entered the picture, young Rustin had already decided what he wanted to become.
“I don’t remember the exact age,” he recalled, “but it was probably by six or seven years old.”
His mother often joked that she had encouraged him to pursue veterinary medicine because it would allow him to afford his dream of farming.
Whether or not that conversation happened exactly as she remembered, Dr. Moore laughs that he never seriously considered another profession.
“I wanted to be a veterinarian from a very, very young age, and I never deviated from that.”
That certainty would become one of the defining characteristics of his career.
Building a Career Through Unexpected Opportunities
Although Dr. Moore always knew he wanted to become a veterinarian, the exact path his career would take remained far less certain.
“When I entered veterinary school,” he said, “I wanted to be an Appalachian version of James Herriot—a country veterinarian. That’s all I knew.”
Like many veterinary students, however, his interests evolved as he encountered inspiring faculty members and discovered specialties he had never previously considered.
By graduation, equine medicine had captured his attention.
Following veterinary school, he completed an internship at the University of Georgia before returning to Ohio State for a surgical residency.
“The people I met at Georgia inspired me,” he said. “Somehow I got inspired by the surgeons.”
Those mentors changed everything.
Not only did they encourage him to pursue surgery, but they also inspired him to earn a Ph.D., launching a successful career as a clinician-scientist.
That combination of clinical practice, research, and teaching would ultimately prepare him for leadership positions he never anticipated.
“I never set out to be a dean,” he admitted. “I didn’t even know what a dean was.”
Instead, each career step opened the door to another.
Leading Through Collaboration
Since becoming dean of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2015, Dr. Moore has overseen tremendous growth and innovation.
Yet he is quick to redirect praise away from himself.
“I’m blessed by having an incredible leadership team and incredible faculty and staff and students,” he said. “Anything we’ve accomplished has been because of a very large group of people dedicated and committed to these initiatives.”
That collaborative mindset has defined his leadership philosophy.
Among the college’s most significant accomplishments has been a complete redesign of its veterinary curriculum.
Rather than simply updating existing courses, Ohio State embraced competency-based veterinary education, becoming one of the first veterinary colleges in the country to fully implement the framework developed by the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges.
The curriculum redesign began with a comprehensive review in 2017 and eventually transformed every aspect of veterinary education at the college.
Instead of emphasizing memorization alone, students now develop competency through four integrated learning threads:
- Clinical skills
- Integrative problem solving
- Communication and collaboration
- Professional development
These themes run continuously throughout the curriculum, reinforcing the practical and interpersonal skills veterinarians need throughout their careers.
Perhaps most importantly, students gain extensive hands-on experience early in their education.
“Early and frequent hands-on experience really helps build confidence,” Dr. Moore explained.
Preparing Students for the Real World
One of Dr. Moore’s strongest educational philosophies centers around what he calls the “spectrum of care.”
Rather than preparing graduates for only referral hospitals or specialty practice, Ohio State trains veterinarians capable of meeting clients wherever they are.
“Our spectrum of care approach is to make sure our students become confident and competent veterinarians who can practice across the spectrum,” he said.
That philosophy recognizes an important reality of veterinary medicine: every client, every patient, and every situation is unique.
Some clients pursue highly advanced specialty care.
Others need practical, affordable solutions.
Veterinarians must be prepared to deliver excellent medicine in either circumstance.
To reinforce this philosophy, Ohio State established a standalone Spectrum of Care Clinic.
Students rotate through the clinic during their first three years, learning not only medicine but every aspect of veterinary practice—from client communication and financial discussions to teamwork with veterinary technicians and assistants.
By the fourth year, those same students step into the role of primary veterinarian while faculty members observe from behind the scenes.
“The faculty become the coaches,” Dr. Moore explained. “They’re watching and observing while the students function as the doctor.”
This educational model allows students to develop confidence before graduation while receiving real-time mentorship from experienced clinicians.
Supporting Students Beyond the Classroom
For Dr. Moore, educating veterinarians involves much more than teaching anatomy, pathology, or surgery.
It also means supporting students as individuals.
Recognizing the significant emotional, academic, and financial pressures veterinary students face, Ohio State has dramatically expanded its student support services.
Today, students have access to embedded mental health counselors, financial aid advisors, peer tutoring, and an Office of Teaching and Learning dedicated to academic success.
One particularly meaningful initiative addresses a problem many people don’t associate with professional students.
“We know that about 15 percent of students are food insecure,” Dr. Moore said.
To help address that need, the college established the Community Cupboard, providing food resources for students facing financial hardship.
Scholarships have also become a major institutional priority.
When Dr. Moore became dean, philanthropic scholarship funding totaled approximately $370,000 annually.
Today, that number exceeds $3.8 million.
His long-term goal is ambitious.
The college hopes to eventually provide every veterinary student with scholarship support equal to one full year of in-state tuition.
“We’re getting there,” he said, “but we’re not quite there yet.”
Lessons from Leadership
Long before becoming dean, Dr. Moore held numerous leadership positions, including department chair and executive director of Ohio State’s Veterinary Medical Center.
Each role expanded his understanding of how veterinary education could better prepare graduates for practice.
Managing one of the nation’s busiest teaching hospitals highlighted an important challenge.
Students needed exposure not only to rare referral cases but also to the everyday medical conditions they would encounter after graduation.
That realization became another driving force behind Ohio State’s Spectrum of Care model.
“We needed to educate veterinary students on the kinds of cases they would most likely see when they graduate,” Dr. Moore explained.
By combining advanced specialty medicine with practical general practice experience, graduates leave prepared for virtually any career path.
Those innovations have also influenced veterinary education nationally through Dr. Moore’s work with the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, where he recently served as president and now serves as immediate past president.
A Passion for Equine Medicine
Before assuming full-time administrative responsibilities, Dr. Moore spent nearly two decades building an internationally respected career in equine surgery, research, and education.
His clinical interests focused primarily on equine lameness and colic—conditions that continue to challenge veterinarians worldwide.
Looking back, he credits mentors rather than circumstances for shaping that career.
“The people I met inspired me,” he said.
Those mentors also inspired his interest in research, creating a career that balanced patient care with scientific discovery.
Although administrative responsibilities eventually pulled him away from active clinical practice, he remains encouraged by the remarkable progress made in equine medicine.
“We’ve come a long way,” he reflected.
Advances in diagnostics, surgical techniques, and medical management have dramatically improved survival rates for horses suffering from conditions like colic that once carried much poorer prognoses.
While challenges remain, today’s veterinarians possess tools that previous generations could scarcely imagine.
For Dr. Moore, that progress reflects one of veterinary medicine’s greatest strengths: a profession that continually evolves through research, innovation, and a commitment to improving animal health.
While Dr. Rustin Moore has spent decades advancing Veterinary education, conducting research, and leading one of the nation’s premier Veterinary colleges, one subject has increasingly become the centerpiece of his work: the extraordinary relationship between people and animals.
His TEDx talk, The Power of a Pet, and his book Unleashing the Bond have helped bring greater awareness to what science is increasingly confirming—that animals profoundly influence human health and well-being. During his conversation with Stacy Pursell on The People of Animal Health Podcast, Dr. Moore explained that what began as preparation for a TEDx presentation ultimately became a passion that continues to shape his work today.
Exploring the Science Behind the Human-Animal Bond
Ironically, Dr. Moore never intended to become an authority on the human-animal bond.
When Ohio State announced its annual TEDx event shortly after he became dean in 2015, he encouraged faculty members to submit proposals. When no one volunteered, he wrote his own application the night of the deadline.
“I wrote an application to do a talk on the human-animal bond,” he recalled. “That process really set off in me an exploration of what the research was.”
That exploration has continued for more than a decade.
Today, Dr. Moore closely follows emerging research from organizations such as the Human Animal Bond Research Institute and other scientists around the world. The findings continue to reinforce something animal lovers have long understood intuitively: interacting with animals changes us biologically, emotionally, and psychologically.
“When you interact with an animal,” Dr. Moore explained, “your body is releasing hormones like oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin.”
These naturally occurring chemicals promote feelings of happiness, trust, and emotional connection. At the same time, cortisol—the body’s primary stress hormone—declines.
“It’s amazing what has been discovered,” he said. “And it’s probably even more incredible what hasn’t yet been discovered.”
Research continues uncovering remarkable examples of how animals perceive and respond to humans.
One particularly fascinating area involves therapy dogs.
Dr. Moore noted that handlers frequently tell him their dogs instinctively know which patients need comfort the most.
“They’ll walk right by three people and go to somebody over here,” he said.
Emerging research suggests dogs may actually detect elevated cortisol through scent, allowing them to identify individuals experiencing stress or anxiety.
Although scientists are still investigating exactly how this occurs, the findings highlight the extraordinary sensory capabilities dogs possess—and the unique ways they support human health.
For Dr. Moore, these discoveries reinforce that the human-animal bond extends far beyond companionship.
It influences mental health, physical health, loneliness, emotional resilience, education, and even community well-being.
Practicing Veterinary Medicine Through the Lens of the Human-Animal Bond
Dr. Moore believes the human-animal bond should influence not only how people care for their pets, but also how Veterinary professionals deliver care.
“The human-animal bond is universal,” he explained, “yet no two bonds are the same.”
Because every client and every family has different circumstances, he encourages Veterinary teams to replace judgment with curiosity and compassion.
Rather than presenting a single “gold standard” treatment recommendation, veterinarians should openly discuss multiple appropriate options while helping clients understand expected outcomes and costs.
“What we need to do as a profession is meet the client and the patient where they are,” he said.
This philosophy perfectly aligns with Ohio State’s spectrum of care approach, which emphasizes individualized medicine rather than one-size-fits-all recommendations.
Dr. Moore illustrated this concept with a common orthopedic injury—a torn cranial cruciate ligament.
A young Border Collie competing in agility events has dramatically different functional goals than a senior Boston Terrier whose favorite activity is relaxing on the couch.
Neither relationship is more meaningful than the other.
Instead, treatment decisions should reflect the unique bond between each pet and owner.
He also encouraged pet owners to become active participants in their pets’ healthcare by asking questions, sharing observations, and discussing concerns openly.
“The majority of pet owners know their pet better than anybody else,” he said.
That partnership ultimately produces better outcomes for both animals and families.
At the same time, Dr. Moore urged pet owners to remember that Veterinary professionals carry tremendous emotional burdens.
“You don’t know the last case they saw,” he said.
The previous appointment may have involved euthanasia, severe trauma, or heartbreaking financial limitations.
His advice was simple but powerful.
“Be kind.”
One Health: Connecting Animal, Human, and Environmental Health
Throughout his career, Dr. Moore has also become one of Veterinary medicine’s strongest advocates for the One Health concept—the recognition that animal health, human health, and environmental health are inseparably connected.
Rather than viewing these disciplines independently, One Health emphasizes collaboration across medicine, agriculture, public health, and environmental science.
Cancer research provides one compelling example.
Dogs naturally develop many of the same cancers as humans, and those diseases often behave remarkably similarly.
Ohio State’s comparative oncology program studies new cancer therapies in canine patients, potentially benefiting both dogs and people.
“If it works in a dog,” Dr. Moore explained, “it has a much better chance of working in a person.”
Another example involves emerging infectious diseases.
He described how avian influenza, once considered primarily a disease of birds, eventually spread into dairy cattle and later infected humans.
Likewise, expanding tick populations throughout Ohio illustrate how changing ecosystems create new disease risks for both animals and people.
Twenty years ago, Ohio had only one medically significant tick species.
Today, there are five.
Veterinarians increasingly serve as frontline public health professionals, identifying emerging diseases before they spread more broadly.
“We are doing research and clinical work in infectious disease and cancer that really demonstrates a One Health approach,” Dr. Moore said.
Addressing Workforce Challenges
Despite tremendous advances in Veterinary medicine, Dr. Moore recognizes the profession faces significant workforce challenges.
Many rural communities across America struggle to attract and retain veterinarians.
In Ohio alone, nearly one-third of counties are considered underserved.
Some have no veterinarian at all.
Without local Veterinary practices, communities lose more than healthcare providers.
They lose mentors who inspire future generations and professionals who monitor animal populations for emerging diseases.
“If you don’t have veterinarians in the community,” Dr. Moore explained, “you’re not going to be inspiring young people because they don’t have a role model.”
Ohio State is actively addressing these shortages through scholarship programs, state-supported initiatives, and partnerships such as Protect Ohio—a statewide effort focused on educating more veterinarians prepared to serve rural communities and critical shortage areas.
Dr. Moore also emphasized shortages within Veterinary academia itself.
Hundreds of funded faculty positions remain vacant across U.S. Veterinary colleges, creating additional challenges for educating future veterinarians and advancing research.
Lessons from Hurricane Katrina
One of the defining moments of Dr. Moore’s career came in 2005 following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Working alongside countless volunteers, he helped coordinate the rescue and relocation of nearly 500 horses stranded by the storms.
Although he personally participated in only one field rescue, his primary responsibility involved organizing logistics, assembling rescue teams, and coordinating operations.
Looking back, he believes the experience taught invaluable lessons about leadership.
“It taught me a lot about teamwork,” he reflected.
During disaster response, flexibility mattered more than titles.
Everyone needed to contribute wherever help was most needed.
“If someone wasn’t willing to do the job that needed done,” he recalled, “we didn’t need them as part of the team.”
Those experiences reinforced principles that continue guiding his leadership today: humility, collaboration, adaptability, and shared purpose.
Looking Toward the Future
After decades in Veterinary medicine, Dr. Moore remains remarkably optimistic.
“The more I see the world changing,” he said, “the more valuable I see a Veterinary degree.”
He believes today’s students have more career opportunities than ever before.
Clinical practice represents only one of countless possibilities.
Veterinarians now contribute to biomedical research, food safety, public health, academia, government, industry, disaster response, wildlife conservation, pharmaceutical development, and global health initiatives.
Most importantly, careers evolve.
“I never set out to be a dean,” he said.
Instead, mentors, opportunities, and curiosity continually shaped his path.
He encourages aspiring veterinarians to remain open to unexpected possibilities while never losing sight of their original passion.
“You can paint your own landscape,” he said.
Leading with Kindness
Perhaps the most emotional portion of the conversation centered on mental health within the Veterinary profession.
Dr. Moore reflected on the painful loss of students and colleagues to suicide—experiences that profoundly influenced his commitment to student wellness and creating supportive environments.
Those tragedies helped inspire Ohio State’s expanded counseling services, peer support programs, and broader focus on health and well-being.
When asked what principle he wished everyone could embrace, his answer returned to a recurring theme.
“Follow your dreams and ambition,” he said. “Be kind.”
For Dr. Moore, kindness costs nothing, yet its impact can last a lifetime.
Whether interacting with colleagues, clients, students, or strangers, small acts of compassion create stronger teams, healthier workplaces, and better Veterinary care.
As the interview concluded, he offered one final reminder that beautifully summarized both his career and his life’s work.
“The bond between a person and an animal has real positive benefits on your health and well-being—physically, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically,” he said. “Take a little extra time out of your day to stare into the eyes of your dog, pet your cat, or even say hello to your neighbor’s dog. Your day will be enhanced.”
For a leader who has spent his career advancing science, education, and Veterinary medicine, that simple message may be the most powerful of all.