August 27, 2007

A Career Guarding Animal Health:
K-STATE'S APLEY AMONG MOST INFLUENTIAL VETERINARIANS IN CATTLE FEEDING INDUSTRY

Sources: Daniel Thomson, 785-532-4254; and Mike Apley, 785-532-4167
News release prepared by: Cheryl May, 785-532-6415, may@k-state.edu


MANHATTAN -- Veterinarian Dr. Mike Apley has devoted his career to animal health. The Kansas State University professor's efforts were recognized recently when he was spotlighted as one of the six most influential veterinarians in the cattle feeding industry in the past 35 years. Bovine Veterinary Magazine featured Apley and other industry leaders in an article on "VIPs of the Feedlot Industry."

"We at K-State are pleased that one of the nation's leaders in cattle management, Dr. Mike Apley, and his lifetime of leadership in animal health is widely recognized," said Ron Trewyn, K-State vice president for research. "Mike certainly has had an ongoing vital role in maintaining the health of our nation's cattle supply, and therefore America's food supply. As a result, he is contributing to the nation's food safety and security and the Kansas and U.S. economy."

"Being listed as one of the six most influential veterinarians in the cattle feeding industry over the last 35 years is a distinct honor and richly deserved," said Dr. Daniel Thomson, K-State's Jones Professor of Production Medicine and Epidemiology and director of the Beef Cattle Institute. "We are lucky to have Mike at K-State."

Apley, associate professor of agricultural practices in the College of Veterinary Medicine, is a second-generation K-State veterinarian with a doctorate in physiology (pharmacology). His practice background includes two years in general practice in central Kansas and four years in a feedlot consulting/contract research practice based in Greeley, Colo. Apley was on the faculty at Iowa State University from 1996 to 2005 where he was an associate professor in the department of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine and served as interim director of the production animal medicine section in 2004-2005. In August 2005, Apley joined the department of clinical sciences at K-State. He works with veterinarians throughout the United States on the use of drugs in food animals and also in the area of beef cattle health, with an emphasis on feedlots. He also is a contributing editor for Beef Magazine.

Apley also is director of PharmCATS Bioanalytical Services at K-State. PharmCATS, which stands for Pharmacology, Clinical, Analytical and Toxicological Services, is a not-for-profit bioanalytical laboratory affiliated with K-State. The PharmCATS team includes four board certified veterinary clinical pharmacologists supported by two analytical chemists.

There are only 50 board-certified veterinary clinical pharmacologists in the United States, and four are at K-State. PharmCATS was established to provide high volume, rapid throughput bioanalytical services focused on the identification and quantification of exogenous compounds such as drugs and toxins in biological matrices.

PharmCATS recently received international publicity. A reporter for London-based Animal Pharm news interviewed Drs. Lisa Freeman, associate dean of research in the College of Veterinary Medicine, and Apley. In an eight-page story about the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor in the May 18 issue of the international publication, PharmCATS and K-State's Biosecurity Research Institute were spotlighted. The article calls K-State "one of the premier animal sciences schools in the United States."

"This is tremendous publicity for K-State and all of our associated programs," said Ralph Richardson, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. "People outside of the Midwest aren't aware of the high level of activity going on in this field or the number of specialized companies located in the corridor. This story helped to get the word out, and it really puts K-State in a great light.