Professor emeritus named as distinguished alumnus

David Moore, Virginia Tech professor emeritus and a diplomate with the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine, was recently named a distinguished alumnus by the School of Veterinary Medicine at Lousiana State University (LSU).

While associate vice president for research compliance at Virginia Tech, Moore developed and established the university’s Office of Research Compliance. He also helped establish two courses in the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences with approximately 75 percent of incoming animal and poultry sciences students electing to take those courses

Among the accomplishments in his career, Moore was the veterinarian for the rats and squirrel monkeys that flew in NASA's Spacelab-3 mission. As a project manager and clinical veterinarian at the NASA Ames Research Center, he supervised animal care, ensuring regulatory compliance during the mission.

“David exemplifies our values of innovation, compassion, and integrity. I am honored to present him with the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Distinguished Alumnus Award,” said LSU Vet Med Dean Oliver Garden.

As a young man, Moore encountered a biomedical research lab where rabbits were not appropriately cared for and lived in abysmal conditions. That’s when he vowed to earn the credentials necessary to protect those animals and others like them.

“I decided I was going to become a veterinarian and shut them down. I wanted to be a voice for animals that could not speak, to be an advocate for them,” he said. Ultimately, someone else dealt with the problem laboratory that set Moore in the direction of his lifelong career, ensuring compliance with ethical care standards for animals.

Moore is the author of 27 book chapters and reviews and has presented nationally and internationally. He continues to be a reviewer for the Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science and the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

On the international stage, Moore wrote a successful technical proposal for a company that provided training in epidemiology methods for Middle Eastern physicians. He provided guidance and assistance to the individuals who created the Indian College of Laboratory Animal Medicine for specialty board certification of lab animal veterinarians in that country.

In August, he was awarded Diplomate status by the Japanese College of Laboratory Animal Medicine, the first non-national to receive that recognition.

Even in retirement, he teaches on the veterinary college graduate course “The Responsible Conduct of Research” and delivers single lectures in several animal sciences and veterinary medicine courses. He continues to be a faculty member at the department of basic science education at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in Roanoke, Virginia.