Equine Specialist at Home in Iowa


by Steve Jones
Chris Brown planned to use his veterinary medicine degree to 
serve the farmers in the rural English countryside where he 
grew up. 

But plans change. The new director of the Veterinary Teaching 
Hospital and the department of veterinary clinical sciences 
became a scholar in equine medicine, moved to the United 
States 17 years ago and began a career in education that took 
him to Washington State and Michigan State before he arrived 
at Iowa State last October.

"My dad was a dairy farmer, and I wanted to return home to 
start a veterinary practice," Brown explained. "Instead, I 
took a position in veterinary school teaching anatomy."

Brown's Ph.D. is in equine cardiology, but he doesn't spend 
much time with four-legged patients now. Administrative 
duties saddle the bulk of his time, he said, pointing at a 
desk buried in reports, memos and other papers.

As DEO of veterinary clinical sciences, Brown oversees a 
bustling department of nearly 80 staff members, including 28 
faculty and about 12 resident veterinarians receiving 
additional education. Clinical sciences staff teach, conduct 
research and run an animal hospital that handles more than 
12,000 cases annually. In addition, the field service unit 
makes more than 1,000 "house calls" to farms each year.

The teaching hospital serves as a clinical classroom for 
fourth-year veterinary students working toward D.V.M. 
degrees. They handle unusual or challenging small animal, 
equine and livestock cases referred from veterinarians in 
Iowa and neighboring states and routine cases brought in by 
Ames-area animal owners. 

Brown said the veterinary medicine field has changed a great 
deal in recent years in response to client needs. Pet and 
horse owners are asking for -- and receiving -- more 
sophisticated health care. The main reasons, he believes, are 
a heightened awareness of health issues for both humans and 
animals and recognition of the importance of animals in the 
lives of humans.

"People are more willing to invest money on the care and 
treatment of their pets," Brown said. He noted, for example, 
that it's not unusual for people whose dogs are afflicted 
with severe arthritis to now choose hip replacement surgery 
for their pets.

Another shift in veterinary medicine is a changing emphasis 
in health care, from the traditional method of curing 
diseases as they occur to preventive veterinary care. 

Production animal medicine, particularly for swine and 
cattle, is a priority at the College of Veterinary Medicine 
and in veterinary clinical sciences because the state's 
livestock industry is so large. It's no coincidence that the 
college is one of the nation's leaders in the number of 
veterinarians trained for large animals.

Because Iowa is better known for swine than horses, some of 
Brown's colleagues wondered why he would leave Michigan to 
come here. Brown said he was more interested in an 
administrative position than in living in a state with a 
large horse population such as Kentucky or California.

But Iowa is no one-horse state. The state's horse industry is 
growing, said Peggy Miller-Graber, associate professor of 
animal science and treasurer of the Iowa Horse Industry 
Council. Iowa has about 210,000 horses and some 100,000 horse 
owners, she said, and the number of Iowans purchasing horses 
is increasing. 

"Of all the animal species that veterinarians look at, horses 
are the most diverse," Brown said, noting that horses range 
from 150-pound miniatures to one-ton draft horses and from 
"backyard donkeys" to multi-million-dollar thoroughbreds.

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contact:  Steve Jones, News Service. (515) 294-4778
updated:  6-16-95