Biography: Mark Thurmond DVM, MPVM, PhD
Mark was raised in Eureka CA, graduating from Eureka High in 1965. He received his DVM from UC Davis, and then went into mixed-animal and dairy practice. This sparked interest in herd health that led to masters work in epidemiology, which in turn led to work with WHO in Guyana SA to develop a regional school for animal health technicians. Later he was research coordinator for a UC Cooperative Extension milk quality program that transitioned to a PhD program on bovine leukemia at U Florida.
In 1982, he joined UC Davis Veterinary School as a veterinary epidemiologist, where research focused on epidemiology of infectious diseases of cattle. Teaching included critical analysis of medical research, disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, and foreign animal diseases, including foot-andmouth disease. After retirement, he has continued with occasional collaborative research on animal disease modeling. He lives with his wife Audrey on their Kneeland property of 33 years, where he spends his time clearing drainage ditches and making wood, --- upstream from his boyhood home in Freshwater.