D.L. “Hank” Harris, DVM, Iowa State University (ISU), was honored last month with the Henry A. Wallace Award, established in 1978 to honor an ISU alumnus who has made an outstanding contribution to agriculture.
Harris and colleagues at ISU discovered the cause of swine dysentery and collaborated in the creation of NOBL Laboratories in Sioux Center, IA. As vice president of Health Assurance at PIC, he originated and researched the concept of isolated weaning to eliminate various swine infectious agents. In 1987, he suggested stages of production should be placed on multiple sites, a practice that is standard today.
He and wife Isabel operated a 150-sow, farrow-to-finish unit in the 1980s.
Harris returned to ISU in 1992 as professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Preventive Medicine. He also serves as professor of animal science and veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine.