M.D. (Mo) Salman (M.P.V.M., 1980; Ph.D., 1983), professor of epidemiology at the Animal Population Health Institute, Colorado State University, is being recognized with the 2009 Alumni Achievement Award for his global contributions to animal population health and veterinary epidemiology.

Salman earned his B.V.M.S. (veterinary medicine and surgery) degree from the University of Baghdad, Iraq, in 1973. He completed an M.P.V.M. degree at UC Davis in 1980, and a Ph.D. degree in comparative pathology and quantitative epidemiology in 1983. He is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology.

In the 1970s he served as veterinarian in the Iraqi Army; herd health veterinarian for the Ras-Al Khaimah Government, United Arab Emirates; and veterinarian for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Federal Government of United Arab Emirates; before moving to the United States in 1978. He was in a small animal practice in the Chicago area before he moved to Davis, where he was a research associate for the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. He joined the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, in 1984, where he is a professor in the departments of Clinical Sciences and Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences. He established the Animal Population Health Institute in 2002, and served as its director until 2006. He has also served as director of the Center of Veterinary Epidemiology and Animal Disease Surveillance Systems and director of the Center of Economically Important Infectious Animal Diseases.

Salman has published 210 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, including studies of bovine brucellosis and the pathogenesis of mastitis caused by Nocardia infection. He carries out the federally funded Program of Economically Important Infectious Animal Diseases, which supports testing facilities and competitive grants for animal population health studies. He plays a vital role in professional, graduate and continuing professional education.

Salman has served in leadership roles as a member of several international advisory groups for food safety, plant health and animal health issues such as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), including BSE, an important disease in cattle. In 2000 he was a member of the first Scientific Working Group—Geographical Risk Assessment for BSE of the European Union Commission, and then became a member of Animal Health and Animal Welfare Panel (2006–12) of the European Food Safety Authority. He was a member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's TSE Advisory Group 2005–08, and his efforts have led to more than 50 international training sessions in disease investigation and surveillance during the past 10 years, with more than 2,000 participants from around the world. Salman served on the European Union Task Force for the Scientific Evaluation of BSE Geographical Risk Classification 2000–03, and in 2002 he chaired the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) Ad-hoc Group for the BSE Status of Countries to develop global guidelines for BSE risk. He chaired the United States Animal Health Association (USAHA) Foreign and Emerging Diseases Committee, 1999–2003, and the USAHA Steering Committee of National Animal Health Reporting System, 1996–98.

Salman cofounded the TSE and Food Safety Forum (TAFS) of Zurich, Switzerland, which is internationally recognized for its unbiased professional and scientific communications between researchers, industries and regulators in their efforts to contain TSEs. He also cofounded the National Council on Pet Population Studies and Policy, and initiated a national study to address pet overpopulation in the United States. Its research findings have been the cornerstone for construction of new policies for animal shelter management.

Salman has helped to build the infrastructure of national animal health programs for countries including Bosnia, the Republic of Georgia, the Republic of Armenia, Iraq and Afghanistan. He received a Fulbright Scholarship to Nepal in 1991, the American Humane Association Waco F. Childers Award in 1998, the USDA/APHIS Administrative Award for Animal Health in 2000, and the AVMA-XII International Veterinary Congress Award in 2007. He received the Colorado State University Scholarship Impact Award and the Distinguished Service Award from the CSU Office of International Programs in 2008.