Teresa Morishita, DVM, MPVM, MS, PhD, DACPV
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Poultry Medicine & Food Safety
College of Veterinary Medicine
Phone: 909-469-5512 | Fax: 909-469-5635
Join year: 2006
PhD, Comparative Pathology, University of California, Davis, CA 1995
Residency Certificate in Clinical Avian/Poultry Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 1991
DVM, Master of Preventive Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 1989
MS, Animal Science, University of Hawaii-Manoa, Honolulu, HI 1985
Dr. Morishita is a native of Hawaii and received a BS and MS in Animal Science from the University of Hawaii. She subsequently attended the University of California-Davis and received a dual DVM/MPVM degree. Wanting to gain additional skills in clinical avian medicine, she completed a Residency in Avian/Poultry Medicine from the University of California-Davis and became a Diplomate of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians. Dr. Morishita operated a private avian practice in California; worked in the California poultry industry as a veterinary consultant; and served as the Assistant Director of the California Raptor Center at UC-Davis. She subsequently received her PhD in Comparative Pathology from the University of California-Davis.
Teresa Y. Morishita, DVM, MPVM, MS, PhD, Dipl. ACPV, joined the College of Veterinary Medicine in August 2006 as a Professor of Poultry and Food Safety and Outreach Veterinarian (Poultry and Wildlife). She is a PBL facilitator, content expert in poultry/avian medicine, food safety, and microbiology. Since 2008, she serves as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. She was previously the Course Leader of the Feed and Food Safety course, and a member of the Student Affairs Committee, Faculty Affairs Committee and the Research Advisory Committee. She also served on WU's Grievance Committee and East-West Scholarship Dinner Planning Committee. Her laboratories, the Avian Disease Investigation Laboratory and the Laboratory for Wildlife and Environmental Health serve as an outlet for her research endeavors.
From 1994 until joining the faculty at WU, she was a Professor and Extension Poultry Veterinarian at The Ohio State University. She has always been interested in providing research opportunities to veterinary students and developed the SOAR (Student Opportunities in Applied Research Program) at The Ohio State University.
"Most great success in life comes just one step beyond where you are ready to quit. There is a time in your life when you feel yourself suddenly beyond caring, completely willing to accept the outcome, whatever it is. But you persist anyway. And at that moment, fate intervenes. Destiny acts. Something happens.
Every test you take and pass on your journey merely prepares you for more difficult tests and challenges. The problems and difficulties never end. They only change and become tougher as you grow and mature.
Never wish for things to be easier. Instead, wish you were stronger and better. Never seek the easy way out. Instead look for the hard way through.
Nature is kind. She never sends you a problem too big to handle. She is clever as well. She prepares you step by step, raising the bar - the requirements - gradually until you are ready for the bigger tests when they come.
As long as you have a clear goal and plan and are willing to be flexible in the face of changing circumstances, you will continue to move onward and upward.
You will eventually look back and be amazed at how far you have come. But it is nothing compared to how far you have yet to go" (The Dawn of Reality, Tracy, B. (2003). Many Miles to Go: A Modern Parable for Business Success. Canada: Entrepreneur Press)
If everyone's thinking alike, no one's thinking! Be a risk taker! Take the Life Long Learning journey now…the journey's just beginning!
•Avian (poultry) flock health management, infectious diseases, and environmental health
•Bacterial colonization of the respiratory and intestinal tract of poultry with respect to pathogenesis (Pasteurella multocida) and pre-harvest food safety (E.coli, Salmonella, and Campylobacter)
•Clinical avian medicine field trials to improve flock health and production
•Epidemiology of disease transmission at the domestic animal/wildlife interface
•Captive and free-ranging bear health monitoring
In recognition for her teaching and research activities, Dr. Morishita has received the Research Excellence in Clinical Avian Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis (1993); Bayer-Snoeyenbos New Investigator Award (in recognition of meritorious research contributions to the field of poultry medicine), The American Association of Avian Pathologists (1998); 1999 Samuel F. Scheidy Memorial Award (in recognition of excellence in quality of veterinary medical research and selected to present research at the World Veterinary Congress in Lyon, France), American Veterinary Medical Foundation (1999); Kathryn T. Schoen Leadership Development Award, The Ohio State University (2000); Meritorious Service Award, Ohio Poultry Association (2001); Ohio Veterinary Medical Association Meritorious Award (2002); Extension Veterinarian of the Year Award, American Association of Extension Veterinarians (2004); James D. Utzinger Teaching Award (in recognition of outstanding teaching by a university level Ohio State University Extension educator), The Ohio State University; 2005 Excellence in Extension Award (in recognition of a superior Extension Educator), The Ohio State University; and the 2008 Pfizer Award for Research Excellence, Western University of health Sciences.
Dr. Morishita is the Director of the Poultry Health Management School, a multi-university continuing educational program between Western University of Health Sciences and Michigan State University, Purdue University, and the University of Wisconsin. In addition, she is a member of the Technical Committee of the National Poultry Improvement Plan, United States Department of Agriculture.
Dr. Morishita is the Editor of the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, the official publication of the American Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians and the European Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians; and served on the Editorial Boards of Avian Diseases, Poultry Scieince, the American Journal of Veterinary Research and Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Morishita is also the veterinary advisor to the United Peafowl Association. She is also a columnist on two poultry/avian health columns, "Fowl Talk" in Poultry Press, "Peafowl Parley" in Peafowl Today. She also wrote two columns for Farm and Dairy: "Pen Feathers," a poultry/avian health column, and a public health/zoonotic disease column "Healthy Animals, Healthy People."