Dr. Tony Forshey received his DVM degree from the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1977. He has practiced veterinary medicine for 27 years with a primary focus on swine production. As a practitioner, he participated in a program that led to eradication of pseudorabies from Ohio in 2001. Tony has served on the advisory board for several health product manufacturers including Elanco Animal Health, Pfizer Animal Health, Newport Laboratories, Schering Plough and the Columbus Serum Company and has served as guest lecturer and adjunct associate professor in our college’s department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine. He represents the state of Ohio nationally on the boards of the United States Animal Health Association and the National Institute of Animal Agriculture. He also has served many other organizations including the Ohio Swine Health Advisory Board, American Association of Swine Veterinarians, Ohio Pork Producer Council, and the Aquaculture Task Force of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Tony is the 2010 recipient of the Oho Veterinary Medical Association’s Veterinarian of the Year Award and received their 1997 award for service to the Ohio swine industry. He also has received the Ohio Pork Producers Council Service Award for Outstanding Service to the Ohio sine industry.
In 2005, Dr. Forshey became the Assistant State Veterinarian at the Ohio Department of Agriculture and he was appointed State Veterinarian in 2006. As the State Veterinarian and Chief of the Division of Animal Health at the Ohio Department of Agriculture, he is charged with protecting and promoting Ohio’s livestock and poultry industries and providing oversight of the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. While on the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, he oversaw creation of the nation’s most comprehensive livestock care standards, which became effective in September 2011. Dr. Forshey served as interim director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture from November 2011 to February 2012.
For his longstanding and consequential contributions to veterinary medicine and agriculture in the state of Ohio, we are pleased to recognize Dr. Tony Forshey as a Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Veterinary Medicine. It is a special privilege to present this award to Tony this evening because his son Brandon is a member of the 2013 graduating class of the College of Veterinary Medicine.
