Board of directors
 

Austin Viall
Trainee Liaison

Dr. Austin Viall is an Associate Professor of Pathology at Iowa State University and Director of the ISU Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center Clinical Pathology Laboratory. Originally hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Austin graduated with his DVM from Washington State University in 2010. He participated in a Small Animal Rotating Internship at WestVet Animal Emergency and Specialty Center in Boise Idaho, and then completed a Clinical Pathology Residency at Oregon State University in 2014. While at Oregon, Austin earned a MS in Veterinary Science with his graduate research focusing on novel oncogenic factors of canine osteosarcoma. Austin joined the Clinical Pathology Team in the Department of Veterinary Pathology at ISU in 2014. Since joining ISU, he has been heavily involved in expanding the field of veterinary pathology through a combination of diagnostic, research, and teaching endeavors.  Austin has a special interest in developing novel immunoassays and has helped design and implement flow cytometric assays for canine lymphocyte immunopheno typing, immune-mediated hemolytic anemia, and immune thrombocytopenia. His research laboratory focuses on investigating (1) significance of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in immune-mediated hematologic diseases and neoplasia in dogs and (2) novel oncogenic factors in canine lymphoma and osteosarcoma. Austin is heavily involved in clinical pathology training at the specialty level, serving in various education-associated and trainee certification roles for the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) and American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology (ASVCP). Similarly, Austin is actively engaged in advancing the veterinary pathology discipline through the ACVP and ASVCP and recently became President-Elect of the ASVCP in 2020.

Richard Johnson
Executive Director

Mr. Richard Johnson is a retired accountant and auditor, and small business consultant. He has been working in the private and nonprofit industry for the past 30 years, having developed a niche in assisting organizations obtaining their nonprofit status while also providing support for their bookkeeping and organizational management. While assisting one client many years ago, Richard volunteered to serve in the capacity of their events coordinator and has since become a large events planner for other organizations who have needed help in running conferences. Richard founded Happy Doc Summer Camp and its affiliated nonprofit organization, Angels of Hippocrates, whose mission is to tackle physician burnout, mental health issues among medical professionals, and personal wellness strategies to help cope with workplace stress. Richard's strong management skills, attention to detail, accounting experience, and passion and love for animals is what he brings to VCCIS. He is delighted to be involved with such a great team of people.