Director of Research
Veterinary, Education, Research and Outreach (VERO) Program
Office: HSB Academic and Research Building, Room 343
Email: pmorley@tamu.edu
Phone: 806-651-3572
Home Page: https://vetmed.tamu.edu/vero/
Professional Profile
Dr. Morley is a veterinarian and an epidemiologist that studies infectious diseases affecting animals and people. He was raised in rural Northern Nevada, and earned B.S. degrees in Animal Sciences and in Veterinary Sciences at Washington State University, where he also earned his D.V.M. degree. He earned his Ph.D. degree at the University of Saskatchewan and trained as a specialist in veterinary internal medicine in large animals.
Teaching and Related Service
Dr. Morley has extensive experience in teaching didactic courses in epidemiology and statistics to veterinary and graduate students. Currently, he focuses heavily on the training and mentoring of small groups and individual students, nurturing their appreciation for conducting the highest quality and most-rigorous scientific research. Teaching is like farming: if you properly prepare the ground and nurture good seed, sometime in the future if all goes right, a bountiful crop returns a harvest that is many-fold greater than what was planted. This is the essence of being an educator. My greatest impact as a professor will come through helping others learn and grow; the crop that I nurture through teaching and mentoring will have a much greater impact than is ever possible through my individual actions.
Research and Creative Activity
Major emphases for his professional activities include investigating the ecology of antimicrobial resistance in animals and food production systems, and using analytical epidemiology to improve our understanding of health and disease. Most recently, his research has emphasized the use of cutting-edge genetic sequencing technologies to investigate the effects of agriculture production practices on antimicrobial resistance and microbial ecology as these affect human, animal, and ecosystem health.
In 2019, Dr. Morley joined the Veterinary Education, Research, and Outreach (VERO) program as the Director of Research. The VERO program, established in 2009, is an exciting collaborative partnership between WTAMU College of Agricultural and Natural Sciences and the TAMU College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The VERO partnership is set in the heart of one of the most productive animal agricultural regions in the world, providing unprecedented opportunities for collaboration with industry partners and stakeholders to fulfill the VERO mission.
Dr. Morley also helps to lead the Microbial Ecology Group, a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research group that is investigating the ecology of antimicrobial resistance and foodborne pathogens, in efforts to address the Grand Challenge of providing nutritional security for the global population. He is a recognized authority on infection control in animal populations and has consulted on infection control and biosecurity issues at veterinary hospitals, veterinary colleges, and intensive animal production facilities around the world. Dr. Morley has authored more than 195 peer-reviewed scientific publications in addition to numerous book chapters and government reports.
Personal Sketch
Dr. Morley and his wife Marilee greatly enjoy spending time with friends they have met since moving to Canyon in 2019.