Preview of the 2026 Vernon Larson lecture
Date: Monday, 9 November, 2026, 3:30pm, (3:30 Introductions
Title: “Crossing disciplines and cultures to advance food safety, public health, animal welfare, and friendship: The international MObility of Veterinary Students and Food Biotechnologists (iMOVES&FB) Program”
Description/preview: Operating for over a decade and involving several partners and universities, the University of Padova’s international MObility of Veterinary Students and Food Biotechnologists (iMOVES&FB) Program has advanced interdisciplinary and international education through meaningful interdisciplinary, experiential learning. Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Public Health programs have sponsored student participation in the program since 2018. Given Dr. Vernon Larson’s own commitment to short-term overseas education, he would likely be pleased by the remarkable activity-filled nature of the annual iMOVES&FB program. Each June, iMOVES&FB combines (a) early in the month, preliminary online instruction by experts in animal behavior and welfare, food safety and international trade policy, public health and zoonotic diseases, and related issues, with (b) later in the month, a week of laboratory, farm, and business-operation site visits in Padova, Venice, and the wider Veneto region in northeast Italy. As detailed in a recent feature story, students learn hands-on about a range of issues including, but not limited to, parasites of concern in seafood safety, veterinary biosecurity in the poultry sector, U.S.-EU international trade regulation, and the science of behavior and welfare in terrestrial and aquatic animals. In this Vernon Larson Lecture, the founding director of the University of Padova’s iMOVES&FB program will join his K-State colleagues (two faculty members and one recent student participant) in sharing the principles, practicalities, and successes of the program.
About the speakers: Founding director of the iMOVES&FB program, Dr. Marco Patruno is a Professor of Veterinary Anatomy in the Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science at the University of Padova, a university of distinction founded in 1222 in northeast Italy. Professor Patruno obtained his PhD in 2001 in Developmental Biology from Royal Holloway, University of London, in the United Kingdom. He has published 80 international papers and several scientific book chapters. He teaches Veterinary Histology, Embryology, and Anatomy; his scholarly interests relate to regenerative processes, muscle development and biomechanics, and the potential of innovative therapies linked to veterinary medicine. Dr. Justin Kastner, professor in the Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine, routinely mentors veterinary, food science, and master of public health (MPH) students who participate in the iMOVES&FB program. He enjoys organizing and executing experiential field trips—both nationally across the U.S. through Frontier Field Trips, and overseas through such initiatives as iMOVES&FB. Dr. Ellyn Mulcahy, professor and director of Kansas State University’s Master of Public Health program, exercises leadership in preparing students for the public health workforce in Kansas, the U.S. and beyond. Kelli Shoemaker, a summer 2026 MPH graduate and clinical laboratory scientist at Irwin Army Community Hospital at Ft. Riley, participated in the most recent iteration of iMOVES&FB.