Dr. Ronald Marler received his bachelor’s degree in 1971 and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1973 from K-State. A short time after graduating, Marler joined the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps as a captain and then returned to K-State to complete a Ph.D. in veterinary pathology in 1978. Marler, who served as dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at K-State from 1994 to 1997, is recognized as an expert in non-clinical drug development, pharmaceutical pathology, and toxicology. He is board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists.

Marler’s industrial career began in the late 1970s with Mead Johnson Pharmaceuticals as a veterinary pathologist. By 1981, he had moved on to the toxicology laboratories of Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. During his tenure at Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, he held adjunct professorship positions at Butler University College of Pharmacy and Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine. Marler worked with Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals/Marion Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals in various positions, including project leader, senior research toxicologist, group leader, and head of the toxicology department, as well as director and vice president of Global Drug Safety. In 1994, he returned to his alma mater to become dean of the K-State College of Veterinary Medicine.

Marler returned to industry in the mid-1990s and quickly became a vice president at Covance Laboratories. He joined the Mayo Clinic Arizona in 2004. He held multiple positions, including director of core research facilities, associate director for research, clinical procedural skills laboratory director, and senior adviser for non-clinical drug development. As part of Mayo Clinic’s executive-on-loan program, Marler served as Colorado State University Venture’s interim CEO and board of directors, interim CEO and CSO of Bridge Laboratories, and board of directors for Pharmaron Laboratories.

He retired from Mayo Clinic Arizona as a professor of experimental therapeutics and molecular pharmacology and is now a professor emeritus. In “retirement,” Marler is the principal of a research veterinary pathology consulting business and resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.