Profile

Robert Van Saun

Professor of Veterinary Science and Extension Veterinarian

Bio

Dr. Robert Van Saun is a Professor of Veterinary Science and Extension Veterinarian in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Van Saun received his veterinary degree and completed Master’s degree and residency training at Michigan State University. Additionally, he earned a Ph.D. degree in ruminant nutrition from Cornell University. He is board certified diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition and American College of Theriogenologists (reproduction specialty). He was in private veterinary practice in New York and Michigan and an ambulatory clinician at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University. Robert’s faculty responsibilities include undergraduate teaching and advising, outreach education, and field­based farm investigation. His research and extension programs focus on integration of nutrition, animal health, and productivity and emphasize the critical role of pregnancy nutrition on animal performance. His research spans across various species including dairy and beef cattle, horses, and small ruminants. For more than fifteen years he has consulted in Eastern Europe to provide extension programming and educational programs for dairy nutritionists and dairy producers. His work has been focused primarily in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in working with three different dairy feed companies, but now expanding his activities into other surrounding countries. He often is an invited speaker to national and international conferences. His travels have taken him throughout Europe, Australia, and South America. When not traveling, he and his wife enjoy some relaxing time at their camp in the Adirondack Mountains where he gets to enjoy fishing and boating. He and his wife live in State College and have two boys currently serving in the U.S. Army.