James Harlan Steele

James Harlan Steele (1913–2013) was an American veterinarian recognized as “the father of veterinary public health” who led some of the first efforts to prevent the spread of disease from animals to humans.

It began in 1938 when he worked in a brucellosis testing laboratory for the Michigan State Department of Agriculture while studying veterinary medicine at Michigan State University.

This marked the beginning of his lifelong vocation of studying and controlling zoonotic diseases.

He spent most of World War II in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, where he coordinated milk and food sanitation programs, evaluated zoonotic threats to the islands, and conducted research on brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, rabies, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis.

[2] This article incorporates public domain text from the CDC as cited