Rate My Professor Meg Musser

Meg Musser, DVM, DACVIM (Oncology), serves as Associate Professor of Veterinary Clinical Sciences at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. A board-certified veterinary medical oncologist at the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center, she leads the Oncology Service, handling over 5,000 cases annually from patients across the United States and Canada. Musser earned her B.A. in Biology from Colby College in 2005 and her D.V.M. from the University of Illinois in 2010. She completed a one-year rotating internship at VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital and a three-year medical oncology residency at North Carolina State University, achieving Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Oncology) certification in 2015. Following three years as a veterinary oncologist at private specialty clinics in Connecticut, she joined Iowa State University in 2017 and was awarded tenure as Associate Professor in 2023. She is currently spearheading a $7 million expansion of the Pet Cancer Clinic at the Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital, involving 5,600 square feet of renovation and addition, with construction scheduled to begin in spring 2026 to support advanced treatments, clinical trials, research, and training.

Musser's research focuses on clinically relevant veterinary oncology therapeutics, including high-dose ascorbate combined with chemotherapy for canine osteosarcoma, toceranib phosphate for feline pancreatic carcinoma and other tumors, prostaglandin EP4 receptor mRNA expression in various cancers, chemotherapy overdoses, and immunotherapy combinations such as doxorubicin with Immunocidin for canine splenic hemangiosarcoma. She has secured grants totaling over $345,000, including from the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association ($22,172, 2020), Veterinary Cancer Society ($8,259, 2021), and Margaret B. Barry Foundation ($120,000, 2020). Key publications include "Response to tigilanol tiglate in dogs with mast cell tumors" (Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, October 2024), "Prognostic Impact of a Histologic Grading Scheme in Dogs Diagnosed With Rib Chondrosarcoma" (Veterinary and Comparative Oncology, November 2024), "Pilot safety evaluation of doxorubicin chemotherapy combined with non-specific immunotherapy (Immunocidin) for canine splenic hemangiosarcoma" (PLOS ONE, December 2022), and "Randomized trial evaluating chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy and a novel monoclonal antibody for canine T-cell lymphoma" (VetRecord Open, November 2022). Her teaching includes Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics (BMS 7443), Small Animal Medicine Oncology Lectures (VCS 7444), Advanced Veterinary Oncology Elective (VCS 7318), and mentoring four current oncology residents. Musser collaborates with the University of Iowa's Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center Sarcoma Group.