Voice For Justice: Melinda Merck, DVMDecember 30, 2009 When authorities were trying to build the infamous dogfighting case against Michael Vick, they weren’t sure exactly what to look for or how to prove it. But forensic scientist Melinda Merck, DVM, did. After excavating the graves of some of the pit bulls and analyzing their remains, she pieced together the horrific details of their deaths. Some had been hanged; others had been shot. Her expertise helped put the National Football League quarterback in prison and brought more attention to what’s becoming an important new tool in law enforcement. Now senior director of veterinary forensics at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New York, Dr. Merck is on the front lines of this rapidly growing specialty, combining the techniques of human forensic science with the specialized knowledge of veterinary medicine. “It’s not about punishment or getting people put into jail; it’s about protecting the animals,” Merck says. “If we’re not the voice for that animal, who is?” On-the-Job Training In the emerging field of veterinary forensic science, Merck, 45, is a star—profiled by National Public Radio and People magazine, sought after as a speaker and consultant. …
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High Achiever: Lance S. Fox, DVMDecember 30, 2009 It’s a somewhat unlikely tale: Motivated by his father’s early death and his son’s premature birth, a 39-year-old veterinarian with limited climbing experience decides to take on the world’s highest mountain. Photo courtesy of Dr. Lance S. Fox. Dr. Lance S. Fox pauses on top of Mount Everest. But it’s all true, even the Hollywood-style happy ending. On the morning of May 21, after 10 final, exhausting hours of climbing—six of them by headlamp in the dark—Lance S. Fox, DVM, joined a very exclusive club. He reached the summit of Mount Everest, one of fewer than 3,000 people who have set foot on top of the world. And now the Wisconsin vet is telling his story to the world. Soon to be featured in the third season of the Discovery Channel series “Everest: Beyond the Limit,” Dr. Fox is drawing on his adventure during speeches to high school and college kids, hoping to persuade them to conquer their personal Everests. “My opening slide is ‘If You Believe, You Can Achieve,’ ” Fox says. “So often we hear people say the words, ‘I can’t.’ But I disagree …
Dogged Determination: Dr. Gail C. GolabDecember 30, 2009 When Gail C. Golab was studying biomedical research in graduate school at Texas A&M University, well before she planned to become a veterinarian, she happened to live in a neighborhood popular with vet students. Other students knew that future vets lived there. So when they no longer could care for their pets, the students often dumped them at the housing complex. Golab and the veterinary students tried to take care of the strays. They bought food, tried to find new homes for the animals and held meetings to talk about the problem. But Golab quickly realized their efforts were likely to fail. “No one was trying to figure out why students were getting rid of the animals,” Golab, Ph.D., DVM, MACVSc (Animal Welfare), recalls now, more than 20 years later. “And it seemed to me that if we didn’t figure out the source of the problem, we wouldn’t ever be able to solve it.” First, she helped found a student chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, figuring that educating students on the costs and challenges of pets might keep them from adopting an animal they couldn’t keep. Then she …
Taking Medicine To Reservations Without Agenda: Ted Robinson, DVMOctober 28, 2009 The New Mexico dust storm pounded at their backs. Visibility dropped to a few feet. Grit and dust powdered Ted Robinson, DVM, and his crew. But the horse wrangled into the middle of the field was ready for gelding and it would likely be another six months before the veterinarians could return to this remote and hard-scrabble Native American reservation. So the team tied raincoats together, created a temporary tent, made a cocoon over the patient and carried on. “That was pretty interesting,” says Dr. Robinson, in his typically understated way of describing the work and adventures of his twice-a-year treks to the Hopi, Santa Domingo and Zuni reservations near Albuquerque, N.M. Interesting, indeed. Robinson’s work and dedication have so impressed the American Veterinary Medical Assn. that it chose Robinson for its 2008 Meritorious Service Award. The award will be presented this month at the AVMA convention in New Orleans. The trips are service projects of Americans for Native Americans (ANA) and the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Assn. ANA is a Bucks County, Pa., organization dedicated to serving First American communities. Robinson, who also donates …
Restoring Animal Health In Afghanistan: David Sherman, DVMOctober 28, 2009 By late morning, when David Sherman, DVM, arrived at the veterinary field office in a remote part of Afghanistan, a crowd was waiting. At least 20 farmers had come from the surrounding countryside to see the paraveterinarian, a specially trained Afghan who had been set up in a spartan but modern clinic by the group Dr. Sherman works for. The farmers quickly organized. Soon, working together, they’d mapped out a schedule based on who needed a farm visit to have an animal vaccinated or diagnosed, or who could be sent away with medicine—a crucial plan, since this paraveterinarian was the only source of veterinary help for miles in any direction. Sherman was delighted: Here was proof that the multi-national effort he worked with to restore veterinary services to Afghanistan was succeeding. “This is an agrarian culture that depends on livestock for its existence,” says Sherman, a Massachusetts veterinarian who is an international expert on goat health. As much as 70 percent of the Afghan population earns a living from animals, at least in part. But by the early part of this decade, years of war, the 1994 Taliban takeover and the …
Filling A Critical Need: Pet AmbulancesOctober 28, 2009 Annie Davis' PT Cruiser is no ordinary automobile. Upholstered with heating pads in the lining and equipped with an oxygen system and technology for fluid and airway control, it serves as one of two pet ambulances at VetCab, Davis' emergency pet transfer service in Yucaipa, Calif. These souped-up automobiles can't drive in Code 3 mode-which entails flashing red lights, sirens and often high speeds-but they can save the life of a pet whose life may be dependent on just a few critical minutes. Unlike most mobile clinics, pet ambulances are usually available on a 24-hour basis, and unlike most 24-hour clinics, they're willing and able to travel. And while the ambulances may also function as pet taxis, it's the emergency situations that inspire the creation of these businesses. Seeing the need, Davis, owner and creator of VetCab, opened her business in September 2005. After working as a technician at an emergency clinic, she noticed that the current system of pet transportation via the pet owners didn't always work. A.M.E.R.S. Animal Ambulance's fleet of emergency vehicles lined up in San Leandro, Calif. "I recognized the need because I saw [the pets] coming in …
Sons Rise To The Challenge: Drs. Jacob And Nick MathiasOctober 28, 2009 Dr. James Mathias, DVM, welcomed two new veterinarians into his 27-year-old practice a little more than a year ago. That’s hardly extraordinary, considering that Mathias was eager to build his staff and free up time to pursue other projects. But the new doctors weren’t just any new grads from his alma mater, Ohio State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine. They were Drs. Jacob and Nick Mathias, twin brothers and Mathias’ sons. Can there be too much family under one shingle? Maybe for some, but not for them, the family members say. After years of homeschooling and playing countless pickup basketball games and tennis matches together, the doctors say working together seemed like a natural move. “We’re a very, very close family,” says James, 55. “It’s wonderful.” The brothers, 26, agree. “This past year has been great. I’ve been learning a ton. I don’t think I’d change a thing,” Jacob says. “I couldn’t think of a better mentor than my dad.” Besides, adds Nick, “It’s fun.” Proving Skeptics Wrong Many friends advised against such a venture and were skeptical that family members could practice together. Some schoolmates who’d …
Like Daughter, Like Mother: Sharon And Angelina GerardoOctober 28, 2009 Blame it on rain, ice and snow. Sharon Hunt Gerardo was days away from accepting an offer to enroll in Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, her impending announcement doubling the excitement level at the family’s Easter gathering. Daughter Angelina also was heading to veterinary school. Angelina planned to stay in her home state and attend the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis, on an Army scholarship. Everyone loved the novelty of mother and daughter venturing into veterinary medicine and appreciated that it was a legacy of Michael Gerardo, DVM, Sharon’s late husband and Angelina’s father, who died in 2000. Then Sharon, curious, hit the weather websites to get a glimmer of what she might see during a typical school year in Massachusetts. Rain. Snow. Ice. More rain. Oh, dear. “You grow up in Southern California like me and you face those harsh winters, and you think, ‘Oh, just suck it up.’ But then I really thought about it and I knew I couldn’t do it,” Sharon recalls. So, like her daughter, Sharon chose Davis. Mom and daughter fretted a bit about being classmates, but …
Have Clinic, Will Travel: Kathy King, DVM, Ph.D.October 28, 2009 Give Cathy King two hours and she can turn a Third World outpost into a bustling hub of surgical precision. Just stand back as she lays out four duffle bags full of surgery packs, stethoscopes, headlamps, catheters, anesthetics, antibiotics and, for special occasions, Beanie Babies. As director of the nonprofit outreach organization World Vets, King, DVM, Ph.D., is an unassuming leader of a quiet revolution, one that exports free veterinary care and safe pet population control to pockets of the world where such services are needed most. Eight years ago, when the idea to combine adventure travel with volunteer clinic work first gave rise to World Vets, Dr. King never anticipated that her trips would become so broadly popular or that she would become so widely traveled. Dogs await their surgeries in Loreto, Mexico. “If you had asked me two years ago, I would have said there was no way we would be making a trip a month,” says King, who owns a small-animal practice, Hometown Animal Hospital, in Deer Park, Wash. “I hoped World Vets would grow, but I didn’t anticipate so much interest so fast. A lot of people have requested …
Going Nuts Over Boltz: Rachel Boltz, DVMOctober 28, 2009 Lisa Lotti was distraught. Her be-loved boxer, Barkley, had died in his sleep. Her husband was out of town. Nearly in hysterics, not sure what to do, she called her veterinarian, Rachel Boltz, DVM. Dr. Boltz didn’t hesitate. She left her Los Altos, Calif., office and drove straight to Lotti’s house, where she hugged Lotti, then carried Barkley to her car and went to the clinic to make final arrangements. “I will remain grateful for this extension of compassion throughout my lifetime,” Lotti wrote in an essay about Boltz, adding: “If you are looking for an absolute star in the veterinary field, you need to look no farther. This woman is amazing.” The experts judging the second annual “Thank Your Vet for a Healthy Pet” contest agreed. Boltz, 37, was named the national winner of the contest, sponsored by the Morris Animal Foundation, Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Veterinary Practice News, Dog Fancy and Cat Fancy magazines. She will receive the award this month during the Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas. The contest honors America’s veterinarians for their skill, dedication and commitment to ensuring that pets are healthier, happier and living longer lives. To …
