When disaster strikes Florida, UFVETS works to aid its animalsSeptember 12, 2017By Donald Vaughan Cookie was following her owner across their yard in Gilchrist County, Fla., outside Gainesville, when the ground suddenly opened up, plunging the 10-year-old pug to the bottom of a 30-foot sinkhole. Among the agencies called in to rescue Cookie was the University of Florida Veterinary Emergency Treatment Service (UFVETS), which provides veterinary emergency response throughout the state. Once the sinkhole had been shored up to prevent a cave-in, VETS team member Jennifer Groover, DVM, was lowered down via an A-frame. "The hole was so narrow that I couldn't bend over," Dr. Groover said, "but Cookie was so happy to have a way out that she climbed up my leg and into my arms, and then they lifted us out. Thankfully, she was unharmed by the fall." Technical rescues like this are all in a day's work for the agency, said John Haven, CPA, UFVETS team leader and the UF College of Veterinary Medicine executive director. The program also provides emergency services during natural disasters such as hurricanes (they're very busy now!), tornadoes, and wildfires, as well as for large-scale animal hoarding cases. Born from adversity UFVETS was established in 2004, which saw Florida threatened …
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Meet The Dean: College of Veterinary Medicine at Auburn UniversityFebruary 18, 2015Calvin M. Johnson, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ACVP, was appointed dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Auburn University in 2013. Johnson says he was drawn to a career in academia where he could teach students, advance biomedical knowledge through research and practice that knowledge for the public’s well-being. Under Johnson’s leadership, the college educates 480 veterinary students and 71 graduate students in biomedical sciences, and supports the professional activities of 107 faculty members and 250 staff. Q. Why did you enter veterinary medicine? A. As a student interested in animals and understanding the scientific basis of disease, I could not have selected a better career than being a veterinarian. The profession has provided tremendous opportunities for these pursuits, and also integrates opportunities for meaningful public service, impactful research that improves the health of animals and humans and the sheer personal challenge of bringing all of these elements under the umbrella of a single career. I have always admired the veterinary profession because it is relatively small, yet it carries a high degree of public trust and respect, which has been well earned by many highly accomplished veterinarians. I’ve always had a desire to strengthen and promote the veterinary profession. …
Meet The Dean: U.C. Davis School of Veterinary MedicineOctober 1, 2014Dr. Michael D Lairmore’s first veterinary job after graduation was working as a mixed animal veterinarian in Pennsylvania. Although he enjoyed the work, he left the practice to enroll in a Ph.D. program to fulfill his desire of learning a specialty. This path led him to academia where he is now dean of the U.C. Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Lairmore oversees all School of Veterinary Medicine activities, personnel, facilities and funding resources. He also presides over the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System, the Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center in Tulare, Veterinary Medicine Extension and other centers of excellence. Q. Why did you enter veterinary medicine? A. Having spent a large portion of my childhood outside, I was curious about the natural world. I enjoyed the complex world of biology. How biological systems worked was fascinating to me. Q. What was your first veterinary job after graduation? A. A dairy predominant practice in Oxford, Pa., working as a mixed animal veterinarian in a four-person practice. I enjoyed practicing in the rolling hills of Southeastern Pennsylvania with small- to medium-sized herds mixed with small animal practice in the afternoons, evenings …
Wendy Valla, VMD: Finding A Fit In PharmaceuticalsNovember 28, 2012 Wendy Vaala’s first vaccine research and development meeting made her realize that she was well prepared to work in pharmaceuticals. “I [thought], whoa, I have an opinion on this,” recalls Vaala, VMD, Dipl. ACVIM, a senior equine technical services veterinarian for Merck Animal Health of Summit, N.J. “They would say, ‘What do you think?’ or ‘How important is this disease?’ I felt like I was raising my hand every 15 minutes with ‘Let me tell you.’” A Pennsylvania native now residing in Alma, Wis., Dr. Vaala says her nearly 25 years working in private practice and academia has made her the equine neonatology and perinatology specialist she is today. She has been with Merck since 2004. “Coming from the northeast, I think we had more infectious diseases so we probably vaccinated more than anywhere else in the country,” Vaala says, adding that diseases she saw ranged from rabies to botulism. “Maybe I was unknowingly super-prepared.” Companies are always looking to bring new things to market, Vaala says. But in order to sell the product, it must be successful. To be successful, the product needs to be developed with the right profile in mind and it …
Debra Horwitz, DVM: Sharing The Passion Of Behavior MedicineAugust 15, 2012 Debra Horwitz, DVM, Dipl. ACVB, not only has a passion for helping clients with their pets’ behavioral issues, she has a drive for educating other veterinarians to do the same. Dr. Horwitz has had a referral practice for behavioral problems in companion animals since 1982 and moved her practice, Veterinary Behavior Consultations, to St. Louis in 1986. Throughout the years, she has actively worked toward educating both pet owners and veterinarians on behavior topics. On the vet side, for instance, Horwitz speaks at national and international veterinary meetings, serves on several advisory boards for corporations and publications related to animal behavior and is a behavioral consultant on the Veterinary Information Network. Her work in educating pet owners has also spanned various avenues, including Nestlé Purina’s “Ask the Vet” as a Kitten Chow Mentor, local lectures through the Humane Society of Missouri and writing articles for consumer publications. Horwitz says she has always liked animals and knew early on that veterinary medicine would be a good fit. “I’m that cliché,” she says. “I wanted to be a vet from the time I was pretty young.” Horwitz received her DVM from Michigan State University College of …
Veterinarian David Schwarz: Dedicated To AnimalsMay 31, 2012 The word “veterinarian” often elicits a sense of dedicated service, as in dedicated to the care of animals and to the veterinary profession itself. Many veterinarians attest that their love for animals began at a young age. They work hard to get into—and pay for—vet school and then spend a lifetime of long hours and dedicated care helping the very animals they once fell in love with. David Schwarz, DVM, is one such example. He’s been in practice for 36 years, and although Dr. Schwarz knew he wanted to be a veterinarian at 8 years old, he didn’t foresee becoming a practice owner. “Circumstances just worked out that way,” says Schwarz, who has owned and operated the Ashland Animal Hospital in Ashland, Mass., since 1977. Some of the challenges of being a veterinary practice owner are continually trying to provide the best care to patients, educating clients and maintaining a state-of-the-art animal hospital employing highly qualified staff, according to Schwarz. “It is an endless work in progress,” he says. Yet, he doesn’t stop there. Schwarz has kept busy over the years by getting involved with various industry groups and organizations. For instance, …
Serving A Country’s Military DogsMarch 22, 2012 Sara Rose Knox, DVM, says she has the best of both worlds being a captain in the Army Veterinary Corps. She has always enjoyed working with animals and she knew early on she wanted to combine that with the military. “There is no Ground Hog Day being a veterinarian in the Army, especially in a deployed environment,” she says. “Every day is different. You never know what’s going to walk through the door.” SaraRose Knox, DVM, is a captain in the Army Veterinary Corps. Dr. Knox is deployed in Afghanistan, where she cares for military working dogs. Tours are generally about a year and there is typically one veterinarian at each base, she says. Knox’s responsibilities include preventive, medical and emergency care as well as processing dogs entering or leaving the country. She also works with health care providers and emergency medical personnel in teaching emergency canine trauma care classes. This includes teaching military handlers basic canine first aid, such as bandaging and stabilizing fractures. In addition, Knox deals with public health issues, such as rabies prevention, and helps with food inspection. Knox, along with a team, helps make …
Having The Heart For Veterinary CardiologyNovember 30, 2011 Michele—pronounce that Ma-KAY-lee—Borgarelli, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ECVIM (cardiology), has been studying cardiovascular disease in dogs for more than 15 years. Most of his studies and research have been in Italy, his home country, but he now resides in the U.S. and is an associate professor of cardiology at Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “People should know that cardiovascular disease in small animals is very common but they are not terminal diseases,” Dr. Borgarelli said. “With the available treatment today we are able to manage patients and we can provide them a good quality of life for a long time.” Borgarelli has a string of research studies under his belt. For instance, during a period of five years, Borgarelli and his research team conducted two population studies involving more than 300 dogs. One, published in 2008, involved dogs that had mitral valve disease at different stages. Another study involved dogs with the mild form of the disease. Borgarelli expects this study to be published shortly. “Dr. Borgarelli has contributed substantially in the field of veterinary cardiology in many ways,” said Jens Haggstrom, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ECVIM (cardiology), professor of internal medicine at the Department of …
The Road To IndiaNovember 3, 2011 When British veterinarian Jack Reece, B.V.Sc., M.R.C.V.S., first arrived in Jaipur, India, in the late 1990s for what was to be a brief volunteer stay, he couldn’t help but notice the dogs. They were everywhere—sleeping on piles of building materials or sand, rooting through rubbish, lying by the side of the road or in the medians of city streets. “It’s not something that we are used to seeing in the West,” Dr. Reece says. “But these are not abandoned pets; they are not dumped animals. These are dogs that are born, live, mate and die, all on the streets.” Jaipur still has street dogs today, but their population is smaller, healthier and more stable—thanks in large part to Reece and the Indian charity he has worked for during most of the past 12 years, Help in Suffering. The HIS spaying and vaccination program has shrunk the number of street dogs, improved their quality of life and sharply reduced the number of dog bites and rabies cases in humans. And as the program’s manager, Reece, 49, has established himself and HIS as authorities on the humane management of street animal populations in developing countries, despite limited resources …
Practicing HolisticOctober 27, 2011 In the early ’90s, Judy Morgan, DVM, walked into a continuing education course about veterinary orthopedic manipulation and immediately thought she’d made a mistake. Many attendees were not veterinarians, but chiropractors. The opening lecture was about chiropractic adjustments. Dr. Morgan had signed up for the course because she had a colleague who did a lot of orthopedic surgery and she wanted to help with post-surgical rehabilitation. But as a traditional veterinarian, in conventional practice since 1984, she scoffed. This had to be quackery. She would have left, without even hearing him out, but another side of her practical nature won out. “I’d already paid for the course,” says Morgan, who owns Clayton Veterinary Associates in Clayton, N.J. “So I stayed.” What she thought was a mistake turned out to be career-changing. When Morgan got home, she decided to try out the technique. Her mother’s standard schnauzer had so much pain, she could no longer climb into the car. With her mother’s blessing, she tried an adjustment and then led the dog into the garage. “Not only did the dog jump into the car, but then she started jumping from the front to the back, …
