Unconventional WisdomSeptember 2, 2010 Robyn Magee’s golden retriever, Grady, was sickly almost from the moment she brought him home as a puppy. He suffered from constant bloody diarrhea, recurring urinary tract infections, frequent ear infections. Conventional medications sometimes alleviated his problems temporarily, but the symptoms always returned. Finally, an associate of her veterinarian suggested that, rather than subject Grady to unrelenting pain, Magee consider putting him down. Instead, she sought the counsel of Shelley Epstein, VMD, CVH. Initially, Magee sought nutritional advice only, but Dr. Epstein also suggested homeopathic treatment. Somewhat dubiously—“I just didn’t know anything about it”—Magee agreed. The first remedy, phosphorus, began to stop the bleeding that accompanied the diarrhea, Magee says. The second, aloe socotrina, alleviated the diarrhea. More than two years later, Grady is in robust health. For Epstein, it’s the kind of case that reaffirms her decision to integrate a homeopathic approach into her conventional practice 15 years ago. “I don’t get excited about a rare diagnosis anymore,” she says. “Rather, I get excited about curing animals, even from common diagnoses like atopy or epilepsy.” Traditional Start Epstein, 51, started her career in a conventional way. Two days …
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Profit Prophet: Karen Felsted, DVM, MS, CVPMAugust 10, 2010 As a high school student, Karen Felsted was interested in a career in veterinary medicine, so she arranged to spend a Saturday shadowing a veterinarian who went to her church. It didn’t go well. “They had these little puppies and they had to remove their dewclaws, and they bled and cried and it was horrible,” she recalls. “So I just walked away, thinking, ‘I can’t do this.’ No one in my family has a medical background, so there was nobody to say, ‘You’ll get used to it.’ ” Instead, she majored in marketing, eventually becoming a CPA. So after she went back to her first love, graduating from the Texas A&M University veterinary college in 1996, she was uniquely positioned to serve where she is today: as CEO of the National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues (NCVEI). As both a veterinarian and an executive, Felsted, DVM, MS, CVPM, is passionate about the nonprofit group’s mission. The NCVEI was created in 2000 by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Animal Hospital Association and the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges to help ensure the economic future of veterinary medicine. “This gave me an opportunity to …
Doing A World Of Good: Glenn Gaines, DVMJuly 6, 2010 The building is nothing much to look at. A simple wood structure, it has a dirt floor, a tin roof and walls that don’t quite keep out the dust in the spring, when the winds blow the hardest. Glenn Gaines, DVM, describes it like a proud father, and no wonder. When it was completed under his watch last summer, the bare-bones building became the first large-animal diagnostic clinic in the entire nation of Mongolia. Equipped with technology like an endoscope, ultrasound and digital imaging system, the clinic is an important step toward the ultimate goal of making modern veterinary care accessible all over the remote, livestock-dependent Central Asian nation. “There are clinics throughout the country, but really they are not much more than pharmacies that the veterinarians work out of. For the most part they don’t have equipment, and if they do they may not have been trained on how to use it,” Dr. Gaines says. “That was a big part of our mission, giving the local veterinarians the knowledge and the expertise so they could go out and help [their clients].” Dr. Gaines trains vets to use AllPro Imaging’s ScanX system. Gaines …
Following His Heart: David Sisson, DVM, Dipl. ACVIMJune 2, 2010 David Sisson, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM (cardiology), loves cutting-edge technology. His residency project at the University of California, Davis, veterinary school in the early ’80s involved intravenous insertion of pacemakers into dogs at a time when the fix was rare in animals and almost always done surgically. Today, at Oregon State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, where he started the small-animal program five years ago, his prize piece of equipment is a 64-slice CT scanner that he says is better than those used in most human hospitals. It can scan a dog’s entire heart, down to the last blood vessel, in 15 seconds. “There’s nothing like being able to see the problem to be able to solve it,” he says enthusiastically. This veteran academic and cardiologist built his career by balancing his technological interests with a very practical philosophy: He believes in developing and using the most advanced technology possible to enhance animals’ lives and health but at a cost that’s reasonable to clients and to society. In his mind, that means concentrating on minimally invasive, less-expensive techniques for solving problems such as congenital heart defects. An Amplatzer duct occluder can block a defective …
Leading Lady: Jennifer Muller, VMDMay 4, 2010 Jennifer Muller, VMD, didn’t take the conventional path into veterinary medicine. Armed with a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, she went to work in the mid-’90s in Washington, D.C., first as a White House intern and later as a policy adviser to Vice President Al Gore. When the 2000 elections swept the Bush administration into power, she changed course, moving to California to start a career in scriptwriting. Hollywood’s loss turned out to be the veterinary profession’s gain. Dr. Muller’s unconventional career path was excellent preparation for the role she ended up taking on: Helping to create policies that have drastically improved the regulation of, and living conditions at, Pennsylvania’s commercial dog breeders.“That worked out so well, I ended up going to vet school,” she says dryly. She has served on Pennsylvania’s Dog Law Advisory Board since 2006 and has chaired the state’s nine-member Canine Health Board since 2008. The regulations she has had a hand in are a model for other states trying to improve conditions in their kennel industries, Muller says. Vet of the Year The veterinary profession has taken notice, too. Muller, 36, was named Summit VetPharm’s Veterinarian of the Year, receiving the …
A Working Relationship: Anndrea And Eric KapkeApril 9, 2010 Anndrea Kapke, DVM, couldn’t be faulted for wondering why she had bothered opening the suburban Indianapolis veterinary clinic. The first day, she and her business partner turned on a water faucet and nothing happened; the water main had burst. The second day, the furnace conked out. Then, within weeks, as they struggled to build a clientele, she realized she was pregnant with her first child, meaning the two veterinarians would have to rethink their plan of holding down expenses by holding off on hiring staff members. “It was kind of overwhelming,” she says now. “I wouldn’t recommend it,” her husband and business partner, Eric Kapke, DVM, agrees drily. The Kapkes and their marriage successfully survived the trauma of launching Greenwood Animal Clinic, which will turn 13 years old this fall. “There were times, at least in the beginning, when it might have been less stressful if one of us had been doing something different to bring in another income,” admits Eric, 39. “But really, we have always complemented each other well.” Adds Anndrea, 39: “We really understand each other. If one of us comes home and says we had this client or that case …
Forward Thinker: Edward J. Robb, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVNMarch 4, 2010 Early in his career as a veterinarian, with a few years of clinical practice under his belt, Edward J. Robb had a job interview with a veterinary pharmaceutical company. When asked why he wanted to go into product development, he gave a standard interview response, something non-committal about how interesting the job sounded. “And (the interviewer) looked at me and said, ‘You’re wrong,’ ” says Robb, DVM, MS. What did the prospective employer say his answer should have been? Robb paraphrases: “This is one of the few aspects in veterinary medicine where you can tackle projects that are bigger than one person can ever effect.” That simple statement made sense to the young veterinarian. He soon launched a career in which he has overseen the development of dozens of animal-health products, including Naxcel. And today, as vice president of research and development for Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. in St. Joseph, Mo., Robb leads more than 200 team members, all working on new pharmaceutical and biological products under the motto “Value Through Innovation.” “New vaccines and pharmaceuticals can change how we practice, and when that happens it makes an old way of doing things obsolete, or …
A Veterinarian With Write Stuff: James Rollins, DVMFebruary 11, 2010 In the new James Rollins thriller “Altar of Eden,” Dr. Lorna Polk is one smart, tough cookie: She stares down a mutant jaguar. She taps her knowledge of genetics and animal behavior to help crack a dangerous mystery. And she knows how to use the business end of a tranquilizer gun. No wonder Polk’s character is a veterinarian. And no wonder Rollins was able to convincingly render Polk and the exotic animals central to the plot of “Altar of Eden” (William Morrow, $27.99). Rollins is a veterinarian, too. Rollins—real name Jim Czajkowski, DVM—built a 20-year career as a successful California veterinarian. But it took a 10-year string of best sellers, including the Sigma Force series and the novelization of the script for “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” before he got around to writing what he knows best. Opening Chapter Like many veterinarians, Rollins was the kind of kid who collected strays and nursed injured birds back to health. He also loved to read, especially fantastic tales by writers such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. “I always wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t think I could make a living …
Top Dog: Kirk Weicht, DVMJanuary 4, 2010 Dr. Kirk Weicht, winner of the ‘Thank Your Vet for a Healthy Pet’ contest, keeps the well-being of pet owners and staff in sight. Diana Beck’s 11-year-old German shepherd mix was ill. Having recently moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Beck didn’t have a veterinarian, so she chose the hospital closest to home, where she met Kirk Weicht, DVM. Dr. Weicht diagnosed a tumor on the dog’s uterus and performed surgery, Beck says. But even more importantly, he gently explained everything, including the fact that had the dog been spayed, the tumor probably never would have developed. (Courtesy of Margaret Bryant Photography) Three types of salamander larvae “I hate to admit it, but up until then I thought that if you spayed or neutered a pet, it would make them fat, so I had never done it,” Beck says. “Until that time I was very uneducated in responsible pet ownership. No one, up until Dr. Weicht, had educated us enough to help us extend our pets’ lives and give them a better quality of life.” Twenty-five years later, Weicht is still Beck’s veterinarian, having helped her …
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. …
