A New Journey: Mary Beth Leininger, DVMJanuary 5, 2009Mary Beth Leininger, DVM, says it all started with an invitation. Less than a week after she and her husband, Steven R. Leininger, DVM, launched their veterinary practice in Detroit, a colleague invited them to a seminar on heartworm. This was nearly 40 years ago, when heartworm was beginning to show up in northern climates. The Leiningers had recently moved from Chicago, where, she recalls, she had made a heartworm diagnosis only two or three times in two years. She didn't think the meeting would have much relevance, but a colleague gently insisted she really needed to hear the latest news. So they attended, and it changed her life. On the purely practical side, the seminar drove home the lifelong importance of staying current on medical issues; she gained the tools to properly diagnose the condition and discovered six cases the very next month. But from a larger standpoint, it set her on a path that shaped her entire career. Retiring this month after 10 years as director of professional affairs at Hill's Pet Nutrition of Topeka, Kan., Mary Beth Leininger has devoted much of her life to leadership on professional veterinary issues, including her service as president of the …
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