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What’s New?
Send your news to Vet Report, U of I College of Veterinary Medicine, 3225 VMBSB, 2001 South Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, IL 61802; fax: 217/333-4628; email: editor@cvm.uiuc.edu.
Virtual Class Reunions
Electronic bulletin board message centers have been created for the Classes of 1969, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, and each class since 2000. To receive the user ID and password to log in—or for help in starting one for your class—please contact Beth Erwin at berwin@cvm.uiuc.edu. Classes are using this space to share updated contact information, birth and wedding announcements, and stories about the pitfalls and pleasures of practice. Visit the secure Web site at http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/bbs/.
Alumni Listings
Sign up today for the College’s new monthly electronic newsletter, Illinois Vetnews. Once a month you will receive useful information from the College, such as practice management tips and client handouts from the Extension group, updates on student activities, and news from the teaching hospital. To add your address to our list, please send a request by email to vetnews@cvm.uiuc.edu or call Beth Erwin at 217/333-2762.
Dr. Jane M. Turrel (’70), owner of Veterinary Oncology Specialties, a Pacifica, Calif., clinic specializing in radiation oncology, was honored by Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine for her support of its cancer program. The Jane M. Turrel Radiation Therapy Suite was dedicated in June. Dr. Turrel’s parents both received bachelor’s degrees from Cornell in 1943.
Dr. Hattie Bortnowski (’81), clinical instructor in small animal internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, received the SCAVMA Instructor of the Year Award in May. She was honored for distinguished teaching and exemplary contributions to students.
Dr. Thomas J. Rosol (’81), professor of veterinary biosciences at The Ohio State University, has been named interim vice president for research. “His long history as a researcher gives him valuable insight into the needs of the faculty as research becomes more complex,” said Dr. Karen Holbrook, president of the university. Rosol joined Ohio State as an assistant professor of veterinary pathobiology in 1986 and made full professor in 1996. He holds an adjunct faculty appointment in the Department of Medicine and is a full member of Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. He became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in anatomic pathology in 1987. He is active in the American College of Veterinary Pathology, has been a reviewer for 25 scholarly journals, and has served as both an editorial board member and associate editor of Veterinary Pathology. He has seven active research projects totaling $2.3 million in support from the National Cancer Institute, the National Center for Research Resources, and the Schering-Plough Research Institute.
Dr. Stephen B. Hooser (’82), head of the toxicology section and assistant director of the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and associate professor in veterinary pathobiology at Purdue University, is currently president of the Comparative and Veterinary Specialty Section of the Society of Toxicology, having served over the previous 2 years as vice-president elect and vice president. After leaving the toxicology program at Illinois, he spent 4 years in a post-doctoral position at the University of Arizona and a year at the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute in The Netherlands before coming to Purdue.
Dr. Kip E. Panter (PhD ’83), a research animal scientist with Poisonous Plant Research Laboratory in Logan, Utah, was named Senior Research Scientist of the Year for the Agricultural Research Service’s eight-state Northern Plains Area. “Dr. Panter is an international authority on the natural chemicals in lupines, poison-hemlock and other poisonous plants that cause birth defects in cattle, sheep, horses, goats and other livestock,” said Edward B. Knipling of ARS. Dr. Panter has presented at more than 50 national and international meetings and has authored or co-authored more than 200 articles for scientific publications.
Dr. Kimberlee B. Beckmen (’89) completed a PhD in Wildlife Biology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1999 and then worked at the College as a research scientist in environmental toxicology and as co- director of Envirovet Aquatic. Last fall she accepted her “dream job” as the sole wildlife veterinarian for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
She recently sent an update about her new position:
“My first, urgent tasks were to develop a state-wide Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance plan in free-ranging cervids, initiate and coordinate a surveillance program of wild birds for West Nile virus with the state public health department, and reinstate an effective Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Field work mainly consists of assisting biologists with the capture of free-ranging wildlife. Major projects include a health assessment of the endangered Steller sea lion population in the Aleutian Islands, surgical implantation of subcutaneous radio transmitters in harbor seals in Prince William Sound, and radio collaring of caribou.
Dr. Beckmen’s new position as an Alaskan wildlife veterinarian has involved radio collaring wolves, taking blood from a grizzly bear sow (note cub in foreground), and monitoring black bears.
“In May, I participated in a project to translocate 85 black bears and 9 grizzly bears in a two-week period. It was expected that we would be able to capture 30 to 60 bears but the super-efficiency of the capture team was only interrupted by the dwindling supply of Telazol (350 vials was not enough!). Timing was so short because we had to dart them from helicopters when they came out of hibernation but before leaf out on the trees and moose calving. “These bears all came from a very small area near the Athabascan native village of McGrath (which is on the Iditarod trail) that cannot harvest enough moose to meet subsistence needs because more than half the newborn calves are killed by bears. Wolves are a problem there also but they mainly prey on adult moose. This is part of an intense management experiment intended to test the effectiveness of specific predator management in a localized system. Bears were moved about 200 miles away so by the time any returning bears reached McGrath, the calves would be old enough to avoid them. Keeping a plane load (5 to 7 bears) safely (for bears as well as pilot and veterinarian!) chemically restrained for several hours was often a daunting task for me, especially when there was a grizzly on board. Since I wanted them to recover as soon as possible after we reached the release site, it was often a fine line to tread on re-dosing for the last hour of the flight!
“Despite the packed schedule and unique stresses of the position, I couldn’t be happier being a wildlife veterinary pioneer on the Last Frontier!”
Dr. Cheryl S. Rosenfeld (’95), research assistant professor at the University of Missouri, received the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Golden Aesculapius Teaching Award for teaching Microanatomy to first-year veterinary students.
Dr. Sue Sterr (’95), owner of Covenant Animal Clinic in Clinton, Ill., temporarily moved her practice to a nearby business and began seeing patients again in little over a week after a tornado damaged the clinic at 9 pm on Friday, May 30. According to employee Janet Crawley, the tornado ripped the roof from the front of the building and damaged the front wall. Miraculously, the patients inside were unharmed. The operating and radiology equipment, the computers, the food and medical supplies were all spared. File drawers were sucked open by the wind, but no paper medical records were lost. “Everything’s still there. For the shape we’re in, we’re in pretty good shape,” said Crawley.
Dr. Kay (McKenna) Stratton (’97) and her husband, Steve, of Janesville, Wis., announce the birth of their son, Ian McKenna, born April 14. He joins his big sister, Natalie, age 5 1/2 years.
Dr. Julia Veir (’98) has completed a residency in medicine at Colorado State University and is pursuing a PhD working with novel therapies for chronic rhinitis in cats, inflammatory mediators in cats with asthma, and other projects dealing with aberrant immune responses in cats with respiratory disease. Her mentors are Drs. Mike Lappin and Steve Dow.
Dr. Seth Ghantous (’00) was named Small Animal Resident of the Year by the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine in May. The award, which recognizes outstanding contribution of time and expertise as a teacher, is determined by a vote of the fourth-year veterinary students.
Get Your Football Tickets Now!
Call Beth Erwin at 217/333-2762 to purchase tickets for games this fall. Tickets for tailgate parties on September 6 (mentors/students) and October 11 (Fall Conference/Dean’s Club) cost $15 ($5 for students coming
September 6).
Date
Opponent
Cost
Sept. 6
Illinois State
$29
Sept. 20
California
$31
Sept. 27
Wisconsin
$31
Oct. 11
Michigan State
$27
Oct. 25
Minnesota
$31
Oct. 22
Northwestern
$31
![[Dr. Beckmen taking blood from a bear sow]](images/grizz.jpg)
![[Dr. Beckmen with a wolf]](images/kimberlee2.jpg)