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Faculty Promotions
The College promoted Dr. Gail Scherba, veterinary pathobiology, to full professor and Dr. Richard Wallace, veterinary clinical medicine, to associate professor with indefinite tenure. Congratulations to both!
At the meeting of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in North Carolina in June, Illinois faculty presented on a wide variety of topics. Speakers included Drs. Cassandra Brown, Peter Constable, Louis-Philippe de Lorimier, Timothy Fan, Steven Marks, Dawn Morin, Mark Oyama, Robert Prosek, Rhonda Schulman, and David Sisson and veterinary technician Heather Soder, all of veterinary clinical medicine, and Dr. Philip Solter, of veterinary pathobiology, among others. Illinois faculty did a great job of representing the College as a top resource for expertise on both small and large animal topics, ranging from coughing to critically reading food animal papers to myocardial contrast imaging.
Dr. Indrani Bagchi, veterinary biosciences, was an invited speaker at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Immunology at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., in June. In July, she was invited to speak at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Debbie Cassout, medical technologist I in the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, recently earned a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois University. She completed the degree while working full time.
Dr. Paul Cooke, veterinary biosciences, presented invited talks at the School of Public Health, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La., this spring. He was also invited to speak at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Toxicology, Salt Lake City, Utah, in March, and in April spoke about thyroid toxicants in Alexandria, Va. Also in April, he served as a member of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Board of Scientific Councilors review of the Laboratory of Molecular Carcinogenesis in the Division of Intramural Research, Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Dr. Alexander El-Warrak, small animal surgery resident, lectured on orthopedic topics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the University of Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in June.
Dr. Lois Hoyer, veterinary pathobiology, and Dr. Sheila McCullough, veterinary clinical medicine, attended the 2003 Congress of the International Society for Human and Animal Mycology, in San Antonio, Texas, in May. Dr. Hoyer served on the organizing committee for the congress, co-convened the veterinary mycology session, and presented her work on Candida albicans cell-surface adhesions in the fungal biochemistry session. Dr. McCullough delivered the opening presentation in the veterinary mycology session.
Elizabeth Kennedy, client counselor specialist in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, spoke at the Eastern Illinois Veterinary Medical Association Meeting on June 5. In July, she spoke at the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago along with members of the hospital oncology team. Kennedy was featured in the May issue of Dog Fancy and will appear in the August issue of Dog World.
Camilla Lieske, veterinary toxicology resident, received first place in the graduate student competition at the North Central Conference of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians annual meeting in Minneapolis-St. Paul in June. She presented a case report entitled “Salinomycin toxicosis in alpacas.” Other presenters at the meeting included Valentina Merola, toxicology resident, and Marie Pinkerton, zoological pathology resident. Faculty members Drs. Carol Lichtensteiger, pathobiology, and John Andrews, veterinary diagnostic laboratory, also attended.
A team representing the teaching hospital and diagnostic laboratory won the 2003 Faculty-Staff Bowling League. Members included Colleen Lynch, Kristin Englehart, Dr. Jennifer Grimm, Joe Bokor, Dave Prather, and Linda Klippert.
Dr. Tomas Martin-Jimenez, veterinary biosciences, presented two invited lectures at the 2nd European College of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology workshop on pharmacokinetics in Lisbon, Portugal, in July.
Dr. Christine Merle, veterinary clinical medicine, has received certification by the Veterinary Hospital Management Association as a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager. The process included an application and oral and written examination. She is currently the only CVPM in the state of Illinois.
In March she answered questions at the Chicagoland Family Pet Show. She presented a six-hour continuing education seminar in April. Dr. Merle serves as faculty adviser for the College bookstore and the new student club, Veterinary Practice Builders Association.
Dr. Dawn Morin, clinical medicine, was invited to give five presentations at the Clinical Mastitis Symposium held at North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando, Fla., in January. In February, she presented at the National Mastitis Council in Dallas, Texas. She also helped organize the Illinois Llama Association Meeting in March, hosted by the College.
Dr. William Tranquilli, veterinary clinical medicine, spoke at several meetings this year, including the North American Veterinary Conference in January, Western States Veterinary Conference and American Veterinary Medical Association in Connecticut in February, American Animal Hospital Association in March, Veterinary Midwest Anesthesia and Analgesia Conference in April, AVMA in July and Central Veterinary Conference in August. He also co-sponsored the VMAAC meeting in Indianapolis with Bill Muir from Ohio State. He spoke at the Pet Care Centers of America meeting in Dallas in April, and presented at the Jackson Hole Rendezvous meeting in June. He also serves on the International Academy of Animal Pain Management steering committee, and the meetings and financial committees, which help organize and support the academy. In September, IAAPM will meet to vote on officers and approve the IAAPM constitution at the 8th World Congress of Veterinary Anesthesia in Knoxville, Tenn.
Dr. Petra Volmer, veterinary biosciences, received a travel grant to attend the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences conference entitled, “Metabolic Profiling: Application to Toxicology and Risk
Reduction,” in Research Triangle Park, N.C., in May.
Michael Adkesson, class of 2004, won first place in the Wildlife Pharmaceuticals veterinary student manuscript competition sponsored by the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians. His paper focused on Gongylonema sp. infections in callitrichids, which are a family of small monkeys from South America including tamarins, Goeldi’s monkeys, and marmosets. He will present his work at the AAZV’s annual conference in Minneapolis in October.
Jason Bleedorn, class of 2005, will spend the summer at a research externship for Pfizer in Ann Arbor, Mich., studying hypertension in mice. He will present his findings to Illinois faculty in August.
Eight veterinary students were chosen to participate in the new Center for Zoonoses Research Veterinary Student Summer Training Program in Infectious Disease Research, which was funded by the Governor’s Venture Technology Program. The students will work side-by-side with faculty mentors conducting various infectious disease laboratory and fieldwork experiments. The students include Luke Borst, who will be working with Dr. Carol Maddox, Anthony Cappa, who will be working with Dr. Uriel Kitron, and Rebecca Dieter, working with Drs. Roberto Docampo and Uriel Kitron. Stacy Furgang will work with Drs. Peter Constable and Carol Maddox, while William Love will pair up with Dr. Tony Goldberg. Marie Sienkewicz, will work with Dr. Randy Singer, Jason Smith will work with Dr. Lois Hoyer, and Amy Wolf will work with Dr. Marilyn Ruiz. On August 18, the students will present their research findings at a poster presentation and reception.
Sarah Deitschel, class of 2006, was hired as the new Wildlife Medical Clinic Student Co-Manager. Sarah has experience working with native wildlife in Florida, and became a WMC volunteer her first year in the veterinary curriculum.
Students Thank Hill’s
The student chapter of the International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine would like to thank the Hill’s Student Feeding Committee for support of the first IAAAM Illinois Student Workshop. Ten students traveled to Florida, where they met with veterinarians at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Mote Marine Laboratory, and Sea World in Orlando. The students toured the hospitals and discussed the issues of aquatic animal medicine and the overall profession. The trip was invaluable for students who wish to work with aquatic species.In February, Wildlife Medical Clinic volunteers Danny Skirvin and Lynn Collura, Class of 2006, Rose Krupka, Class of 2005, and Julie Barr, Class of 2003, joined Rose Ann Meccoli, pathobiology, to attend the Toxicology Short-Course for Wildlife Professionals, held at the Brookfield Zoo. The volunteers learned decontamination techniques and received training on a wide variety of toxicants that wildlife may encounter. Students presented their knowledge during wildlife rounds, which enhanced all volunteers’ ability to treat cases presented to the WMC. The student’s tuition was subsidized by the Hill’s Student Feeding Committee.
Thanks to Hill’s
In the past year, in addition to aiding students with externships, conference attendance, and other travel and learning opportunities, the Hill’s Student Feeding Committee provided support for the following activities at the College:
First Year Vet Student Orientation
Mentor/Vet Student Pre-Game Event
Veterinary Job Fair
Fall Conference Alumni Pre-Game Event
Student Applicant Interviews and Recruitment Program
Annual Veterinary Medicine Open House
White Coat & Green Coveralls Ceremony
Graduating Senior Student Farewell
CVM Commencement Reception
CVM Holiday Dance
Improvements to the Small Animal Emergency Room
Equipment for Vet Med Fitness Club
Tenesmus Times, a monthly SCAVMA publication
