New Faces
by Lianne Carr

Dr. Richard Fredrickson came to Illinois for a pathology residency in 1999 after nearly 10 years of private practice in equine and cow-calf and feedlot medicine. After finishing that residency in 2002, Dr. Fredrickson was excited to stay on as a clinical assistant professor in the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

“With my large animal background, I thought I could bring a lot to the faculty,” says Dr. Fredrickson of his appointment.

Dr. Fredrickson received both a DVM and a master’s degree in veterinary toxicology from Iowa State University in 1990. He then worked as an associate veterinarian in a mixed animal practice from 1990 to 1994. In 1994, he opened his own practice in southeastern Illinois. He stayed in this 80% equine and 20% cow/calf feedlot practice until coming to Urbana for the residency.

His responsibilities in the College center on service and teaching in the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Dr. Fredrickson conducts necropsies, analyzes biopsies, and teaches general pathology, equine pathology, respiratory pathology, and interpretative serology to fourth-year students.

Dr. Fredrickson has always enjoyed reproductive work and is still involved in Thoroughbred reproduction. He owns Thoroughbreds and is a partner in an Arabian and Thoroughbred breeding farm.

He is also very involved in coaching his son and daughter in soccer, basketball, baseball, and football.

  Dr. Matthew Stewart, assistant professor in veterinary clinical medicine, came to the University of Illinois in January 2003 to direct the new orthopedic biology research program. Other clinical medicine faculty—Drs. Dianne Dunning, Dominique Griffon, and Allison Stewart—as well as residents in orthopedics are contributing to this new program.

Orthopedic biology has been Dr. Stewart’s focus since earning a bachelor of veterinary science degree, the Australian equivalent of a DVM, from Sydney University in Sydney, Australia, in 1985. Also at Sydney University, he completed both an internship in large animal medicine and surgery in 1986 and a residency and master’s degree in 1989.

He practiced privately in racetrack medicine from 1990 to 1993 and became a Fellow of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists in Equine Surgery in 1994. Between 1994 and 1998, Dr. Stewart was enrolled in a PhD program in molecular and cellular biology of chondrocytes at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

Upon completion of his PhD in1998, he served as assistant professor of orthopedics at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, until joining Illinois in 2003. His eventual return to a veterinary college to direct research “was all part of my big plan,” he says.

Aside from his many academic and professional pursuits in veterinary medicine, Dr. Stewart is interested in athletics, including rock climbing and triathlons. He has also been a world traveler, including service as a veterinarian on a research team during a 3-month trip to Antarctica in 1990.