ISU CVM Gentle Doctor Fall 2021

COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE FALL 2021 | VOL. 35 NO. 2

Class of

2010 Historic Fundraising Campaign Shatters CVM Goal PAGE 22

Where are they now?

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Contents

FALL 2021 | VOL. 35 NO. 2 Gentle Doctor is published by the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine for alumni and friends of the college. The publication of the magazine is funded by the College of Veterinary

FEATURES

Medicine and the Veterinary Medical Alumni Association at Iowa State.

7 A Growing Challenge 8 Class of 2010 22 Forever True

Office of the Dean............................................515 294-1250 Office of Development....................................515 294-8562 Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital.......515 294-4900 Large Animal Hospital..............................515 294-1500 Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory................515 294-1950

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Editor............................................................... Dave Gieseke Writer............................................................Tracy Ann Raef Graphic Designer..................................... Heather Brewer We welcome your suggestions, comments, and contributions to content.

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Correspondence should be directed to: Dave Gieseke Editor, Gentle Doctor College of Veterinary Medicine Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011-1250

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515 294-4257 dgieseke@iastate.edu vetmed.iastate.edu Iowa State University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, marital status, disability, or protected Veteran status and will not be discriminated against. Inquiries can be directed to the Office of Equal Opportunity, 3410 Beardshear Hall, 515 Morrill Road, 515 294-7612, email eooffice@iastate.edu.

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COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE FALL 2021 | VOL. 35 NO. 2

IN EVERY ISSUE

4 College News 36 Alumni News

Class of

2010 Historic Fundraising Campaign Shatters CVM Goal

Where are they now?

PAGE 22

Cover story on page 8.

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38 Gentle Doctors Everywhere

FROM THE DESK OF THE DEAN From the Dean Dear Colleagues and Friends, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I can’t begin to thank you for the historic level of support our alumni, friends, faculty, staff and stakeholders gave to the College of Veterinary Medicine during the Forever True, For Iowa State fundraising campaign.

When the campaign concluded this past June, we raised $97,131,960 or 120% of our goal of $81 million.

The impact of the efforts over the past few years during Forever True will be felt long after this group of veterinary students graduate from Iowa State. It will continue to benefit our faculty long after many of us retire.

Thanks to so many generous contributions, the new Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory will continue to support Iowa’s $32.5 billion animal agriculture industry for decades to come. Students will reap the benefits of the Clinical Skills Laboratory, the renovated junior surgery laboratory and modern classroom space.

Eighty new scholarships were created during Forever True.

I cannot begin to emphasize how important this is to our students as they will now incur far less student debt than they would have prior to the campaign.

You have supported our research efforts. Made it possible to create and support essential programs within the college.

Allowed our faculty to fund cutting-edge innovations and support programs within their academic units.

Nine thousand of you contributed to your college during Forever True. The support came not only from alumni, but our stakeholders, compassionate clients from our hospitals, and so many others.

But we’re not done. And we’re not stopping now.

In the few months since the end of the campaign we are on track for a record breaking single-year fundraising total. These efforts are important for supporting the various programs that are so vital to the college’s mission. Increasing student and faculty support in areas such as diversity, equity and inclusion, and wellness are critical for the future of your college.

Thank you for your past support.

And thank you in advance for supporting the College of Veterinary Medicine in the years to come.

Dan Grooms, DVM, PhD Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of Veterinary Medicine

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collegenews Marc Kinsley Named LVMC Executive Director Dr. Marc Kinsley, associate professor of large animal surgery at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and Dr. Melissa Esser, assistant professor of large animal internal medicine at Michigan State, have been appointed to the faculty in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Kinsley has been named the executive director of the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center, while Esser will serve as a clinical assistant professor of veterinary clinical sciences. Both appointments are effective January 3, 2022.

A faculty member at Michigan State since 2014, Kinsley was also on the faculty at Oregon State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He worked in private practice in a New York veterinary clinic after graduating from Cornell University in 2008 with his DVM. Kinsley is a diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Surgery and his research focuses on osteoarthritis and developmental orthopedic diseases.

Esser received her DVM from Oregon State University in 2008 and is a diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. She previously served as a clinical instructor for large animal internal medicine at the University of Minnesota.

“Marc and Melissa are wonderful additions to our college team,” said Dr. Dan Grooms, the Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of Veterinary Medicine. “Both are accomplished clinicians, educators and leaders who will build on the college’s reputation for excellence. I am confident they will work effectively with veterinarians and clients across the state who share our passion for animal health.”

VACCINE TRAINING Dr. Justin Brown, assistant teaching professor in veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine, was among College of Veterinary Medicine faculty, residents and fourth-year professional students who administered COVID vaccines at Iowa State University’s mass vaccination clinics held last spring. Prior to the clinic, Brown and 40 other veterinary medicine personnel underwent training on giving the vaccines to humans. Photo: Christopher Gannon

CVM Receives High Ratings in International Rankings The College of Veterinary Medicine is 17th internationally and second in the United States in the 2021 ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects for veterinary sciences.

Only the University of California-Davis is rated higher than Iowa State in these rankings among U.S. veterinary colleges. Ghent University is ranked number one overall.

ShanghaiRanking ranks institutions in 54 subjects including veterinary sciences. To be included in the ranking, the universities need to have a minimum number of research publications from 2015-19.

Miller Named VMPM Chair Dr. Cathy Miller has been appointed the chair of the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine. She has served as the department’s interim chair for the past year after replacing Dr. Michael Wannemuehler.

A faculty members at Iowa State since 2006, Miller also served as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School. She holds

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a PhD in molecular microbiology and immunology from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine.

Miller’s research focuses on the interface between viruses and the cells they infect. Her lab is also involved in a number of projects examining the molecular mechanisms involved in influenza A virus pathogenicity and immunology in both swine and humans.

McGill Appointed as Salsbury Chair Dr. Jodi McGill, associate professor of veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine has been appointed as the John G. Salsbury Endowed Chair in Veterinary Medicine.

A faculty member at Iowa State since 2018, McGill earned her Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Iowa. She is a member of the American Association of Immunologists. Prior to joining Iowa State’s faculty, McGill was an assistant professor at Kansas State University and served as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Animal Disease Center in Ames.

Since coming to Iowa State, McGill has quickly established herself and her lab as one of the most productive on campus.

Her lab has identified important roles for IL-17 in bovine respiratory disease and the importance of Vitamin A in the mucosal immune response to respiratory syncytial virus in calves. She is quickly becoming a world expert in regulation of the immune response to infection and vaccination against respiratory diseases in cattle.

RESEARCH ROUNDUP • The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine, Iowa, has committed $400,000 to help expand the microscopy capabilities in the Department of Biomedical Sciences with the purchase of a stimulated emission depletion (STED) super-resolution microscopy system.

“Advances in technology often provide substantial improvements in research capabilities, but seldom is there an advancement that literally opens new vistas of research for a wide range of disciplines, including human, animal, plant and microbial research alike,” said Dr. Michael Kimber, professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences.

Examples of research that will benefit from the STED microscopy system include research to treat parasitic diseases such as malaria, the discovery of new therapeutic targets for inflammatory diseases, improve vaccine development, test how to overcome drug-resistant pathogens such as tuberculosis and COVID-19, and better understand birth defects, neurological disorders, male infertility in humans and animals.

• Dr. Michael Cho, professor of biomedical sciences, is studying how to develop COVID-19 vaccines that target SARS-CoV-2’s receptor-binding domain, or the part of the virus that docks with the host cellular receptor. This docking process allows the virus access to the host’s cells, which leads to infection.

Cho was the lead author of a study detailing the ability of a vaccine to induce antibodies in mice that target the virus’s receptor binding domain. The antibodies produced by the experimental vaccine attack the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the virus.

“The spike glyocoprotein is the key that opens the lock, and the region of the key with all the peaks and valleys and grooves in the RBD,” Cho said. “If antibodies attack the RBD, then the key won’t work and the door will stay locked, preventing infection. We don’t really need to make antibodies against the entire spike protein, which is more difficult to make. We can just focus on the RBD portion.”

• A new grant will help Dr. Gregory Phillips, professor of veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine, figure out how the microbiome, or all the microorganisms that live inside and on human systems, affects immunity and the effectiveness of vaccines.

Phillips’ research group has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study how the microbiome could be modified to make vaccines more effective. The estimated total award of the grant is $1.6 million over three years.

PROGRESSING RIGHT ALONG Work is well underway on the construction of Phase 1 of the new Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory just south of the main College of Veterinary Medicine campus. The $75 million project is anticipated to be completed in 2023. Photo: Dave Gieseke

Researchers are focusing on gut bacteria that have adapted to live in the human digestive system. These bacteria interact with the host systems to promote health in various ways.

“They’ve got an environment in our guts where they can thrive and grow and utilize what we feed them, and they help our digestive system by converting some of the food we eat that we don’t have the capacity to break down,” Phillips said.

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collegenews Faculty and Staff Notes

CVM Hosts National Research Symposium The College of Veterinary Medicine virtually hosted the National Veterinary Summer Scholars Symposium last August. The symposium was originally scheduled to be held on the Iowa State campus but was moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The annual conference showcased research accomplishments by veterinary students completing summer research internships. A record number of attendees participated this year in the symposium, co-sponsored by the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges. Dr. Jim Roth, Clarence Hartley Covault Distinguished Professor of Veterinary Medicine and director of the Center for Food Security and Public Health, was one of the event’s keynote speakers.

• Dr. Tim Day, professor of biomedical sciences, has been elected to a one-year term as president of the Faculty Athletics Representatives Association. Day has served as Iowa State’s Faculty Athletics Representative to the NCAA and the Big 12 Conference since 2010.

• Dr. Dan Grooms, the Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of Veterinary Medicine, has been recognized by The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine with their Distinguished Alumni Award.

Grooms earned both his DVM (’89) and PhD (’97) from Ohio State.

• Dr. Pat Halbur, chair of the Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine and executive director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, has been named the 2021 recipient of the E.P. Pope Award. The Pope Award is the highest award bestowed by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) and recognizes individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the AAVLD and the field of veterinary diagnostic laboratory medicine.

• Dr. Kristen Obbink, lead public health veterinarian in the Center for Food Security and Public Health, has been elected vice president of the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association.

• Dr. Paul Plummer, professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine and the Anderson Chair of Veterinary Sciences, has been recognized as an Honorary Diplomate of the American Veterinary Epidemiology Society.

• Dr. Jodi Smith, associate professor of veterinary pathology, has been named the CVM recipient of the 2021 Zoetis Award for Veterinary Research Excellence.

GOODBYE & HELLO Just a couple of months after graduating 148 members of the Class of 2021, a pair of White Coat ceremonies were held for the classes of 2024 and 2025. The Class of 2024 ceremony was delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Photos: Dave Gieseke

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A Growing Challenge Story by Dave Roepke

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mall animal caseloads at the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center surged as the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Then they surged even higher. The four busiest months on record for the hospital’s 24-hour emergency service are July 2021 (711 cases), August 2021 (710), May 2021 (657) and June 2021 (655).

“There’s no plateau yet,” said Dr. Rebecca Walton, critical care specialist at the Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital.The rising patient numbers, coming as the hospital’s capacity has at times been reduced due to pandemic precautions and scheduling impacts, has been a challenge emotionally and mentally.

Emergency services — available to any patient 24 hours a day without an appointment — have shouldered much of the growing demand. To ensure the best care for animals who need it the most, the hospital is considering establishing a triaging system that could at times reduce emergency services access for less serious conditions, said Dr. Jessica Ward, the interim chief medical officer for the Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital.

“It’s heartbreaking not being able to be everything to everyone,” she said. “But we might not be able to be everything to everybody and do a good job.”

The caseload boom at small animal hospitals isn’t a local phenomenon. It has emerged as a nationwide trend during the pandemic, though the cause isn’t clear. It could be the extended time at home with pets or a lack of spending in other areas may have made owners more interested in seeking veterinary care.

“The entire veterinary care industry is being stretched to its limits,” said Dr. Dan Grooms, the Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of Veterinary Medicine. “What we are experiencing here at Iowa State is similar to private practices and other teaching hospitals across the country.

There are many factors driving this, but the primary one is an increased demand for animal health care services.”

Regardless of the reason patient volume has increased, it’s clear it has had an outsized effect on emergency services. The hospital’s overall small animal cases were up 15.6% last fiscal year, compared to a 26.4% increase in emergency and critical care cases.

ris Photo: Ch

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“Demand has increased for everybody. Ability to meet that demand has decreased for everybody. And emergency services bear the brunt,” Ward said.

A portion of the hospital’s emergency patients don’t have medical concerns that don’t actually require emergency treatment. It treats a fair number of broken toenails and serves at times as back-up clinic care for owners whose regular veterinarians are booked.

Those are the types of situations that would be affected by a potential triaging system, which would dictate what sort of cases the hospital’s emergency room could take, based on patient volumes and severity as well as staffing levels.

Discussions are in their initial phases, and the step might not be needed, but it’s a policy other small animal hospitals have instituted to deal with rising caseloads, Ward said.

“We want to make sure that those really sick cases that need us, have us,” Walton said.

The climbing number of patients has affected all of the hospital’s care providers, including staff, students and veterinarians.

About 160 students, 140 staff, 40 faculty, and 40 interns and residents work at the small animal hospital. Staffing has increased somewhat as cases have risen, but not at the same trajectory.

There are some benefits to higher patient volume. For fourth-year students rotating through the hospital, for instance, the rush has often been a positive, Ward said.

It’s more hands-on experience to soak up.

“Everyone wants to do the best they can. That’s why it’s so hard to say no,” said Dr. April Blong, critical care specialist in the Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital. gd

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Class of

2010 Stories by Dave Gieseke

These stories are just a small fraction of what the Class of 2010 is doing.

Additional stories are available online at vetmed.iastate.edu/class-2010.

Check back periodically as we continue to add to these stories. If you are a member of the Class of 2010 and would like to be included or have contact information on a class member not included please contact Dave Gieseke at dgieseke@iastate.edu.

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hey came from Alabama, Massachusetts, California and New Jersey.

Most were Midwesterners that made the journey from their Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota hometowns to Ames to study at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

When the Class of 2010 first started classes in the fall of 2006, there were 120 in their class. Almost 80% were female. Their average age was 23 years.

Most were coming directly from their undergraduate institutions.

Four years later the class had grown to 121 students and after graduation, like all graduating classes, they went their separate ways.

Well, not all of them. Some married classmates. Others now work together.

A decade later, the Class of 2010 is spread around the globe working in a wide variety of careers in the veterinary profession.

What follows is a snapshot at where the Class of 2010 has gone and the amazing things they are doing in their communities – whether a large metropolitan area like Los Angeles or tiny Eldora, Iowa.

Each has made their mark. These are their stories.

Veterinarian Hero Dr. Katherine Polak She may not know every member of the Class of 2010, but it seems like all of Dr. Katherine Polak’s classmates know about her.

When a 2010 graduate was approached about this project, they would say something similar to… “you have to talk to Katherine Polak.

She’s doing amazing work.”

It’s hard not to be impressed with what Polak has accomplished in the decade since graduating from Iowa State. She has wasted no time putting her DVM degree to meaningful use.

Polak works for the charity FOUR PAWS International, managing its companion animal work in Southeast Asia from her home base in Bangkok.

She developed and launched a regional partnership program which aids local animal welfare groups, trains local veterinarians, and operates community engagement programs.

“When I started, FOUR PAWS had only operated stray animal programs in Eastern Europe, so work in Southeast Asia was completely new for the organization,” Polak said. “I had the unique opportunity to help craft a regional strategy and launch a program designed to help build local animal welfare charities who needed help.”

She combats poor veterinary training and the lack of government interest in animal welfare. There is rampant pet abandonment in Southeast Asia and a lack of spay neuter services.

Polak tailors the programs to the local situation. In Cambodia and Thailand, she goes up against a huge animal welfare issue by working with local governments and providing care to animals at Buddhist pagodas and underserved communities. Veterinary training is also incorporated into

programs. In Vietnam, “Cats Matter Too” provides free spay/neuter and medical care for thousands of cats in addition to educational programs for children.

“These programs are so desperately needed given the significant suffering of companion animals in much of Southeast Asia,” Polak said.

But the program’s most notable focus is on the dog and cat meat trade in Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Under Polak’s direction, FOUR PAWS launched an international campaign to end the cat and dog meat trade in these countries. She manages the onthe-ground operations, investigations, as well as local activities and lobbying.

FOUR PAWS has established an international transport/adoption program for rescued dogs, transporting them from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Boston and Los Angeles for re-homing.

The organization was successful in shutting down a dog slaughterhouse in Cambodia, which was responsible for killing over 2,000 dogs a year. Since then, she has helped close three more slaughterhouses, one of which killed more than one million dogs since opening.

“Our first closing took months and months of planning, determining a livelihood conversion opportunity for the slaughterhouse owner, and then finally rescuing dogs,” Polak said. “It was so incredible to save them from an imminent death, but also help the slaughterhouse owner and his family who really didn’t want to be killing dogs for a living.”

She also manages FOUR PAWS undercover investigations. That means visiting dog and cat markets, slaughterhouses and restaurants.

“The cruelty there is unimaginable,” Polak says. “Seeing the drowning, hanging, stabbing and blowtorching of companion animals is heartbreaking and it can be difficult and so emotionally exhausting. The progress

made is also incredible.

In July 2020, we were able to secure the firstever ban on the dog meat trade in Siem Reap, Cambodia.”

Submitted Photos

These experiences have cemented Polak’s long-time passion for helping underserved animals. After graduating from Iowa State, she completed an internship in shelter medicine and surgery at Colorado State followed by a residency at the University of Florida.

After her residency, Polak served as the medical director at Soi Dog Foundation in Thailand, where she trained local veterinarians and launched a program in Bangkok to neuter upwards of 80,000 dogs per year.

Her humanitarian work hasn’t been limited to Southeast Asia. She is the founding medical director of the Spayathon for Puerto Rico with the Humane Society of the United States.

This groundbreaking initiative has a goal of neutering more than 85,000 dogs and cats over three years.

For her efforts, Polak has been honored, and honored a lot. In 2019, she was named the Association of Shelter Veterinarians’ Veterinarian of the Year. The American Humane Society named Polak its Hero Veterinarian of the Year in 2020.

“Improving animal welfare is central to my philosophy as both a person and veterinarian,” Polak said. “I’m really fortunate to have the opportunity to try to create sustainable change for animal welfare in an area of the world where there aren’t many resources for animals, particularly strays.” gd

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Dr. Tricia Tai Starting vet school at Iowa State in her late 20s, Dr. Tricia Tai was anxious to “just start working” after she completed her DVM and rotating internship.

Yet, it was during her rotating internship that neurology became her main focus, one she wanted to specialize in.

“So I made the decision to apply for a neurology residency but I was only going to try one time and if I got in, then great, but if I did not, I would have likely gone into general practice,” Tai said.

She got in and completed a threeyear residency program at a private practice in Orlando, Florida.

“When I got the results from MATCH that I was accepted, I took it as a sign I was meant to do this,” Tai said. “It is becoming so hard to get a residency nowadays that most people have to do specialty internships after their rotating

In His Dream Job Dr. Eric Behlke He knew he should have been studying.

But Dr. Eric Behlke, then a first-semester veterinary student, just couldn’t shake the feeling he had more important things to do than focusing on his upcoming anatomy final.

2010

“I was studying for finals in the library and I asked myself ‘why I was in vet school?” Behlke recalled.

The answer came almost instantaneously.

“I wanted to be a vet,” Behlke said. “It was my dream job and right then and there I decided where I wanted to work.

“I stopped studying and typed a letter to Feedlot Health Management Services

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internships before even applying for a residency so I’m fortunate to have been able to get accepted straight away.

“It didn’t hurt that the program was my top choice,” she adds.

These days, Tai is back in her native Los Angeles at the VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital, the flagship VCA clinic and the largest VCA in the country. There she sees both medical and surgical neurology cases as the head of neurology and neurosurgery.

Ironically, she had no intentions of returning to her hometown. Instead she wanted to try living and working in either Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, anywhere but Los Angeles.

Then her intern director reached out to Tai when a neurology position opened up at the VCA hospital.

“I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work at this type of environment,” she said. “We have every major specialty here aside from dermatology.

by Telus Agriculture (Feedlot Health), who I had previously identified as leaders in the field of feedlot medicine and production consulting, telling them I intended to work there after graduation.”

Graduation was still three-plus years away. Behlke’s eagerness to work at Feedlot Health must have struck a chord with the company. It wasn’t much later that he received a reply from the Canadian firm, encouraging him to stay in contact and at some point, to meet face to face.

Today that email is framed and hanging in Behlke’s Okotoks, Alberta, office.

After graduating from Iowa State with his DVM (he also holds a master’s in animal science from The Ohio State University and a PhD in animal science from the University of Nebraska),

We have rotating interns, specialty interns and residents, so it is a great teaching environment.”

Tai sees dogs, cats and exotic pets at her practice, which allows her to dabble in medical neurology as well as neurosurgery.

“Neurology can be a very sad field,” Tai said. “It’s always hard regardless of the specialty and it’s never easy to counsel an owner to euthanize their beloved pet but I also feel that it is a privilege for me to be able to advocate for my patients and to relieve suffering when it is time to say goodbye.

“While there are many neurologic conditions that are not curable, the satisfaction of performing spinal surgery on a dog or cat that is unable to walk and see them back a few weeks later walking again never gets old.” gd

Behlke joined Feedlot Health, a professional services company that provides comprehensive herd health programs, veterinary services, and veterinary and production consulting services around the globe.

He has been there ever since. After three years he was offered and accepted an ownership stake in the company, and he currently leads the individual Animal Management Team. While he is headquartered in Calgary, his job frequently

Submitted Photo

Back Home Again

Dr. Melissa Hensch She may have grown up in suburban Chicago, but Dr. Melissa Hensch sure loves her pigs.

“My friends and family ask me a lot of questions,” Hensch says. “I love helping explain what I actually do.

“Sometimes even my closest relatives I have to explain the whole process.

It’s been an eye-opening experience to me. I’m surprised at how little people know about modern pig production.”

Hensch has a lot of experience in swine production. After graduating from Iowa State, she spent almost three years at Innovative Agriculture Solutions, a small private consulting practice in suburban Des Moines.

The practice was swine-exclusive and provided her with a broad range of hands-on experiences. Since leaving

takes Behlke to the USA, Kazakhstan, and even Mexico on occasion.

The Nebraska native has become known for applying data toward practical management decisions in feedlot health management. He describes himself as a professional services veterinarian and production consultant.

“I had an early fascination with cattle,” Behlke said. “I have lived and breathed beef cattle my whole life. Cattle are unique animals in that they have the ability to convert cellulose to protein, and I truly love working with not just the animals, but also the people who are raising and caring for them.”

It doesn’t matter if Behlke is in Canada, his home state of Nebraska or halfway around the world in Kazakhstan, he says the people in the industry are one and the same.

Innovative Agriculture Solutions, Hensch has spent the vast majority of her professional career with The Maschhoffs, the largest family-owned pork production network in North America, in a variety of positions.

Now the director of health and animal care at The Maschhoffs, Hensch leads a team of seven herd veterinarians in addition to the company’s animal care and veterinary technicians. She has ultimate responsibility for 175,000 sows at over 60 farms across seven states.

“I was able to find something I was truly passionate about,” Hensch says.

“I love teaching and working with people and that’s what I’m doing every day.

“I get my rewards by seeing others be successful and developing people.

That’s the core of what I do.”

One of the ways Hensch teaches and works with people is getting out of the office and working directly with pigs. She doesn’t want to be known as

strictly an office veterinarian.

“It’s important to me to get out into the field and into the barn at least one or two days a week,” she said. “I love those days. It’s fun. It’s easy. It’s what I’m trained to do.”

Submitted Photo

Hog Wild About Pigs

But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t enjoy the other aspects of her job.

The Maschhoffs is a broad operation, with everything from feed mills to truck washes and other support areas included on the farms.

It’s that broader operational scale Hensch enjoys about her job and the opportunity to make a difference in the world.

“We’re providing food for the world here,” she said, “safe and affordable food.” gd

“There is a common thread among these individuals,” he said, “and that’s the general love for the animals we care for.”

In his role with Feedlot Health, Behlke spends a vast majority of his time onsite, communicating with clients. He is constantly reviewing data from his clients and advising them on decisions relating to herd health going forward.

Feedlot Health oversees more than four million head of cattle annually with their clients ranging from small operations of 500 head to over 150,000 in one location. Regardless of the size or location of the feedlot, Behlke says the challenges and opportunities on feedlot operations are surprisingly similar, just on different scales.

“Since we are an international firm, it is important for me to know and understand any differences and make the appropriate adjustments in what

Submitted Photos

we recommend,” he said. “That’s what keeps the job exciting.” gd

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From Classmates to Business Partners Drs. Troy Worth and Nicole Hanson Hendricks As fellow students in the Class of 2010, Drs. Troy Worth and Nicole Hanson Hendricks were acquaintances but no one would call them close friends.

Certainly not Worth or Hendricks.

“We didn’t spend a lot of time together in vet school,” Worth recalled.

Photo: Dave Gieseke

They can’t say that now.

Worth and Hendricks are co-owners of Veterinary Services in Imperial, Nebraska, located in the southwest portion of the state. The clinic offers both large animal and small animal services.

Worth joined Veterinary Services right after graduating in 2010 and became a co-owner in 2014.

“This has been my first and only job,” he said. “I always wanted to own a clinic not only for the opportunities that arise from ownership but the many challenges as well.”

2010

Hendricks path to Imperial and Veterinary Services wasn’t quite as straight and narrow. After graduating from Iowa State, she got married and spent three years at a small animal clinic in Kearney, Nebraska.

When a business opportunity came open for her husband, she moved to back to her native southwest Nebraska where she had a “tough time” for a year or so doing relief and part-time veterinary work. Then she learned about an open position at Veterinary Services.

After Worth learned Hendricks had applied for the job, he did a double take.

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“When she contacted us about the job, I went right to my class composite to confirm that it was the same Nicole,” Worth said. “It was strange because we hadn’t had any contact since we graduated.

“I never thought in my wildest dreams I would be interviewing a classmate for a job.”

Hendricks’ move to Veterinary Services wasn’t without its challenges.

Her new job initially required she practice both small and large animal medicine. It was a steep relearning curve for her since she “hadn’t touched a cow since vet school.”

“Small animals, I knew what I was doing,” she said. “With large animals, I had to look up the dosages off to the side so the client wouldn’t see what I was doing.”

“We hired Nicole for the small animal side of the business and it’s really taken off.” Worth said.

“From the very first day, she has been busy all the time.”

When one of the original practice owners retired in 2019, Hendricks leaped at the chance to purchase the other half of the business.

“Working for someone else, you are always wanting to do things differently,” she said. “You have to be an owner to be able to do that.

“There’s good and bad things about being an owner but in the end, you get to decide.”

With a population of just 2,000, Veterinary Services has to draw clients and patients from a 60-mile radius from Imperial. The practice has grown significantly over the years, adding not only new equipment but buildings as well.

Every month, Worth and Hendricks estimate another 15-20 new clients seek veterinary care at Veterinary Services. In addition to the co-owners, the practice has two other veterinarians – Iowa State graduates Dr. Jake Johnson (’16) and Dr. Meghan O’Callaghan (’20).

The two say the opportunity to work together before becoming co-owners was a great trial run to see if they could be compatible as owners.

“I never thought we would be owning a practice together,” Worth said. “It’s been great – Nicole and I have many of the same ambitions and it just kind of fell into place.” gd

Out in the Field Dr. Pamela Dinslage One moment Dr. Pam Dinslage is indicating her job as a veterinary field officer for the State of Nebraska operates at a much slower pace than she experienced while in private practice.

Then she begins to go into a little more detail about her vast job responsibilities.

“I have responsibility for 18 counties in northeast Nebraska,” Dinslage said. “That includes everything from monitoring cattle imports from Mexico, Canada and the states, to the feedlots, swine, poultry, gamebird, cervid operations, sale barns, and rendering plants in these counties.”

Eighteen counties is a fair amount of responsibility. Dinslage says she is consistently on the road, traveling as far away as 2 ½ hours to visit feedlots, swine and poultry facilities. Nebraska

Mixing Up Her Practice Dr. Christina Wagner After years of focusing solely on equine patients, today Dr. Christina Wagner is taking a mixed animal approach to her professional life.

“I do the bulk of the equine work at my practice and still enjoy lameness, dentistry and reproduction,” Wagner said. “However, I enjoy the variety a mixed animal practice provides. I prefer working for good, kind owners. It doesn’t matter to me what species it is.”

Wagner is a part owner of the Riverside Animal Clinic in Springfield, Minnesota. She joined the practice in 2014 before purchasing a share of the clinic two years later.

After moving from Iowa to Texas to Florida, Wagner is happy to be settled in Minnesota. “I enjoy the variety of

trails only Texas in the number of cattle on feed and Dinslage’s home county of Cuming has the largest number of beef cattle on feed in the state.

between the Nebraska Department of Agriculture and the producer during stressful animal disease situations.”

“One of the best parts of this job is being able to talk to the producers and getting to know them and their operation before a problem shows up where they need guidance,” she said.

After graduating, Dinslage worked part-time at mixed animal clinics in Schuyler and Laurel, Nebraska, before working full-time at another mixed animal practice in Oakland, Nebraska.

The feeling isn’t always mutual.

Dinslage is the person contacted when there is a problem at an operation. One of her primary responsibilities is determining if a foreign animal disease has shown up in a herd. When Pathogenic Avian Influenza hit the industry hard a few years back, Dinslage was on the front lines taking samples and testing for the disease.

“It seems like I only get calls when something is going wrong,” she said, “but it is humbling to be the voice of reason and to be the mediator

services I’m able to provide at our clinic,” she said. “There is always something every day that requires me to learn or look something up.”

Riverside Animal Clinic has three different offices that Wagner and the clinic’s other doctors rotate through.

She says the mixed animal practice sees a variety of dogs, cats, small rodents, cattle, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, exotics, and even a few deer.

Her career today is much different than it was when she finished her DVM. After graduation, Wagner completed an internship at Oakridge Equine Hospital in Oklahoma before joining Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery in Weatherford, Texas. There she was in the Racetrack division which saw her working on racing Quarter horses throughout the country.

After a brief stop at another equine facility, this time in Minnesota, she made the leap to the mixed animal practice at Riverside Animal Clinic.

Submitted Photo

Her husband Tyson (’09) practices at Nebraska Vet Services and it seemed like every night and weekend one or both were on call. Looking for a different lifestyle, Dinslage joined the Nebraska Department of Agriculture and hasn’t looked back.

“I do miss surgery,” she said, “but Tyson will let me help out with spay/ neuter clinics his practice offers. We also have our own cattle, so it seems we end up having to do a C-section every now and then, so I still get to cut stuff. It is just like riding a bike.” gd

Although her professional focus isn’t 100 percent on horses, Wagner still devotes a lot of her free time to the species. She assists a draft horse hitch team throughout the year.

“Driving horses is very different than riding horses and I’ve really enjoyed the challenge of not only learning how to drive but also the differences in issues commonly dealt with in driving horses,” she said.

Her interest in draft horse hitch teams began during her internship. Wagner started attending shows and assisting Percheron hitch teams across the country.

“It usually takes a decent size crew to care for and show that number of horses,” Wagner said. “I’ve been fortunate to travel all over the country, Canada and even South America through my involvement in the draft horse industry. I hope to some day own several Percheron mares to breed and market the foals.” gd Submitted Photo

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Doing What She Loves to Do Dr. Kimberly McCreedy Most of the year, Dr. Kimberly McCreedy is a relief veterinarian in the Portland, Oregon, area.

She somewhat jokingly says she is in this line of work so she can do what she’s really passionate about.

Submitted Photos

“The rest of my year is to make money so I can volunteer for sled dog races,” McCreedy says.

McCreedy’s interest in sled dogs began during her third year of veterinary school at Iowa State.

A presentation by an Oklahoma State University veterinarian opened her eyes to the sport.

2010

The rest, as they say, is history. She was able to arrange her fourth-year clinical studies to include a sevenweek stay in Alaska for the Iditarod and Yukon Quest sled dog races.

If she wasn’t hooked before, this experience definitely did the trick.

Since then, McCreedy has volunteered for 20 sled dog races including 10 Iditarods, three Yukon Quests, five Eagle Cap Extremes, a sprint dog race in Fairbanks, Alaska, and one dryland race.

The Iditarod requires a minimum of five years of veterinary experience

before individuals can volunteer as a veterinarian and treat the dogs.

is shorter, just 200 miles and is run annually in her home state of Oregon.

So, even though she had a veterinary degree, McCreedy had to apprentice as what she called a “glorified vet tech” for a couple of years at the Iditarod. She has served primarily as a veterinarian but has performed other duties as well.

Each race comes with its own special quirks, including extremely cold temperatures.

“They want you to have that experience because your care for the dogs is solely based on your exam and the dog’s medical history,” she said.

“There are no diagnostics, no bloodwork, no x-rays available to you out in the field.

“You have to be very confident in your skills in conducting an exam.”

McCreedy says, like any athlete, sled dogs develop sore muscles and joints during the race. Some will develop pneumonia, primarily if they run too soon after eating or in warm conditions, or rhabdomyolosis, a serious muscle condition.

Each of the three sled dog races McCreedy volunteers at are different.

The most famous race, the Iditarod, is a grueling 1,000-mile trek from Willow, Alaska to Nome over at least eight days. The Yukon Quest runs from Fairbanks to the Whitehorse, Yukon Territories in Canada, another 1,000-mile run that takes anywhere from nine days to two weeks to complete. The Eagle Cap Extreme

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“For the Iditarod, we get to fly in small planes into villages you’ve never heard of,” McCreedy says.

“The Yukon Quest is such a tightknit group where we get to drive and see the country. And the Eagle Cap Extreme has a real family feel to it.

“The coldest race I have been a part of was 52 degrees below zero on the Yukon Quest, but I wasn’t bothered by the cold. Instead I embraced it.”

During these races, McCreedy will provide a variety of veterinary care including making sure the dogs are fit to continue. Injuries are rare, but she has sown a cut on a dog’s shoulder in the field. If the dog is determined to be unfit to continue in the race, they are withdrawn and not allowed to substitute back in later in the competition.

But just as much as providing the veterinary care, McCreedy is a fan of the dogs and the races.

“I love watching what these dogs can do,” she said. “These athletes are so passionate about running. Watching a team leave the starting point gives me full body chills.” gd

Passionate Veterinarian Dr. Seth Vredenburg Like so many other veterinarians, Dr. Seth Vredenburg’s desire to work with animals started at an early age.

But after working long hours in a high-volume practice, he started to notice a change in his behavior. His attitude toward the profession he had longed dreamed of was changing.

“I didn’t know it just yet, but I was suffering from burnout, compassion fatigue, adrenal fatigue, moral stress – all sorts of things,” Vredenburg said.

Vredenburg needed a change in his life. Working for Banfield Pet Hospital, he did an about face and secured a position with his company on the Talent and Learning team.

“When I stepped away from clinical practice, I knew I wasn’t ‘well.’

I didn’t fully understand what it meant, but I knew I had to do something different with my degree.

Getting away from working in a clinic was my best option,” he said.

He’s proud of the work he did on the Banfield team and the veterinarian profession as a whole.

He helped change the company’s DVM onboarding, developed organizational wide competencies, and worked with the medicine team to develop new training specific to anesthesia.

But more than anything else, Vredenburg is proud of the work he did on compassion fatigue.

“Compassion fatigue is the result of working very hard and caring very much and not recognizing and taking care of our own needs,” he said. “It doesn’t make us lesser doctors or lesser professionals. It just makes you human.”

That realization hit home – it was what he had been suffering while working on the clinic floor.

One of the first projects Vredenburg created on Banfield’s Talent and Learning team was a round table on compassion fatigue to help individuals who were not veterinarians.

“It is important for others to have a better understanding of what compassion fatigue is and how to support those affected,” Vredenburg said. “While I never got to the point of considering suicide, my anxiety and depression were very difficult to manage and move through.

But regardless of his position, Vredenburg wants to focus not only on his health and wellbeing, but those throughout the veterinary profession.

“At the end of the day, it is about drawing boundaries and allowing situations to slide away, just as the day has, knowing there will be new challenges tomorrow,” he said. gd

“Being out of the clinic helped, but what really helped was being able to share my personal journey, in hopes of helping others. Being able to tell my story helped me the most in being able to move forward and let down some of the baggage that comes along with the profession and practice.”

Vredenburg speaks candidly about his struggles at conferences and at various veterinary colleges across the country. He believes it is important for veterinary students to understand the different types of stressors they will face.

Submitted Photos

“Understanding yourself and how you manage emotions, deal with anxiety and let go of moral stress is so important for your future success as a practicing veterinarian,” he said.

“I believe it’s probably even more important than remembering every single thing from microbiology or the name of every muscle in the body.”

Right before COVID-19 hit, Vredenburg switched jobs within Banfield and he is now a telehealth vet with the company. He works from his Lincoln, Nebraska, home allowing him to spend more time with his family.

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Dr. Katie Spaulding Having worked in an animal shelter for seven years after graduating, Dr. Katie Spaulding was used to not having the most up-to-date equipment on hand to treat her patients.

Then she accepted a position in Hawaii with Animal Balance, a global, non-governmental organization that provides spays and neuters throughout the world.

The working conditions she found on the Island of Kauai was a little more extreme than she was used to as the Dakin Humane Society’s Adoption Center veterinarian in Springfield, Massachusetts.

“I’ve always worked in a shelter so I’ve never had access to a lot of fancy equipment,” Spaulding said, “but this was bare bones. It was a little nerve wracking at first because I was used to having walls in the surgical suite.”

In Kauai, Spaulding was doing field surgeries in all sorts of locales including an old car dealership and parking lots. A half shipping container (just 16 feet long) was outfitted as a semipermanent spay/neuter clinic serving all cats on Kauai. Pop-up tents were

Determined to be a Veterinary Dentist

2010

Dr. Mary Krakowski Volker There was this vet school class Dr. Mary Krakowski Volker distinctly remembers.

And she should, because that class and its speaker decided her career path.

“It was called ‘Vet and Society’ and the course explored the different career options you could have as a veterinarian,” Volker recalled. “I thought it was

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used for induction and recovery, prompting Spaulding to say she was “ basically working outside.”

Spaulding said there is a huge need for spays and neuters in Kauai because of the feral cat population, estimated at 20,000 just on that island.

“The feral cat population is a big problem in Hawaii, particularly in Kauai,” she said. “The cats prey on the bird population here and these clinics have a goal of reducing the number of cats with a high volume of spays and neuters.”

And talk about high volume. Spaulding says she and her partner were able to do 40 spays and neuters a day and thousands over the life of the program.

Animal Balance moves into an area to help with spays and neuters for a short period of time. While that organization is now gone, Spaulding has remained on Kauai and has started her own non-profit, AnimalohA to provide accessible veterinary care to underserved Hawaiian island communities.

“I’ve always liked making a difference,” Spaulding said. “That’s why shelter medicine made so much sense for me to focus on.”

Submitted Photo

AnimalohA was just getting underway when COVID-19 hit and Spaulding’s non-profit took a back seat to the pandemic. That opened up other opportunities for her.

For the past year she has been volunteering, once a month, at the Ke Kai Ola Hospital for Hawaiian Monk Seal Conservation on the Big Island.

Spaulding has recently accepted a position with the County of Kauai’s Department of Health, working on infectious diseases. In addition to her DVM, Spaulding earned a Masters of Public Health from the University of Iowa.

“I was looking for something new and I’ve always been interested in population health and population medicine,” she said. “Now I get to help the human population with disease prevention.” gd

fabulous to be exposed to all these different routes you could take.”

But one career path stood out.

“A board-certified veterinary dentist lectured during one class period,” Volker said. “Right then and there, I knew that’s what I was going to do.”

The only problem was at the time, Iowa State didn’t have a dentist on faculty. No two-week dentistry rotation, no opportunity to be mentored.

That didn’t stop Volker. In her fourth year, she did two dentistry

Submitted Photo

Bare Bones Spays and Neuters

externships, preparing to apply for a rotating small animal internship after graduation. Her requirement – it had to be an exceptional internship that had a veterinary dentist on staff.

The next problem – there were very few internships available across the

No Place Like Home Dr. Adam Hansen As long as Dr. Adam Hansen could remember, he would job shadow his father, Dr. Donald C. Hansen (’73).

He remembers walking from his junior high school to the Shelby Vet Clinic after classes were done for the day. If there was a call in the night, Adam would tag along with his dad.

Summer, school breaks, holidays – it was all the same, Adam spent time with his dad and at the clinic.

“As far back as I can remember, I would go with Dad on calls anytime I had a chance,” Adam said. “My goal was always to come back and work with him – that was my dream since a young age.”

Even when he was a veterinary student at Iowa State, Adam would make the twohour journey back home from Ames.

Weekends, summers, it didn’t matter, he was back at the Shelby Vet Clinic.

“Almost any chance I got, I was back here,” Adam said. “Looking back, I probably should have spent more time getting to see how other practices operate, but it has worked out pretty well.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Adam joined the practice after graduation and has remained in his hometown. Even then he couldn’t stay away too long.

country that employed veterinary dentists at their hospital. Again Volker wasn’t detered.

“I was going to get an internship and then a residency,” she said. “I went out to meet people in the field. I went to conferences. I worked hard.

I made sure people knew this was what I was interested in.”

And she was selected. She completed her rotating small animal internship at Denver’s VCA Alameda East Veterinary Hospital. She then interviewed and accepted a veterinary dentistry and oral surgery residency

“I graduated on a Saturday, took Monday off, and then started work right away,” he said.

“I told him to get back home and get to work,” Don chuckles. “He knew the people already and that made it an easy transition. Adam was always a good, hard worker, and he brought back a lot of new ideas.”

Shelby is and has been home to Adam, an owner of the clinic after Don retired in 2019. The Shelby Vet Clinic is a four-veterinarian practice. All the vets are ISU graduates and, like Adam, have a connection to Shelby.

“Our goal is to find local people so hopefully they’ll stay as we continue to build a successful practice,” Adam said.

A mixed animal practice, the Shelby Vet Clinic sees primarily beef cattle with herds ranging from 30 head to 1,000.

The clinic also sees companion animals and a few horses and small ruminants.

Don joined the Shelby Vet Clinic a year after graduating from Iowa State.

In 1980 he bought the practice and has developed a client base that has passed along to Adam and his partners. Over the years, the clinic has expanded, which the son gives a lot of credit to his father.

“Dad was a pretty progressive vet,” Adam said. “Over the years he has allowed us to purchase lots of equipment and update the practice, which has allowed us to practice a better quality of medicine.”

It’s a better quality of medicine in the community both Hansens love.

“I know these people,” Adam said.

“They were lifelong clients of my Dad’s and now they are lifelong clients of ours.

I love working in my hometown.

It gives me a chance to help all the families that Dad helped.” gd

Shelby is a small town just off of I-80 in the western part of Iowa. With a population of just 727, the Hansens and their staff work well past the city limits to see patients. Clients come as far away as Council Bluffs to seek services from the Shelby Vet Clinic.

“It’s pretty unique to have four vets in a small community like Shelby,” Adam said. “We stay pretty busy, but we do have to travel a lot of miles.”

Photo: Dave Gieseke

at Maryland’s Animal Dental Center.

Today she is a board-certified veterinary dentist and oral surgeon and a partner at Animal Dental Center, which has four offices in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Volker, who now also serves as the co-director of the Animal Dental Center’s residency training program, works primarily at the Annapolis, Maryland, office location.

“Most everything we do in veterinary dentistry can fix an animal’s issues,” Volker said. “It’s incredibly satisfying.”

Volker’s professional interests are varied and include endodontics and restorative dentistry. Almost all of her patients are dogs and cats, although the practice does see some pocket pets.

“Veterinary dentistry and oral surgery is really fulfilling work,” she said.

“I perform procedures every day on patients that come in with horrible oral and maxillofacial disease and after we’re done, they leave immediately better, their quality of life markedly improved. The clients are pleased and the patients are happy.” gd

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The Health of a Dairy Farm Dr. Joe Bender Growing up on a 200-head Pennsylvania dairy farm, Dr. Joe Bender just knew what his career path would be.

“I was going to be a dairy practitioner,” he said. “I specifically tailored my program in vet school to suit those needs.”

He made true on his goal and after graduating in 2010, went back to his home state to work as a veterinarian in a traditional 10-doctor dairy practice.

“I did that for three years,” Bender said.

“I didn’t think I was going to stay in practice forever, but I thought it would have been longer than three years.”

A career change was in the offing when Bender realized the dairy producers he was providing care for were seeking answers he couldn’t provide in traditional veterinary practice.

“We refer to this as caring for the ‘health’ of the farm,” Bender said.

“Healthy animals alone do not guarantee a profitable farm. The interface of production and economics really interested me.”

Bender is housed at the New Bolton Center, about an hour outside of Philadelphia in Chester County. He lives in Lancaster County, which has the highest animal density in the United States.

And a vast majority of those animals are dairy cows.

“I have carved out a niche here,” Bender said. “I spend most of my time providing consultative support to the region’s dairy producers, dealing with real-world, on-farm issues.”

His advice to the dairy producers isn’t always met with open arms.

He’s found those answers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) where he serves as a veterinarian and assistant professor of clinical dairy production medicine with the Center for Animal Health and Productivity.

“Unfortunately, many of the dairy farms I work with have not taken the time to look at finances until they have to,” Bender said, “and now they have to do it to stay in business. I get very frank with producers and have

In Memoriam

Classmate Dr. Claire Dorniden Hotvet also remembers that drive.

Dr. Kimberly Bebar (1983-2014)

2010

In that role, Bender helps farmers on a different level, helping them understand the health of the farm and their herd. He works specifically with dairy farmers who are struggling financially.

Dr. Kimberly Bebar loved being a veterinarian. Family and friends remember Kim being driven in her desire to joining the profession.

“Thinking back, we believe Kim wanted to be a vet since she was in the second grade,” her parents, Rick and Rita Bebar said. “She knew what she wanted to be and stuck with it.”

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“Kim was such a passionate individual both in becoming a veterinarian and in friendship,” Hotvet said. “As a student, we would have endless study sessions in her trailer. As a friend, she always let me borrow her puppy, Razi, to protect me on my night time runs.”

As an undergraduate student at Iowa State, Kim began working as a vet tech at an emergency clinic in Des Moines.

Dr. Joe Bender (Left) on the farm.

Submitted Photo

found most of my clients really want somebody to tell them what to do.

“Once I show them the data, then usually they are on board and begin to make more informed financial decisions. Unfortunately, like any other veterinary area, there are always certain clients that do not heed advice.”

While Bender spends a vast majority of his time consulting out in the field with dairy producers, he is also an excellent classroom instructor at Penn Vet and has been honored with the school’s Zoetis Distinguished Teaching Award.

“Being able to teach and interact with students was one of the reasons why I came to Penn Vet,” Bender said. “I try to allow students to be healthy skeptics.

“Usually students figure things out on their own. I just try and help them get through that process.” gd

Hotvet recalls she continued her association with the clinic, traveling to Des Moines as often as she could.

During her vet studies, she was the founder and president of the Emergency Club where she coordinated wet labs and brought in guest speakers.

After graduating with her DVM, Kim was an intern at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston in the emergency department. She was completing a residency in critical care at Cape Cod

Back Home Dr.. Tyler Dohlman Dr. Laura Tonkin Van Vertloo Dr. Jen Scaccianoce Dr. Brian Collins No class may be as highly represented among the faculty in the College of Veterinary Medicine as the Class of 2010.

Yet none of the four graduated with the intent of coming back to teach.

In fact, it didn’t cross their minds.

Dr. Brian Collins worked in a mixed animal practice in his hometown of Elkader, Iowa. He is also a member of the U.S. Army Reserves and worked in a high volume, low cost surgery and dental center in Richmond, Virginia.

After working at a mixed animal practice in Minnesota, Dr. Tyler Dohlman later joined Blood Dairy in State Center, Iowa.

Then there was Dr. Jen Scaccianoce.

She stayed in Ames, working as a relief veterinarian, a few clinics and the Animal Rescue League.

Dr. Laura Tonkin Van Vertloo did an internship and residency at Purdue University.

In the end though, all four found their way back home.

“There wasn’t a day that the thought of me returning here to teach crossed

my mind,” Dohlman said. “I was going to do cow-calf work out west.

But I guess, never say never, because you never know what you will wind up doing.”

“I became pretty convinced I wanted to specialize in internal medicine and then I began toying with the idea of working in an academic setting,” Van Vertloo said. “Now that I work at Iowa State, I really like the scientific process we go through as faculty members.

“I had no intention of coming back to teach but in all honesty that’s why I’m here now.”

Van Vertloo serves as an assistant professor of veterinary clinical sciences in the internal medicine specialty care unit. One of her colleagues in the Hixon-Lied Small Animal Hospital is Scaccianoce, clinical assistant professor of veterinary clinical sciences.

“The students want to be here,” he said. “It’s fun to work with them, they’re always excited to learn.”

Like his fellow classmates, Dohlman also interacts with students in his role as an assistant professor of veterinary diagnostics and production animal medicine. Dohlman is a co-leader of the Theriogenology team and leader of the Embryo Transfer Service group.

“The students in our therio classes are there because they want to be,” he said.

“They have a passion for the subject just like we as instructors do.” gd

Scaccianoce is one of hospital’s primary care clinicians. The switch from private practice to the College of Veterinary Medicine was the right choice for her.

Most of her excitement stems from her interactions with students.

“I love when I see something click in a student’s eyes,” she said. “When I see that, it excites me every time.

I really enjoy feeding off of their positive energy and it gives me confidence that I know what I’m doing.”

Veterinary Specialists in Massachusetts when she passed away on March 11, 2014, as a result of an automobile accident.

dedicate to this specialty was senselessly fleeting, the impact she made at our facility and in our referring community will be long remembered.”

Massachusetts colleagues describe Kim as “an incredible teacher who left everyone with more knowledge and confidence in their abilities to help out in a crisis.”

In particular Kim was interested in CPR and the RECOVER initiative.

She was instrumental in leading a CPR teaching course not only for her co-workers but for countless veterinarians and technicians from nearby hospitals.

In a memoriam written after her passing, the doctors at Cape Cod Veterinary Specialists wrote this…

“Though the time she was able to

The student interaction is what appealed to Collins when he also made the switch from private practice. Collins is a clinical assistant professor with overall responsibilities for the college’s two Clinical Skills Laboratories. He also is one of the instructors of the Junior Surgery class.

“Kim like to be challenged and never backed down from any challenge,”

Drs. Tyler Dohlman, Laura Tonkin Van Vertloo, Jen Scaccianoce, and Brian Collins. Photo: Dave Gieseke

her parents said. “She had a great gut instinct and was a quick thinker.”

The Bebars cherish the many testimonials they received after Kim’s passing from clients.

“They talked about how good and caring Kim was treating their pet but also how good she was at explaining things to them,” the Bebars said. “Kim never took no for an answer, she pushed ahead when others paused.

“She kept driving for her goal.” gd Fall 2021 | Vol. 35 No. 2

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A Family of Veterinarians Drs. Pat and Kate (Baker) Hoffman Several members of the Class of 2010 grew up with a parent who was a veterinarian, paving the way for their own chosen career path.

And there are multiple veterinarian couples in the class, who not only graduated in 2010, but who were soon married.

But therePhoto are few families like the Submitted Hoffmanns, who not only have dual veterinary degrees, but whose fathers were also veterinarians.

“Annette (the couple’s daughter) probably isn’t going to have much of a choice on her career since both of us and both her grandfathers are vets,” said Dr. Pat Hoffmann.

Pat, along with his wife, Dr. Kate (Baker) Hoffmann own and operate the Atlantic (Iowa) Animal Health Center. In reality, Kate is the sole proprietor of the clinic since Pat is a veterinarian and swine technical consultant at Elanco.

“I mow the yard and change the light bulbs, but I don’t see any patients here,” Pat said. “If Kate has a difficult surgery, I will sometimes assist her.”

“We both practiced there for two years,” Kate said, “but they didn’t have us in the same office on the same day. I think that was even more challenging than if we would have been able to work together.

“We always seemed to be going in different directions all the time. One week I would be on call, then the next Pat would be. It’s nicer now that we’re in different areas.”

When the opportunity came in 2014 to purchase the Atlantic Animal Health Center, the couple jumped at it.

Then another challenge.

“We learned I was pregnant right before we bought the clinic,” Kate said, “and Pat had to work all that time I was on maternity leave.”

Kate says the timing of her pregnancy was great. Her new clients saw her not only as a veterinarian but a soon-to-be mother.

“It was a blessing to start the practice where people could see I was going to be a mother,” she said. “I think my clients have really appreciated the fact I not only care for their pets but I also care for our daughter as well.”

procedures she performs on a weekly basis challenging. She says she has particularly begun to appreciate surgery, and internal medicine is a favorite specialty to practice.

Since leaving his first practice, Pat has focused his career path on swine medicine, working first for Genesus, Inc., then as director of health assurance for DNA Swine Genetics, and now with Elanco. His territory covers what he calls the “Western Corn Belt” of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa.

Swine medicine was probably always in Pat’s future. His father, Dr. James Hoffmann (’82), partnered with legendary swine veterinarian Dr. Roy Schultz (’60) and growing up Pat would tag along.

“I had a great backseat view of a lot of cool things that were happening in the ‘90s in swine medicine,” Pat said.

“What I learned from Dad and Roy helped develop my passion to help feed the growing global population without destroying the planet.

“When the opportunity to work exclusively in swine medicine came about, I couldn’t pass it up. You just never know what path your career will take.”gd

As essentially a sole practitioner, Kate finds the wide array of medical

Kate just shakes her head, asking her husband, “when was the last time you assisted me in surgery?”

Even though they are in the same profession, the couple has pretty much gone their separate way after graduation. Pat is a swine veterinarian.

Kate started out as a mixed animal practitioner, focusing on cows, but now just sees small animals at her clinic.

That was the case right after graduation when both were employed at Southern Hills Veterinary Services, a multi-office clinic in several southwest Iowa communities.

Photo: Dave Gieseke

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She didn’t know a combine from a cultivator. Her parents thought she was crazy.

Yet Dr. Elizabeth Harriman Hill took the plunge and opened up her own veterinary clinic in small town Iowa right after graduating. Oh, did we mention Hill is a Maine native, lived in Boston and had never set foot in Iowa before coming to Ames for vet school.

“I met my husband in the middle of my third year and by the time graduation was nearing we knew we were going to be together and stay in Iowa,” Hill said.

Hill’s husband was a farmer from the Ellsworth area. When she began to

Rarely Apart Drs. Ryan and Jacci (Hermansen) Fedeler For the first years of their marriage, Drs. Ryan and Jacci (Hermansen) Fedeler were rarely in the same town together.

Now they are rarely apart.

“We worked separately for three years,” Ryan said. “No place we looked at had two job openings. We never had an opportunity to work together.”

That changed on Memorial Day 2013, when the two opened the Heartland Veterinary Clinic in Brookings, South Dakota. Both see small animals, while Jacci has equine patients and Ryan sees livestock patients.

The two quickly slipped back into their days as DVM students where they constantly studied and worked together. And because they were building their cliental, they spent a lot of time together on-call.

“We had our first child the following September after we opened the clinic,” Jacci said, “and five days later

During her job search, it was suggested that maybe Eldora, Iowa, might be a possibility. The community of 2,500 didn’t have a local veterinarian. Hill did her due diligence, speaking with the economic development office, the town’s mayor and others before deciding to open a clinic.

Another veterinarian had operated a clinic previously but it had been closed for years. The building was empty, lacking any equipment although there were dog runs and cages for boarding animals. “I started out slow,” Hill recalls. “I think we only had eight appointments that first day. Now that would be a bad, slow day.”

Photo: Dave Gieseke

Dr. Elizabeth Harriman Hill

seek veterinary employment, nothing was available. “At the time, the job market was pretty saturated for veterinarians,” she said.

Word of mouth brought a steady growth of clients and patients to her clinic door, where she primarily sees dogs and cats.

While the Maine native misses her home state, she’s more happy with her choic to live and work in small town Iowa. “I just love Eldora,” she said. “I walk through town and know pretty much everybody. I love how my small-town life has worked out.” gd

he went on a farm call to see a lame horse with Ryan.”

Photo: Dave Gieseke

Small Town Vet

“The first few years we were at the clinic all the time,” Ryan said. “We were on call seemingly 24-7.”

To illustrate just how much the Fedelers work together, Jacci relates the story of an after-hours emergency C-section on a dog.

“The client actually held our son while we were doing the C-section,” she said. “Anyone who called us, we would head back to the clinic.”

The on-call hours have changed, especially in the last year due to COVID. Heartland Veterinary Clinic has also grown to include a third veterinarian, Dr. Sarah Muirhead (’20), and a staff of 10, and the couple is looking to expand their clinical space as well.

That’s impressive considering the Fedelers started their clinic from scratch and only had one customer their opening day. Since then they have had to learn on the fly – everything from managing personnel to meeting a payroll, buying veterinary equipment and

dealing with tax filings.

Working together has brought them even closer. Issues are few and far between. Ryan does say Jacci tends to bring work home with her and always wants to discuss that day’s patients.

“On road trips, we generally talk about the office, about this case or that case,” Jacci said.

The couple’s skills also complement each other.

“What I’m not good at, Jacci’s good at and vice versa,” Ryan said.

“Having someone that I work with that I can truly trust in every way is invaluable,” Jacci said. “I know he is always doing his best and he’s not going to judge me on what I say or do.” gd

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foundationnews

Stories by Dave Gieseke

No matter how you slice the numbers, the final tallies of the Forever True, For Iowa State fundraising campaign are impressive.

Very impressive.

CVM CONTINUES TO SEEK ADDITIONAL SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT Increasing student support remains a top priority for the college. To spur additional interest in alumni and friends creating new scholarships, $1 million has been designated from the endowment to provide incentives for outright and endowed scholarships.

For donors seeking immediate impact through outright scholarships and term awards up to five years, new scholarship funds of $10,000 or more will be matched with an additional 50 cents for every dollar contributed. A $10,000 scholarship will become $15,000. If it’s pledged for five years, $50,000 will be matched with an additional $25,000.

“The historic success of the campaign is a testament to Iowa State University’s powerful impact – providing access to an excellent education, conducting innovative and impactful research, and ensuring science-based resources and programs are widely available through extension and outreach,” said President Wendy Wintersteen.

The Forever True campaign raised $1,542,356,968, exceeding its $1.5 billion goal.

Just as impressive was the funds raised by the College of Veterinary Medicine.

The college raised $97,131,960 or 120% of its $81 million goal.

“Thanks to the generosity of our alumni, friends, stakeholders, and corporate partners, the College of Veterinary Medicine will continue to support scholarships, programs, named professorships, facility improvements, and so many other things that are vital to the college’s mission,” said Dr. Dan Grooms, the Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of Veterinary Medicine.

The impact of the $97.1 million will be felt for years to come through: • 80 new scholarships for DVM and graduate students

For those who wish to establish an endowed award that will be given to students each year, the endowment will provide “start-up” dollars equal to the first five years of scholarships.

These endowments start at $100,000 to earn the incentive funding, which equals four percent annually for scholarship, with the remainder of the gift being invested to preserve the principal and keep pace with inflation. Donors have up to five years to complete their endowment pledge, during which time annual scholarships will be awarded in their names from the endowment.

For more information on scholarship gifts and current incentives, please contact Steven Hatting, executive director of development, at shatting@iastate.edu or 515-294-8562.

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• 14 new endowed chairs, professorships and fellowships • Much needed support for research • Contributions that assisted in the new construction, renovation or addition of new equipment for the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, Clinical Skills Lab, classroom space, Fish Tank Lobby, Gentle Doctor Café, wellness and exercise spaces, junior surgery, Veterinary Field Services, and the Stereotactic Radiation Therapy room.

The college saw 9,000 donors contribute to the Forever True campaign and the college’s endowment has increased by $60 million in that time period.

Over the next few pages, the true impact of the Forever True campaign is highlighted, looking at how students, faculty and staff have benefitted from the generosity of the college’s donors.

Partnering with Industry

One project benefitting from contributions from these groups is the new, state-of-the-art Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

pig farms, which is why we decided to help lead the charge to secure the funds needed for this project. Not only is that important to us, but to Iowa’s rural economy. The VDL is a world-class resource that will be critical to the future success of pork producers in Iowa.”

A pair of such gifts came from the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) and the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFB), each of whom committed a gift of $1 million to support the new VDL.

The investment in the new facility will help greatly increase the state’s diagnostic service and discovery capabilities for current and future generations of Iowa’s livestock farmers. In addition, the new facility will help keep Iowa State at the forefront in discovery of emerging and re-emerging diseases, provide a rich caseload to teach future veterinary practitioners and make innovative discoveries regarding new methods to control and eradicate diseases.

“Our investment underscores how Iowa’s pig farmers rely on this in-state facility to help us quickly recognize and contain animal diseases,” said Mike Paustian, a Walcott farmer who is the IPPA president. “The current VDL has been pushed to its limits, while the need for the services they provide continues expanding rapidly. Over 75 percent of the samples being submitted to the VDL are from

“Livestock is critical to Iowa’s agricultural industry so it is imperative that we are constantly innovating and continuously improving what we do for the overall well-being of our animals and our food supply,” said Craig Hill, president of IFB and multi-generation livestock farmer from Ackworth, Iowa. “With this new world-class facility, Iowa livestock farmers will

The State of Iowa appropriated $63.5 million towards the $75 million project. To close the funding gap, many of the VDL’s industry partners contributed financially.

have immediate access to unbiased, third-party diagnoses in livestock and poultry to help ensure a safe food supply for future generations.”

The IPPA and the IFB are just a few of the commodity and industry groups to see a need for a new VDL in Iowa. Other groups include the Iowa Beef Industry Council, Cattlemen’s Association and Cattleman’s Foundation, Dairy Farmers to the Iowa American Dairy Association of the Midwest., Iowa Egg Council, Poultry Association, Turkey Federation and Turkey Marketing Council, Iowa Corn Growers Association and Corn Promotion Board, Iowa Soybean Association and United Soybean Board, Merck Animal Health, Farm Credit Services, and the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association.

FACILITIES

In addition to gifts from alumni and friends, the Forever True, For Iowa State fundraising campaign received numerous gifts from industry and commodity group partners.

“Through our stakeholders’ partnerships with Iowa State and the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory will continue to be a leader in protecting animal and human health while advancing Iowa’s animal agriculture economy,” said Dr. Dan Grooms, the Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of Veterinary Medicine. gd

Photo: Dave Gieseke

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PROGRAMS When “Frosty” arrived on the scene a few years ago, the life-size Holstein dystocia simulator was the centerpiece of the Clinical Skills Laboratory (CSL).

Frosty and its fully articulated 70-pound calf, “Snowflake,” pretty much had the CSL to themselves. There’s a publicity photo taken in the early days showing a pair of veterinary students having plenty of room to simulate a calf pulling. It was thanks to gifts from Dr. Scott (’75) and Nancy Armbrust, Dr. Paul Armbrecht (’71), Dr. John Kurt (’75), and Dr. Dan Smith (’75) that Frosty and Snowflake were added to the CSL. Today, thanks in large part to the Forever True, For Iowa State fundraising campaign, Frosty has plenty of company.

A full-size equine palpation/colic simulator is among the countless other models and simulators purchased with funds contributed to the campaign.

It got so crowded that Frosty had to “moove” on, finding her way to the newly-renovated Veterinary Field Services building and another clinical skills lab.

“The Clinical Skills Lab bridges the gap between lectures and the students’ labs and clinical year,” said Dr. Brian Collins, CSL coordinator. “It builds up their confidence before they perform a procedure on a live animal.”

The CSL was created to provide opportunities for students to become more confident about any number of procedures. It solves an age-old dilemma on having student veterinarians gain experience in the profession before treating a live animal for the first time. The CSL is equipped with medical simulators, realistic animal models and state-of-the-art computer programs, which have been purchased with private donations and college funds.

In recent months, Collins has utilized private gifts to purchase a wide array of models including one for dentistry and another for anesthesiology. His goal is to find enough room in the CSL to create a mock surgical suite for students to utilize.

“I relied on private gifts to purchase all of these models,” Collins said. “These models allow the students to get their techniques down pat.” gd

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Life-Saving Gift Many gifts to the Forever True, For Iowa State fundraising campaign have the capability of becoming life-changing for scholarship recipients, named professors and others.

Few, if any, gifts to the Iowa State campaign can be said to be life-saving. That is except for a $153,000 grant from the Fullgraf Foundation which was used to purchase muchneeded equipment for the equine surgery section including a fluoroscopy unit (C-arm), an imaging modality that uses X-rays to produce a real-time image of anatomy.

Dr. Kevin Kersh, clinical associate professor of veterinary clinical sciences, said that since it was purchased, the fluoroscopy unit has been used to repair five fractures as well as to place coils into major vessels to prevent life threatening hemorrhages.

“These cases would have resulted in death or euthanasia if it were not for the equipment we were able to purchase with this donation,” Kersh said.

The grant also provided for the purchase of additional equipment for the equine surgery unit including a locking compression plate and a videoendoscopy unit.

In particular, the endoscope has proven invaluable to the equine surgery unit.

“We have utilized the endoscope to get a definitive diagnosis in multiple cases that other diagnostic modalities were not able to provide,” Kersh said.

The new equipment has not only proven to be lifesaving, but instructive as well. Veterinary students, as well as equine interns and residents, were provided new learning opportunities.

“They are now able to see the benefits of advanced equipment to achieve a proper diagnosis as well as participating in surgery and experiencing the capabilities afforded by high quality fluoroscopy,” Kersh said. gd

Submitted Photo

Clinical Skills Lab

Never Giving Up Jesse Huerta knew the road to achieving his lifelong goal of becoming a veterinarian would require perseverance, determination and distinction. All of which he set out to accomplish.

scholarship honors the personal merits and attributes of Patterson, a 1923 DVM graduate from Iowa State, who served as president of the Tuskegee Institute and was the founder of the United Negro College Fund.

He knew he needed more veterinary experience before applying to vet school. While an undergraduate at Texas A&M University, the San Antonio native worked in that school’s large animal hospital ICU.

Huerta considers himself fortunate to receive the Patterson Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship.

He applied to vet school and wasn’t accepted. But Huerta didn’t give up.

Once he graduates from Iowa State, Huerta hopes to return to his San Antonio community where he says good, quality veterinary care is lacking for the residents and their companion animals. gd

He applied to vet school a second time and wasn’t accepted. Again, Huerta didn’t give up.

“My dad always told me to have a Plan B,” Huerta said.

“I told him I wanted to be a vet and there wasn’t a Plan B.” Huerta’s desire to become a veterinarian stemmed from his childhood. One of his pets was hit by a car. Others had illnesses. In each case he felt helpless in caring for the animal.

“I didn’t fully know what was going on with them,” he said “I wanted to put myself into a position to be able to help them and to be an advocate for other animals.”

So Huerta continued his quest to be accepted into veterinary school. While working in Michigan, he continued to seek other avenues of veterinary medicine with a goal of being a well-rounded applicant.

He again applied to vet school.

When he was accepted after his third attempt, Huerta had multiple choices of where to attend including Iowa State’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Two factors stood out in Iowa State’s favor – a tour of the college given to him by Dean Dan Grooms and the Frederick Douglass Patterson Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship. The renewable

Jesse Huerta Photo: Dave Gieseke

SCHOLARSHIPS

After graduating from Texas A&M, he moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and found his passion working at a small animal emergency clinic, a field of veterinary medicine that was completely foreign to him.

“This is a wonderful scholarship that has taken some of the burden off of my financial obligations,” he said.

“I’m honored to have been selected for the Patterson Scholarship and it’s a great incentive for me to keep my grades up.”

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UNRESTRICTED GIVING

Linda Lloyd officially opens the Fish Tank Lobby with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Photo: Dave Gieseke

Helping Throughout the college Many gifts made during the Forever True, For Iowa State campaign to the College of Veterinary Medicine created individual scholarships, named faculty positions, assisted in facility projects or purchased much-needed equipment in the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center.

These gifts were designated for a specific purpose.

But countless other gifts were undesignated and have proven just as valuable for the college to achieve its goals.

“Undesignated gifts during the campaign have allowed the college to specifically target priorities,” said Dr. Dan Grooms, the Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of Veterinary Medicine.

Undesignated funding, whether it is a $100 gift or a $10,000 donation, has been pooled together to meet a variety of college priorities. None are as important as scholarships for DVM students.

Grooms said new scholarships were created to help recruit top students from throughout the world to come to Iowa State to study veterinary medicine.

“The debt load our students has is an increasingly troubling issue for Iowa State and veterinary colleges

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across the country,” Grooms said. “We were able to increase not only the number of scholarships we could offer, but the size of the scholarships as well.”

The new scholarships were used not only to attract the best and the brightest to Iowa State, but also to change the diversity of the student body. The Frederick Douglass Patterson Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship was created through undesignated gifts made to the college and has provided much-needed financial support to its recipients.

Each academic department in the college has also benefitted from undesignated gifts through faculty retention packages, teaching support, laboratory renovations, and support for the Junior Surgery program.

Significant undesignated funds have come from Linda and Gene Lloyd, who have provided funding for the renovation of the Fish Tank Lobby, updating the conferencing abilities and wireless displays in the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center’s rounds rooms, creating a diversity recruitment program for house officers, creating two Dean’s Fellowships, and funding the concurrent DVM/PhD program.

“Undesignated gifts are extremely useful because the college’s needs change over time,” Grooms said. gd

Looking to the Future

For Dr. Claire Andreasen, the Dr. Roger and Marilyn Mahr Professorship in One Health provided the opportunity to make sure College of Veterinary Medicine would have the necessary funding to conduct research related to One Health.

Both Fales-Williams and Andreasen could have used the proceeds from their named faculty positions to attend a cutting-edge conference or buy the newest teaching technology.

Instead, they decided to pay it forward and assist students.

“A long time ago, when I was a resident in the department (Veterinary Pathology), there was a state-supported line that paid the salaries of the residents,” Fales-Williams said.

“Over the years, those funds have been eliminated, making it hard to sustain the combined residency/PhD program.

Though we have a strong program and great training resources, stipend support is hard to find.”

With no sustained line of funding, Fales-Williams saw an opportunity when she became the Tyrone D. Artz M.D. Chair for Teaching Excellence. She decided it was important to fund the veterinary pathologists of the future.

administrators to find the perfect fit for the funds.

“I wanted to leverage the money as much as I could,” Andreasen said, “and distribute it to many different projects.”

The Mahr Professor in One Health is now providing seed grants to students engaged in projects based on One Health with seven research projects conducted in the College of Veterinary Medicine. The projects have been funded in the One Health area which explores the interconnection of animal, human and environmental health.

Several of these projects also partner with Iowa State’s National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education (NIAMREE).

“The object is for veterinary students learn more about research and to collect data so these researchers can use that information to get further funding down the road,” Andreasen said. “No matter which career path veterinary students take, they will need to analyze new research results, tests and data during their entire career.

FACULTY

A trip back in time gave Dr. Amanda Fales-Williams the inspiration on how to utilize the funds of the Tyrone D. Artz M.D. Chair for Teaching Excellence.

“It’s been a good decision. We’re already seeing some of these research projects getting additional funding to find the answers to problems we are trying to solve.”gd

Currently, the funding is supporting two residents – Drs. Belen Hernandez and Lisa Uhl. The pair are each working towards a PhD in the five-year residency program where they assist veterinary pathology faculty in classroom instruction.

“I could have bought myself a really cool microscope camera and other technology that might only last five, maybe seven years,” Fales-Williams said. “The best way for me to contribute to the profession, to help change the world, is through our residents and their future students.”

“I wanted to do something with the funding that would last forever and I can’t think of anything better than these two outstanding clinicians.”

While Fales-Williams looked back to her own experiences to determine how to use the money, Andreasen did a little investigating when she was named the Mahr Professor in One Health. She spoke to colleagues and academic

Dr. Claire Andreasen, Dr. Roger and Marilyn Mahr Professor in One Health (left), and Dr. Amanda Fales-Williams, Tyrone D. Artz M.D. Chair for Teaching Excellence Photo: Dave Gieseke

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Legendary Support Lora and Russ Talbot are legendary in the College of Veterinary Medicine. The Belmond, Iowa couple have been major contributors for years and have supported the college over three separate fundraising campaigns, including the just-concluded Forever True, For Iowa State.

This despite the fact neither is a graduate of Iowa State University. Nor have they brought a pet or farm animal to the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center for treatment. Yet they have helped support construction projects in the LVMC and the new Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

“We believe in the college,” Lora and Russ said. “We are examples of friends of the college who, while not being veterinary professionals, are deeply committed to solidly supporting what the college does.”

But for Lora and Russ, it’s not about the donations. It’s about the life-long connections they have made in addition to supporting the college, its students, faculty and staff.

“We have sincerely wanted to use and invest the material successes in our lives for the benefit of everyone at the college,” the couple said. “We want to do all we can to help make the college better.

DONORS

“Our decisions on where to give are based on the greatest needs, how many recipients will benefit, our personal giving goals, and the college’s current priorities. We believe in practicing ‘targeted giving’ and giving to make a positive difference.”

The Talbots are true to their word. Over the course of the past two decades they have supported numerous funds and projects within the college. Scholarships are a particular passion.

Each year multiple veterinary students have been awarded a scholarship with the Talbot name attached to it. Four-year scholarships have been created for first-year veterinary students. Additional scholarships for third-year students are renewable for the clinical fourth year.

“This type of giving appeals to us because we are helping the talented leaders of tomorrow achieve their dreams and supporting them in creating success during their time at Iowa State,” Lora and Russ said.

Catharine Found, a current fourth-year student, is a four-year Russell G. and Lora L. Talbot Scholar in Veterinary Medicine.

“When I learned I was named a Talbot Scholar, I felt like someone strongly believed in me, my mission and my career goals,” Found said. “The scholarship has given me

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Lora and Russ Talbot. Photo: ISU Foundation.

the extra push I need when I am tired or feel lost in the mix.”

The Talbots philanthropic support reaches far beyond these two scholarships. They have contributed to numerous other scholarships over the years supporting diversity and inclusion, leadership, and business innovation. Their reach has also extended into creating graduate fellowships in veterinary medicine.

Endowments have been established by the couple for their scholarship and graduate fellowship as well as the Lora and Russ Talbot Endowed Professors in Veterinary Medicine. The inaugural endowed professor is Dr. Rachel Allbaugh, associate professor of veterinary clinical sciences. The second position has been fully funded and the couple is currently working on completing the funding for the third endowed professorship.

Allbaugh has used funding from the professorship in a variety of ways – from purchasing a new ocular ultrasound unit used in the ophthalmology unit to supporting a research project for a first-year ophthalmology residents to providing continuing education for members of the ophthalmology team.

“None of these projects would have been possible without the Talbot funds,” Allbaugh said. “I am so grateful for the opportunities the Talbot Professorship has afforded me and that I have been able to pass those on to other members of my team.”

The Talbots are proud of the impact the scholarships, the professorships and other programs they have assisted in the college have made. But they believe the benefit goes both ways.

“We have diligently tried to make ‘extra efforts’ to get to know our recipients,” they say. “We want to demonstrate to them we are cheering them on and emphasize that we are part of their support team.

“We greatly benefit from knowing them and it helps to make our giving to the college more meaningful, interesting and fun.” gd

Bob Wesner, MD, a private practice psychiatrist in Iowa City, firmly believes his dog Kae is alive today because of her care at the Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital.

So when it came time for Bob to make his estate decisions, he put the College of Veterinary Medicine at the top of his list.

“Until I started bringing Kae here, I had little connection with the vet school,” the Solon, Iowa resident and 1979 Iowa State graduate said.

The two Labrador Retrievers are an integral part of his psychiatric practice. Both Kae and Story came from a service dog organization that trains guide dogs for the blind. Wesner had a contact at that organization who introduced him to “Career Changed” dogs, animals not cut out for the kind of work they train for. A good guide dog has to be like a truck driver. Get the human from point A to point B safely.

In the case of both Kae and Story, their deficiencies were an asset to Wesner because they’re “too social.”

After the passing of two of his beloved dogs, Bob received a letter from the College of Veterinary Medicine acknowledging a gift was made in their memory. A few years later, he reached out to the college to discuss estate options, ultimately creating a Dean’s fund with a focus on animal welfare and behavior.

“They’re too curious about their surroundings, and they gravitate towards people,” Wesner said. “They were perfect for my practice, and my patients adore them.

“I thought about a lot of other charities and organizations I could bequeath my estate to,” he said. “Then the thought came to me - why not the vet school? I didn’t have to think about my decision too much.”

Wesner first brought Kae to the Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital for dental work and connected with Dr. Brenda Mulherin, clinical professor of veterinary clinical sciences, a board-certified veterinary dentist.

A couple of years later, Kae was back in the hospital after developing a tumor in the left hind leg.

Wesner says he has always had a strong fondness for animals and wanted to have his dogs be part of the therapeutic experience patients receive when they come to his office in Iowa City.

Since both Kae and Story are so well behaved and polite, he can take them to work every day. “We’re together nearly 24/7.”

“They have a calming effect on patients and can, at least briefly, distract patients from their anxiety and distress.”

A tough decision was made on how to proceed with the treatment. Dr. Karl Kraus, professor of veterinary clinical services and a board-certified veterinary surgeon, removed her leg. It has been a little over two years since the operation, and Kae has had no signs of reoccurrence.

Now a tripod, Kae’s adaptability was so good that she went back to work immediately. Wesner is grateful for all the excellent help and advice he received. He’s convinced beyond any doubt that she’s alive because of the expert care she received at the Hixson-Lied Small Animal Hospital.

It reaffirmed his decision to bequeath his estate to the College of Veterinary Medicine. gd

Story (left) and Kae Submitted photos

COMPASSIONATE CLIENT

Why Not the Vet School

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ALUMNI AWARD FEATURES

TRUE & VALIANT This Homecoming, the college of Veterinary Medicine recognized five individuals with alumni and service awards.

These individuals are just a small example of the college’s alumni and friends who have made the world a better place.

Read their full stories online at vetmed.iastate.edu/true-valiant-2021

Dr. Norman Cheville (’59)

Dr. Joel Leininger (’72)

Dr. Paul Snyder (‘85)

In his book, Pioneer Science and the Great Plaques: How Microbes, War and Public Health Shaped Animal Health, published by the Purdue University Press, Norman Cheville, dean emeritus of the College of Veterinary Medicine, covers a century of progress fighting infectious diseases and plaques, illuminating the important role of veterinary research and science. “A mystery existed about why America trailed Europe by a full century in building science-based veterinary colleges to educate for animal health care,” Cheville says.

“There had to be a story here.”

There was a time in Joel Leininger’s life that when asked what his “claim to fame” was, he wasn’t hesitant with his answer. “I would say I was Johnny Carson’s parents’ paper boy back in Columbus, Nebraska,” he said. “They lived two blocks from our house and my mother was friends with Carson’s mom.“ Leininger’s “claim to fame” has been pushed away to make room for a different accomplishment. When he joined the National Toxicology Program (NTP) in North Carolina, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he made his mark in toxicologic pathology and in particular the pathology of the rat. Leininger made substantial contributions to the classic textbook Pathology of the Fischer Rat while also serving as associate editor of the 2nd edition titled Pathology of the Rat. “My work on these books was the highlight of my professional life,” he said.

Paul Snyder can trace his professional philosophy back to his college days. “I’ve always thought of my professional career as a journey,” he said. As an ISU vet med student, Snyder had his heart set on becoming a dairy veterinarian and he did just that after graduating. Yet his ambitions kept drifting back to a seed planted by a pair of veterinary pathology faculty. “They told me I really had a natural aptitude for pathology,” Snyder recalled. “They had a passion and enthusiasm for the profession that was infectious.

I couldn’t get enough of the subject when I was a student and even as a practicing veterinarian. Today he is a board-certified veterinary pathologist who had a long career at Purdue University and now provides pathologyrelated services to the pharmaceutical and toxicological research community with EPL, Inc.

Stange Award

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Stange Award

Stange Award

Dr. Molly Lee (’14)

Richard Hill (MS ‘90)

COVID-19 changed everyone’s lives.

It also thrust Molly Lee into the spotlight in Ames, Iowa. As one of the five voting members of the Story County Board of Health, all of a sudden, Lee was making decisions that directly impacted Story County including the City of Ames and Iowa State University. “When I was appointed to the Board, I didn’t expect to have such heavy decisions resting on my shoulders,” she said. “It’s been a little intimidating, sometimes stressful, and certainly busy.”

There’s a line on Richard Hill’s resume that sums up his career:“Multiple positions with the Veterinary Services’ Center for Veterinary Biologics.”

“In USDA’s Veterinary Services, and throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work on a wide variety of topics and issues,” Hill said. “I guess you could say I’ve had a non-traditional veterinary career with many diverse opportunities.” He has worked in private practice and for the USDA, including 15 years when he was the co-director of the Center for Veterinary Biologics before concluding his career as the executive director of the National Import Export Services.

Even in retirement, Hill has stayed involved. He is active with the AVMA and is the current president of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine.

Outstanding Young Alumni Award

Lorriane J. Hoffman Graduate Alumni Award

Pictured from the left are, Dr. Molly Lee, Dr. Joel Leininger, Dr. Richard Hill, Dr. Paul Snyder and Dean Dan Grooms.

Not pictured Dr. Norman Cheville.

Photo: Christopher Gannon

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alumnifeatures

Educating through TikTok

L

ooks like Dr. Cara Dykhuis Haden (DVM 2014) has found her calling. Or at least a following.

A year ago, Haden was searching for a new way to attract followers to her Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages. One of her responsibilities at Pipestone Veterinary Services in Independence, Iowa, where she is an associate veterinarian, is getting the word out on swine production through social media outlets.

“As a true millennial, I focused on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube,” she said, “but I only had around 5,000 followers and I wanted a bigger reach.”

She posts two to three times a week and all of her videos are less than a minute. Some are as short as 15 seconds including video clips she has produced on farrowing, biosecurity, a vasectomized boar, and filtered air in swine facilities.

“When I first started doing TikTok videos, I underestimated how little people understood where their food comes from,” Haden said. “So I started doing videos on really simple things including what a boar is and what a sow is.

“I’ve had to educate people that we have different locations for processing pigs. I don’t see an end to the number of videos I can do to educate people.”

Her husband, who is a high school teacher, suggested TikTok. “I had to look to see what TikTok was,” Haden said.

“I wasn’t at all familiar with the platform.”

TikTok is a video sharing platform that hosts a variety of short-form user videos. The mobile app allows users to create short videos and recommends a feed of videos to users based on their activity on the app.

Haden is the star of her TikTok videos. She films them herself with her phone, usually in a swine facility. She produces the videos herself.

Typically one of Haden’s TikTok videos will get several thousand likes and she says the videos will garner around 2,000 comments per week. She responds to many of the comments, attempting to further educate people on misconceptions of the swine industry.

Haden decided to give it a whirl.

Today she has 255,000 followers on TikTok under “Cara Haden Pig Vet.”

“I get a wide range of responses to my videos,” she said.

“A vast majority say they didn’t know about that and thanks for informing them.

“Because TikTok sends your video to other people you can grow your following much quicker than Facebook or Instagram,” Haden said. “The app basically pushes videos out to a more random audience.”

“I do get a fair number of comments from individuals who are anti-animal agriculture. If they are attempting to learn more about what our swine producers are doing, then I will engage them. Otherwise I won’t.”

In the year since starting on TikTok, Haden has used the platform to educate the general public about swine production.

A few of Haden’s TikTok videos are more popular than others. A video she filmed of her assisting the birth of several piglets had 5 million views. Many of her recent posts have contrasted her own pregnancy with that of a sow, highlighting how many piglets a sow can have and the length of the pregnancy.

Regardless of the subject, Haden’s ultimate goal is to emphasize how the swine industry is benefitting the world.

“The farmers we at Pipestone work for are doing really good work in feeding the world and I hope I’m helping tell their story,” Haden said. “I’m not trying to convince people to eat more pork.

“I’m just trying to educate people.” gd

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Standing Up to Superbugs

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day job isn’t enough for Dr. Dustin Loy. By day Loy (’09 and PhD ’11) is an associate professor in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. There he is the lead instructor for the school’s public health course and a co-instructor in pathogenic microbiology.

As a diagnostic microbiologist, Loy also assists veterinarians and their clients and livestock producers in the diagnosis, detection and prevention of infectious disease.

“Having the opportunity to mentor students and future veterinarians is one of my passions,” Loy said. “The service we provide in the diagnostic center allows me to keep in touch with veterinary colleagues, help them with infectious disease challenges and solve complex problems.”

His work has led to his selection for the Iowa State University Alumni Association’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

What he does outside of his job is just as impressive.

For the past few years, Loy has served as an ambassador for the Pew Trust’s “Stand Up to Superbugs.” This diverse group of individuals work to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria and prevent a return to the pre-antibiotic era when simple infections accounted for at least one-third of the country’s deaths.

It’s a program Loy believes deeply in.

“To me, the ‘Stand Up to Superbugs’ movement is about working to come up with One Health solutions to One Health problems,” Loy said. “Antimicrobial resistance effects not only humans but animals, and involves the environment, wildlife, anywhere there is microbial life.”

Loy credits his Iowa State education in gaining a strong background in disease prevention and management strategies. He says those tools and more will be needed to prevent new and emerging diseases and resistant pathogens.

Submitted Photo

“We are able to communicate potential solutions to the antimicrobial resistance problem revolve around not just new drug development and are not immediately apparent,” he said.

The issues include research in disease prevention, getting rural producers access to veterinarians and information delivery through outreach and extension.

Challenges and opportunities such as this are what got Loy interested in his field of study in the first place. As an Iowa State undergraduate student, Loy was primarily interested in animal agriculture with a goal of becoming a large animal veterinarian.

Then he became an undergraduate research assistant in the college of Agriculture and Life Sciences. There he began learning animal molecular genetics which ultimately led to veterinary microbiology.

“I was captivated by the power of these molecular tools to be able to map genes and find a single mutation in the genome that could have such a tremendous impact on animals,” Loy said. “When I first started you had to grow bacteria in tubes and look for biochemical reactions. We now use methods borrowed from the chemistry lab like mass spectrometry.

“These new challenges and opportunities make this area incredibly exciting with new findings every day and new approaches to master.”” gd

These are just a few of the points Loy speaks on when he meets with federal officials as a “Stand Up to Superbugs” ambassador. He is careful to point out the issue is very broad.

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RENAISSANCE MAN

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f there was ever a Renaissance man in this day and age, Dr. Kevin Shimel (DVM ’96) would be that individual.

Before even beginning veterinary school at Iowa State, Shimel worked as an analytical research and development chemist in agriculture chemicals and human pharmaceuticals.

While he prefers cats as patients, he not only shows dogs but is an AKC approved judge and has judged all over the United States and Europe. He has bred Borzoi for over 40 years, including many international show champions, lure coursing and open field hunting titlists, and obedience and rally champions – even a dock diving champion.

Several of his dogs have also become certified therapy dogs and beloved family pets.

He loves to travel and has visited over two-thirds of the globe. Shimel has seen all of the world’s major art museums, rivers and mountains. He has met with Indigenous Peoples who are living tribal lives as they always have and enjoyed the night life of urban hot spots.

Photography is a passion. His works have appeared in gallery exhibits in SOHO and his own gallery in Vermont.

He’s currently working on a coffee table photo book.

He worked in restaurants for 16 years, developed another passion for cooking and even trained employees for new Applebee’s Restaurants as a corporate trainer while a vet student.

Kevin Shimel is definitely a Renaissance man.

“I have always felt the world is an experience waiting to be yours,” Shimel said. “As a kid I read encyclopedias, not novels.

“I was always interested in veterinary medicine and animals and the natural world.”

The New York City (Queens) native had almost completed his undergraduate animal science degree at Iowa State when family circumstances called for him to work closer to home.

His desire to become a veterinarian was still strong however.

“After seven years, I decided I would only be happy if I pursued my original goal of attending vet school. So, I packed up and went back to Iowa to finish my animal science degree and attend vet school,” he said.

Once he entered the veterinary workforce, Shimel has concentrated his interest on cats, first at The Cat Practice in New York City, the country’s first cat only practice, then later as an emergency veterinarian, and now at a New York City clinic in upper Manhattan.

“Cats are a bit more complicated medically than dogs it seems,” he said, “and the owners are a bit more interesting.”

Shimel’s interest in cats has extended into being a show vet at Madison Square Garden and giving lectures on integrative medicine at numerous cat shows.

But he has been involved with Purebred dogs since his high school days. He attended a special high school in New York City which provided city kids farm experience opportunities. It was through this opportunity that he connected with a dog show person.

“I fell in love with showing Borzoi and over the years I have shown and bred many Borzoi,” he said.

“My professional partner and I have bred over 60 champions and exported dogs to Europe and Latin America.”

His dogs have become champions in countless countries, along with a Euro Cup winner and several international champions. Shimel recalls a series of international shows in Mexico City in 2007 that featured thousands of competitive dogs.

Dr. Kevin Shimel serves as a AKC approved judge.

Submitted Photo

34 Fall 2021 | Vol. 35 No. 2

“We won every day with our Borzoi,” he said, “Best of Breed with our adult dog and junior titles with our puppy. We came home with several impressive champion titles including World Champion Winner and Champion of the Americas. It really was an exhilarating show

An accomplished photographer, Dr. Kevin Shimel has exhibited in galleries in SOHO and Vermont.

Photos: Kevin Shimel

experience, but also an acknowledgement of our breeding program.”

Dog show breeders like Shimel are dedicated to the preservation of pure breeds.

“We take it very seriously,” he said, “and most of us try to do all we can to breed healthy, happy dogs. The dogs are cared for and pampered as members of our families.

“The breed standards are there not only to keep the breed uniformly identifiable but also to keep the health safeguards that are built into standards.”

When he isn’t showing or breeding dogs, Shimel serves as a dog show judge. He currently serves as a judge for Borzoi, Saluki, Afghan and Dachshund dogs.

“These days, judging is way easier than running around the ring with a large Borzoi, but I enjoy the competition and winning,” he said. “It’s a very competitive sport.”

Showing and judging at dog and cat shows has taken Shimel around the world. When he travels for pleasure, he seeks unique destinations. He has swan with jellyfish in Palau, with sharks and rays in French Polynesia, and with giant whale sharks in The Sea of Cortes.

He has traveled to the Galapagos and Easter Islands, waited for the sun to rise to see condors soar, and has felt the wind in Patagonia. Not to mention going on African safaris, to the Australian Outback and to Norway to see the Northern Lights. Or following the ancient trade routes of The Silk Road through Central Asia. He has visited too many places to mention.

On all these excursions he has his trusted camera by his side.

“When I began traveling, I started to photograph what I experienced,” he said. “It was mostly animals and plants at first, but then the human aspect started to grab my lens. My photos are a picture of reality, not of the artistic imagery type. I’m looking at the overall picture that is presented.

“My travels have led to speaking engagements and presentations at universities and cultural events. But when all is said and done, it’s being a veterinarian that makes me happy.” gd

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alumninews

Mark Your Calendars for These Upcoming Alumni Receptions January 16, 2022 Veterinary Medical Expo The Pub @ Pointe Orlando 9101 International Drive, Suite 1003 Orlando, Florida 7-9 p.m.

Homecoming 2021

The College of Veterinary Medicine celebrated Homecoming with a variety of activities including a meeting of the Veterinary Medical Alumni Association with a presentation by Dr. Dan Grooms, the Dr. Stephen G. Juelsgaard Dean of Veterinary Medicine.

Photos: Tracy Raef

IN MEMORIAM Notices of recent deaths are available online at vetmed.iastate. edu/alumni/memoriam. If you know of a recently deceased CVM alumnus, faculty or staff member please send the notice to dgieseke@iastate.edu.

March 7, 2022 Western Veterinary Conference Las Vegas, Nevada July 29, 2022 AVMA Convention Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mile High Reception The College of Veterinary Medicine hosted an alumni reception last summer in the Denver area. Dr. Jim Noxon (far right), Morrill Professor of veterinary clinical sciences, attended along with, from the left, Dr. Jeff Wells (’88); Dr. Mike Kuhn (’83); and Dr. Arden Larsen (’88).

Photo: Deb Calderwood

Dr. Bill Switzer (1927-2021) Dr. William “Bill” Switzer passed away July 16, 2021 in Ames.

Switzer joined the College of Veterinary Medicine faculty in 1948 and he worked at the college for 42 years. He was awarded the rank of Distinguished Professor and made many contributions to research, including swine respiratory diseases. He served as the associate dean of research and continued his research efforts after retiring from Iowa State.

The William P. Switzer Award was created in 1998 to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to society and the college.

36 Fall 2021 | Vol. 35 No. 2

CVM Alumni Recognized by ISU Two graduates of the College of Veterinary Medicine were recognized during the 2021 Homecoming with university alumni awards.

• Dr. Katherine Polak (‘10), who works for FOUR PAWS, an international charity active in 15 countries where she manages a variety of stray animal care programs throughout Southeast Asia, received the ISU Alumni Association Alumni Humanitarian Award. See Page 9 • Dr. Dustin Loy (‘09), associate professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, received the ISU Alumni Association Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

See Page 33

Congrats!

HONORS AND AWARDS • Dr. Tahseen Abdul-Aziz (PhD ‘83 veterinary pathology), has been named the recipient of the Lasher-Bottorff Award from the American Association of Avian Pathologists. Abdul-Aziz is a veterinary pathologist and diagnostician at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Rollins Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory.

• Dr. Gary Althouse (‘94) has been named the Theriogenologist of the Year by the American College of Theriogenologists. He is a professor of reproduction and swine health, chair in animal reproduction and associate dean of sustainable agriculture and veterinary practices at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

• Dr. Amanda Dykstra (‘03) has been named to the editorial advisory board of dvm360. Dykstra is the owner of The Gentle Doctor veterinary clinic in Knoxville, Tennessee.

• Dr. Jim Roth (’75), Clarence Hartley Covault Distinguished Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, and Dr. Xiang-Jin Meng (PhD ’95), University Distinguished Professor of Molecular Virology at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, gave two of the three AAAS Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lectures.

• The South Dakota VMA presented its 2020 and 2021 awards at the organization’s annual meeting this summer in Sioux Falls.

The recipients included:

• Dr. Steven Hansen (‘85), president and CEO of the Arizona Humane Society, has been elected the treasurer of the American College of Animal Welfare.

› Dr. Heidi Hanson Nantke (’99), 2020 Veterinarian of the Year.

Nantke is the managing veterinarian at the All City Pet Care Veterinary Emergency Hospital in Sioux Falls.

• Dr. Cheryl Hedlund (‘77), professor emeritus of veterinary clinical sciences, is the 2021 recipient of the Al and Carolyn Schiller Distinguished Service Award from the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS). The Schiller Award is given to individuals who have demonstrated unusual and meritorious service to the ACVS.

› Dr. Julie Ann Williams-Wagner (’82), 2020 Distinguished Service Award. Williams-Wagner operated the Mid River Veterinary Clinic in Chamberlain. She passed away in March 2020.

› Dr. Russ Daly (’90), 2021 Distinguished Service Award.

Daly is an extension veterinarian and professor in the Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Department at South Dakota State University.

• The Iowa Veterinary Medical Association (IVMA) has announced recipients of its annual awards.

› Dr. Elizabeth Holland, (‘08), Veterinarian of the Year.

Holland is the owner of Adel Veterinary Clinic.

› Dr. Ryan Shuey (‘16), Rising Star Award. Shuey is an associate veterinarian at Southern Hills Veterinary Services in Corning.

› Humboldt Veterinary Clinic, Healthcare Team Service Award. Dr. Aubrey Corday (‘14), is the owner of Humboldt Veterinary Clinic.

› Dr. Dale Risius (‘70), President’s Award. Risius is the president, Risius & Associates Veterinary Service in Long Grove.

• Dr. Marcus Kehrli, Jr., (‘82), retired director of the USDA National Animal Disease Center, has been awarded the Alumni Award of Merit by the Iowa Chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, the honor society of agriculture.

• Dr. Laura Molgaard (’91) has been appointed the dean of the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine after serving in an interim role since August 2019.

• Dr. Kristin Obbink (’11), lead public health veterinarian for the Center for Food Security and Public Health at Iowa State University, has been elected vice president of the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association.

• The following board members were elected for the South Dakota VMA: Dr. Carolyn Geis (‘15), Pierre, president; Dr. Matt Stork (‘93), Sioux Falls, president-elect; Dr. Heather Lerseth-Fliehs (‘07), Groton, vice president; Dr. Anna Braunschmidt (‘09), Garretson, District I representative; Dr. Heidi Sorensen (‘91), Watertown, District 2 representative; Dr. Chris Chase (‘80), Brookings, AVMA delegate; and Dr. Chanda Nilsson (‘11), Groton, past president.

• Dr. Bruce Stewart-Brown (‘85), senior vice president of food safety, quality and live operations at Perdue Foods, has been named a governor of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians.

• The Veterinary Medical Alumni Association (VMAA) has announced its 2021 awards including:

› Dr. Darwin Schipper (‘71), Outstanding Service Award.

Schipper retired from Preston Veterinary Clinic.

› Dr. Brian Hargens (‘78), Outstanding Mentor Award.

Hargens is the owner of Hudson Veterinary Clinic.

• Dr. Janet Whitlock received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida Veterinary Medical Association (FVMA).

Whitlock is the founder of Beneva Animal Hospital in Sarasota.

She also helped establish an emergency clinic in Sarasota County. She is a past president of the FVMA and the Southwest Florida VMA.

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Laura Kellow 38 Fall 2021 | Vol. 35 No. 2

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Outstanding Service North Dakota State Vet As the new state veterinarian for North Dakota, Ethan Andress brings valuable experience in the field of veterinary medicine and extensive knowledge of bovine, equine and bison medicine. He replaces Dr. Susan Keller who served in the role since 2004. “I feel like a rookie quarterback coming in after Tom Brady,” Andress says. “Dr. Keller has been there for a long time and has done a great job.” Andress is looking forward to continuing to serve North Dakota ranchers and the livestock industry after serving as a veterinarian for a number of years in Hettinger, North Dakota. “We are here to support and educate producers,” he said. “We will help take care of problems that may arise and constructively help people follow the law for the safety of our food supply.”

Photo: Reflections Studio

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Drive-Thru Vets A new veterinary wellness clinic in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, has been designed as a model of convenience to alleviate anxiety in pets and people. The Checkout Veterinary Drive-Thru Wellness Clinic is led by Marty Greer, a certified Fear Free behavior health veterinarian. The concept of driving into the bay area of a clinic and never needing to walk through rain or slip on ice with a wiggly pet or pulled over in a parking lot by a large dog was the brainchild of Greer and her husband and fellow veterinarian, Dan Griffiths. “It’s the only wellness veterinary clinic of its type in the country,” Greer said. “This is not an emergency animal hospital for sick or injured animals. It’s the exact opposite. We developed the clinic to give pet owners convenient, easy access for keeping their pets health up to date on immunizations and health concerns.”

Improving Wildlife, Exotic Skills

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#GentleDoctorsEverywhere

Marty Greer & Dan Griffiths

#GentleDoctorsEverywhere

Ethan Andress

#GentleDoctorsEverywhere

#GentleDoctorsEverywhere

After completing her DVM in 2019, Laura Kellow returned to her native Australia where she completed a master’s degree in wildlife conservation at Murdoch University. Kellow is now continuing that interest as a wildlife and conservation medicine intern with the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) in Sannibal, Florida. “CROW has a significant caseload and already my medicine and surgical skills in wildlife and exotic species has improved exponentially,” Kellow said. “I did an operation to remove a fish hook on my second day here, who knows what else is in store.”

Photo: Drs. Charlotte Cournoyer and Laura Kellow, CROW

Follow ISU CVM Alumni Career Accomplishments

Shawn Nicholson

#GentleDoctorsEverywhere

In Faribault County, Minnesota, Robert Bogan is the only veterinarian in town but he is delaying his retirement until he finds someone to take over his practice. And to sweeten the pot, he is literally giving away his practice - clinic, equipment, furniture - even his 11-year-old pickup. “If we can get somebody to come in here and take over the practice, I would say it’s worth it to me,” Bogan says.

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Robert Bogan

One of Neil Sinha’s first cases as an internal medicine resident at Washington State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital had him perplexed. Why was a 4-month-old puppy lethargic, not growing properly and limping? “I look at every case kind of like a puzzle,” Sinha said. “You have certain pieces, but you never have the full picture. Your job is to fit the pieces together.” Sinha ordered a CT scan for a clearer picture of what was going on with the puppy and the images showed he had eaten a wooden skewer that had punctured his stomach and was poking into his hip. “No one had any idea,” Sinha said. “I felt good because we got him to surgery, and he did well. Hopefully, he won’t eat another stick.”

Giving Away His Practice

Photo: Devin Krinke, KARE

Mentorship Matters

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#GentleDoctorsEverywhere

Neil Sinha

Fitting the Pieces Together

’17

#GentleDoctorsEverywhere

View full stories at vetmed.iastate.edu/gentledoctorseverywhere

On a balmy July afternoon, Stuart Veterinary Clinic is bustling with activity. “Bring me the next one,” Shawn Nicholson calls out as he awaits the next ewe to be pregnancy checked. Observing is Vivian Flores, a sophomore animal science major at Iowa State University.

Nicholson shows Flores what to look for on the ultrasound monitor.

For Nicholson, the opportunity to mentor Flores is a way to pay it forward - much like the support he received coming out of veterinary school. “A lot of veterinarians don’t get that mentorship coming out of school,” Nicholson said.

Photo: Rhonda Brooks

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