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Empowering the Students of Today - Veterinarians of Tomorrow
By Hodes Family Dean Bonnie Rush
The landscape of academic veterinary medicine is rapidly changing. With 12 new colleges of veterinary medicine coming online nationally, Kansas State University will remain a competitive leader by staying true to our four pillars. Examples of exceptional teaching, impactful research, outstanding service and extraordinary graduates can be found throughout this issue. Our commitment to these four tenets ensure K-State will continue attract strong professional degree candidates and maintain national recognition for research that guides global decisions for veterinarians and policymakers.
K-State graduates are known for their practical problem-solving and technical skills. The stories on the Field Investigation rotation and model development for Clinical Skills demonstrate the commitment of faculty and staff to ensure this legacy continues. We continue to focus on the affordability of the DVM degree. In the past seven years, we have worked to more than double the scholarship endowment (from
$13.8M to $30.7M). Thank you to all of you who have contributed to student scholarships! The increase in distributed scholarships allowed us to develop the matching program for students pursuing external scholarships. It is important for us to help students who are helping themselves through competitive scholarships from corporate and non-profit organizations (Page 18).
Dr. Jürgen Richt will soon be inducted into the National Academy of Medicine, the pinnacle of lifetime achievement awards. This honor was determined prior to his most recent work. Dr. Richt led an international collaboration to determine the pathophysiology and disease transmission of H5N1 HPAI, resulting in a Nature publication within six months of disease emergence. The timeliness and detail of this contribution is unprecedented and highlight his team’s expertise and agility in emerging, zoonotic diseases. There are precious few research teams in the world that could deliver this outcome. Faculty expertise and resources ensure K-State is on the forefront of infectious disease research. Read more about the work of college researchers including Dr. Richt on Pages 24 through 26.
Every state has a Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, but not every college of veterinary medicine maintains responsibility for the state diagnostic laboratory. The Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (KSVDL) serves all 105 counties in the state of Kansas, while remaining an important educational and investigational resource for the college. The KSVDL is an unsung hero, providing critical data to allow efficient and effective treatment of veterinary patients of every size and discipline. Their work saves lives, prevents livestock loss, enhances productivity, serves wildlife preservation, and even ensures the safety of water supplies. The story on Page 40 shares more details about the important work of this state resource.
The Veterinary Health Center (VHC) is our most important textbook to prepare practice-ready graduates. Training in emergency, primary, specialty, and ambulatory care is provided for veterinary students and advanced trainees, ensuring the future of the profession is prepared to work in a wide range of practice situations. In addition, the VHC is an important regional resource through provision of exceptional patient care for pets, livestock and exotic animals. Not every college of veterinary medicine maintains a teaching hospital. The impact of this resource should never be taken for granted. Many of the stories in this issue touch on the life saving activities of VHC faculty and staff.
This issue of Wildcat Veterinarian highlights the expertise of K-State faculty, staff, students and alumni. We hope you can feel their compassion and commitment to the greatest profession on the planet!
