Tuskegee and Cornell: A Shared Legacy in PhD Education for African-American Veterinarians

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University
Posted September 22, 2012

This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013).

While visiting Tuskegee University this week to present a paper on One Health, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Eugene W. Adams, one of the college's pioneers and most distinguished faculty.

Now in his 90s, the youthful-appearing Dr. Adams regaled me with stories of his days at Cornell, where he received his PhD in pathology in 1961. He was one of three Tuskegee faculty who received PhDs at Cornell in that era, the other two being Dr. W. C. Bowie (physiology, 1960) and Dr. R. C. Williams (anatomy, 1961).  All three men became major leaders of the college. Dr. Bowie served as dean for 18 years.

Professor Emeritus Eugene W. Adams, DVM, MS, PhD
Tuskegee University
Photo by Author, 2012

In the early 1930s another Tuskegee veterinarian, Frederick Douglass Patterson, did graduate studies at Cornell in poultry pathology. He was the first faculty member at Tuskegee to receive the PhD and soon thereafter became the third president of the university. He founded the veterinary college in 1945, and also was the lead architect in establishing the United Negro College Fund (1946) as well as the Tuskegee airmen program during World War II.

Dr. Adams credits the warm relationship between Cornell's Dean William A. Hagan and Tuskegee's Dean T. S. Williams for paving the way for Tuskegee faculty to go to Cornell in the 1950s for graduate training (there were several others who followed in the 1960s and 1970s). The two men had much in common. Both Hagan and Williams had received their DVM degrees from Kansas State University, and Hagan had been the chairman of the AVMA's first institutional review team that eventually recommended the full accreditation of Tuskegee in 1954.

Dr. Adams recalled his days at Cornell very fondly. He studied for his PhD alongside future Cornell professors Drs. John King and Dan Tapper and never recalls hearing a racial slur nor a negative comment from anyone at the university. That was unlike some other universities at the time, and he attributes Cornell's welcoming atmosphere to the leadership of Dean Hagan. Dr. Adams also received a research stipend from the college that equaled his fellowship from Tuskegee.  Together, they gave him a salary equivalent to what he had as a full faculty member before his educational leave.

During his first year in Ithaca, Dr. Adams rented a room on Linden Avenue, then later when his family joined him, they stayed in Cascadilla Hall..

Several veterinary colleges, notably Kansas State, Iowa State, Michigan State and the University of Pennsylvania (as well as Cornell), were instrumental in enrolling African-American students into their DVM programs prior to the opening of Tuskegee in 1945. However, the Tuskegee-Cornell partnership for PhD education in the early years of the institution stands alone and highlights the role that committed leadership --- in this case, Deans Williams and Hagan --- made in establishing and advancing the reputation of the new college.

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu.

New York City's Five Veterinary Colleges

Guest Blog
By Samantha Rivera, DVM candidate, 2014 Cornell University
Posted September 22, 2012

This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013).

As a New Yorker born and bred in the Bronx, I have deep cultural ties with my city. New York really has it all – a complex transportation system, numerous hospitals and medical schools, and restaurants that reflect our rich cultural diversity. So why did I reluctantly pack my bags during the summer of 2007 to travel all the way upstate for my pre-professional and professional education?   

Because New York City does not have a veterinary college.

When I took Dr. Donald Smith’s course in veterinary history as a first-year student, I was shocked to learn that at one time in the past, there were several veterinary colleges in the heart of Manhattan. What happened to these colleges? Why did they not survive? How did these veterinary institutions change and evolve? These questions have bothered me during the last two years, so, I finally decided to learn their history. 

This is their story.

In 1857, eight years before Cornell University was founded, an act was passed in the State capital of Albany to establish the New York College of Veterinary Surgeons. The veterinary practice of a French veterinarian-physician by the name of Alexandre Liautard was eventually selected for the site of the college, and clinical instruction began on November 23, 1864. This was only the second veterinary college in the country at the time.

Liautard was dean of the college for about a decade when internal disturbances resulted in his resignation. Joined by several faculty members, he left the institution and founded the American Veterinary College, which provided clinical instruction at 139 West 54^th Street for the next 25 years.

A Graphic Outline of New York City's Five Veterinary College (1857-1921)

Problems between the board and staff persisted at the New York College of Veterinary Surgeons, and another group of faculty resigned in 1878 to found the Columbia Veterinary College. Also called the College of Comparative Medicine, the governing body of this institution contained several MDs with veterinarian Erskine Bates serving as dean.  

The three veterinary institutions existed simultaneously in New York City for several years, providing instruction to hundreds of prospective veterinarians. By most accounts, Liautard was the most prominent spokesperson for the veterinary profession in the United States at this time. He continued his role as dean of the American Veterinary College, while Harry D. Gills led the New York City College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Charges of impropriety in 1884 forced Bates to resign from his leadership of the Columbia Veterinary College, and college merged with the American Veterinary College. Despite its short history of only seven years, Columbia’s 80 veterinary graduates comprised almost ten percent of the total graduates of the five colleges over their six-decade history.

In another merger, the New York College of Veterinary Surgeons and the American Veterinary College consolidated in 1899 to create an entirely new veterinary institution associated with New York University (NYU). The name of this new institution was the New York University New York-American Veterinary College, with W.J. Coates as dean. New York College of Veterinary Surgeons had almost 300 graduates between 1857-1899, while the American Veterinary College had twice that many graduates between 1875-1899.

Though Cornell University had offered limited instruction in veterinary medicine since 1868, it was not until 1894 that the State passed a law authorizing the establishment of a veterinary college at the university in the rural upstate town of Ithaca. 

In 1905, eleven years after Cornell was designated as a state-supported veterinary college, a bill was introduced to the New York State Assembly that would fund a veterinary college in New York City. Cornell vigorously opposed the bill, but the law was passed and New York University became home to a state-supported veterinary college in 1913. The institution was known as NYU New York State Veterinary College. It had a total of 116 graduates between the years 1899-1913.

Period Veterinary Publication Advertising Two New York State Veterinary Colleges,
one  at Cornell University (L) and one at New York University (R), circa 1916

Dean Coates died in 1916 after a long illness.  Dr. Horace Hoskins served as dean until 1921, when he too passed. The institution was devastated by the loss of their beloved deans. Sadly, the challenge of funding and continued leadership, and the loss of the horse as the dominant means of city transportation, took its toll and the college suspended operation in the following year. 

Formal veterinary education ceased to exist in New York City ninety years ago, in 1922. Ironically, it was about the same time as Cornell’s medical school was pulling up its roots in Ithaca and moving to New York.  The nation’s most populous city has been without a veterinary college ever since.

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

Western's College of Veterinary Medicine: An Interview with Two Faculty

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University

Posted July 31, 2012

This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013).

Drs. Ana Alcaraz and and Jose (Txema) Peralta left Cornell University in 2007 to join the faculty of the recently-established 28^th veterinary college in the United States. Western University of the Health Sciences had admitted its first class of students four years earlier and the wife-husband Alcaraz-Peralta team have now witnessed five classes of graduates complete their DVM degree requirements.

Drs. Ana Alcaraz and Jose Peralta are faculty at 
Western University of the Health Sciences in Pomona, CA
Photo by the author

‘Western’, as it often called, was established in 1998 as the first veterinary college to open in the U.S. since the early 1980s. Located in Pomona, California, it is one of four veterinary colleges not affiliated with a land-grant university. When Western was accredited fully by the AVMA in 2008, it ushered in a new era of how veterinary colleges can meet national standards for clinical education. That is because Western adopted a model that uses private clinical practices to a significant extent instead of maintaining its own comprehensive veterinary teaching hospital.

Ana and Txema visited Cornell recently, and I asked them to characterize the college’s reputation as they start their tenth year of teaching this fall. “Graduates are our best ambassadors,” Dr. Peralta replied without hesitation, citing their broad distribution in practices throughout the country and their success in attaining competitive internship and residency programs. He gave the example of Dr. Vanessa Rizzo who graduated in 2010, and is now a second-year oncology residency here at Cornell. 

“One of the advantages that our students experience is that they receive much of their clinical education in private practices where they see a broad cross section of routine and primary care cases similar to what they eventually experience in their own practices. This is different than university-based teaching hospitals that rely more heavily on specialty cases. While complex referral cases provide good instruction for residents, the hospital accessions are sometimes less appropriate for third- and fourth-year veterinary students who need to first master more basic material.”

“This allows students to gain a realistic picture of what follows in their careers,” added Dr. Alcaraz, “and the students are more often able to interact directly with the supervising veterinarian because many of the practices do not have the tiered resident-intern-student structure that is the norm in large academic hospitals. Also, these practices do not usually have as many students rotating through a service at a time as in a university setting.”

The distributed nature of the third-year curriculum allows students to spend up to 40 weeks not just in traditional clinical practice, but also in a variety of non practice settings, such as laboratory medicine, wildlife or zoological medicine, and public health centers and facilities. Ana believes this gives students exposure to a more expansive array of career choices in veterinary medicine.

Txema also noted that because the college is private and does not rely on public funding, they have been spared some of the economic challenges of institutions that rely on substantial levels of state support. “Everybody has financial challenges these days, but as long as we have a competitive curriculum, Western will continue to flourish. As I said earlier, our graduates are our best ambassadors and prospective veterinary students often choose to apply here through word of mouth.”

I shall present the introductory lecture on the history of veterinary education at the AVMA meeting in San Diego this weekend. During these remarks I shall pay tribute to Western for having created a new paradigm in the dynamic world of veterinary education. 

Dr. Smith welcomes comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

Veterinary Medicine in the Post Land-Grant Era

By Donald F. Smith DVM, Cornell University

Posted June 25, 2012

I seldom use this blog as a forum to share personal opinions. This posting is an exception, however, and does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Cornell University or the AVMA. Comments are welcome on this blog or by writing me at dfs6@cornell.edu

         A century ago, there were three types of veterinary colleges. The majority were for-profit schools of varying quality, located in major cities with their focus on horses. These schools could not be sustained past the 1920s because of decreased enrollment when the horse lost its dominance to the internal combustion engine. An additional factor in their demise was the increased scrutiny given private, for profit medical and veterinary schools as the professions improved their regulatory standards. 

         A small handful of veterinary programs were affiliated with their respective medical schools, for example, those at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, NYU and George Washington University. Only Penn survived. 

         The third type of veterinary college was part of the land-grant initiative. Established in response to the Morrill Act of 1862, land-grant institutions (one per state or territory and mostly located in towns or small cities) were designed to provide practical education for rural youth in agriculture, engineering and the sciences. Starting with Cornell University in 1868, veterinary programs developed at nine land grant universities in the next few decades. Iowa State University became the first public-funded (land-grant) veterinary college in 1879. 

         Another cluster of land-grant veterinary colleges was established in the post World War II era, and a final cluster in the 1970s. Like the early veterinary schools, most of these later colleges were also located in smaller communities apart from major medical schools. In some states, the colleges were located in towns without major transportation hubs. The agricultural lobby was often the dominant political force in justifying the new veterinary college and all but four of the current 28 veterinary colleges are located at land-grant universities. There is also an imbalance favoring locations of colleges in the Midwest and southern states compared to the most populous areas of the country.  Unlike major medical schools which are most prevalent in large metropolitan areas, only two veterinary colleges (Penn and the Ohio State) are located in the 40 most populous U.S. cities.

         In the early 20th century, it could be said that the land-grant system saved veterinary medicine. Without the emphasis on livestock and food production, as well as having state governments providing core financial support, veterinary medicine might otherwise have floundered as the horse lost its central role in transportation and industry. 

         However, in today's world, I believe that the dominance of the land grant system in veterinary education represents a serious challenge for our profession's sustainability. Starting in the years following the Great Depression, migration from rural to urban and suburban areas was accompanied by a massive growth in numbers of household pets and other companion animals. Meanwhile, livestock production was concentrated on larger agricultural units requiring veterinarians.  Today, fewer than 10% of veterinarians work with livestock or the food production systems. About 80% of veterinarians in private practice work with household pets. Another 10% work with horses, zoo animals, wildlife and laboratory animals. 

Beau is an important member of our family.
 Good nutrition, twice-daily scheduled exercise without fail, 
and quality veterinary medical care have given him health and mobility in his 16th year of life.
Photo by the author in 2007.

         Despite the dramatic expansion of the mission of veterinary medicine, state support for veterinary colleges is still largely defined based upon the needs for livestock and safe food production. While these remain a fundamental responsibility of veterinarians, they do not address adequately the larger and more diverse missions of veterinary medicine, especially the role of healthy and well-adjusted pets in supporting human health and well-being.

         To assure sustainability of veterinary colleges in the present era, we need to embrace enthusiastically the role that veterinarians play in an expanded family profile that often includes pets. In responding to this opportunity, we must adapt a bold new approach for public funding that emphasizes the role of veterinarians as critical members of the medical health community. This includes the veterinarians' role in public health and the prevention and control of diseases that are transmitted from animals to people. But it also needs to acknowledge the role of household pets and other companion animals in promoting both physical and emotional health of people at all stages of life. 

         In practical terms, the public funding of veterinary colleges should be broadened and not remain solely the provenance of departments of agriculture.

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

Veterinary Education and the G.I. Bill

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University
Posted June 22, 2012
Honoring the GI Bill, signed 68 years ago today.

This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013).

As World War II was drawing to a close, hundreds of thousands of battle-weary veterans returned home. Eager to resume their lives, the G.I. Bill of Rights (signed by President Roosevelt on June 22, 1944) eased the transition of some of them back into society by providing access to university and postgraduate education. Students who started veterinary college between 1946 and 1948 were mostly veterans, many of whom were already in their mid- to late 20s with spouses and small children. It is sometimes quipped that Cornell's 1950 graduating DVM class photo had 50 graduates and 50 children, most still in diapers. 


With only ten veterinary colleges in the United States in the early 1940s (1), available slots for veterinary students were very limited. The situation was especially acute in the agriculturally-rich midwest and southern states, and in California. Responding to this need, seven new colleges were established in the four-year period starting in 1944. Six were at land-grant universities; the other was at Tuskegee Institute, a member of the Historic Black college system.

Location of  Veterinary Colleges established
before 1920 (red) and between 1944 and 1948 (blue). 
Colleges are identified in footnote (2).

Members of the first graduating class of the new college at the University of Minnesota were all men, one of whom was Dr. Glen Nelson:  "Most of us were veterans. We had a B17 pilot who was shot down over France and escaped back to England with the French Underground. We had a B29 pilot [who] flew over Nagasaki the day after THE Bomb. I was a tank officer under Patton in North Africa and Italy. We had a prisoner of war in our class, an ex-POW, and another who was shot up pretty bad (sic) on Saipan. Going to the student center was like sitting around the American Legion Club."


Of the 17 veterinary colleges in 1948, all but two (University of Pennsylvania and Tuskegee Institute, later University) were at land-grant institutions. Most of these were located in rural areas of the country in towns or small cities such as College Station, TX; Ithaca, NY and Athens, GA. An 18th veterinary college was added at Purdue University a decade later, but no more were established until the 1970s.


(1) Middlesex University in Massachusetts operated a veterinary college  in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
(2) Veterinary colleges established between 1868 and 1920 were at: Auburn, Colorado St, Cornell, Iowa St, Kansas St, Michigan St, Ohio St, Texas A&M, U of Pennsylvania, and Washington St. Those established between 1944 and 1948 were at: Oklahoma St, Tuskegee, UC-Davis, U Georgia, U Minnesota, U Illinois, and U Missouri.


Some material for this blog first appeared in an article by Dr. Smith in the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education (JVME, 38[1], pages 84-99, 2011).
Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu.

Edgar Sawtelle, Dr. Mark Morris and a Dog named Buddy

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University
Posted June 21, 2012

This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013).



When a friend gave me the book, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, she told me it was a story of farm life, a veterinarian, and the special bond that unites a boy with his dogs. Oh yes, and a murder or two! What Julie Kumble allowed me to discover on my own was that it also contained hidden references to one of Cornell University's most famous veterinary graduates, Dr. Mark Morris, Sr., and the beginning of prescription pet food formulations. 

Cover of David Wroblewski's novel,
"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle".
Photo by Dr. Smith.

Edgar Sawtelle is a fascinating novel about a multi-generation farm family and their exceptional kennel of breeding dogs. While investigating events surrounding the suspicious death of his father, young Edgar Sawtelle discovers letters written in 1934 by his late grandfather to a man named Brooks, one of the original breeders of seeing eye dogs in Morristown, New Jersey. His most famous guide dog was a German Shepherd named Buddy.


Author David Wroblewski doesn't tell us about the more far-reaching contribution of Buddy. That is his role in the development of the pet food industry in general, and prescription diets, in particular. Here is the "rest of the story."


An advanced-standing transfer student from the midwest arrived at Cornell University in the fall of 1925 and the following spring he received his DVM. Two years later, Mark Morris, Sr., established Raritan Hospital for Animals in Edison, N.J., one of the first small animal practices in the country.


Dr. Morris was convinced that proper nutrition was essential to pet health. At that time, Buddy was the guide dog of a blind man, Morris Frank, and they were touring the country by train to demonstrate the impact that a seeing eye dog could have by allowing a blind person to navigate independently, safely and with dignity. When Buddy's life was threatened by kidney disease, Dr. Morris was consulted and he formulated a unique specialty diet that slowed the progression of the renal failure. Buddy's life was prolonged and he and Mr. Frank were able to continue their travels about the country spreading the good news of dogs as companions for the blind.

Dr. Mark Morris, Sr., Cornell DVM 1926
Photo from Hill's Pet Nutrition

The special dog food was initially mailed as needed to Mr. Frank in glass jars, but the jars often broke in transit. "Frank arranged for delivery of several thousand cans to Dr. Morris as well as a hand operating canning machine."(1)  Morris and his wife initially processed the canned food in their own home and sent it to Frank and Buddy wherever they were traveling. Meanwhile everywhere they went throughout the country, they were telling people of the miraculous food developed by Dr. Morris back in New Jersey.(2) Morris' fame spread and the prescription pet food industry was born. His 'kidney diet' was appropriately named Canine k/d®, and was licensed to Hill's Packing Company (now Hill's Pet Nutrition) to produce what soon became a growing line of pet prescription formula diets.


With the royalties from the sale of these diets, Mark Morris established a foundation dedicated to animal health and well-being. Morris Animal Foundation is now the largest organization in the world that invests in research that will advance veterinary medicine and improve the quality of life for companion animals, horses and wildlife.


References:
1. http://www.hillspet.com/our-company/story-of-hills-pet-nutrition.html
2. Personal Conversation between Dr. Mark Morris, Jr. and the author, Cornell University, circa 1995.


Dr. Smith thanks Julie Kumble for sharing the Sawtelle book. She is director of grants and programs at the Women's Fund of Western Massachusetts, and the aunt of a member of Cornell's DVM Class of 2015.
The author invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

Andre (Moul) Ross: One of the Few Women to Become a Veterinarian During World War II

Posted May 24, 2012.

By Dr. Donald F. Smith, Cornell University
This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013)

Seven women were admitted to Cornell’s veterinary college in 1935 and 1936. This represented about eight percent of those classes, an astonishingly high proportion for that period. However, by the end of the decade, fewer women were admitted to Cornell and only one in the class that arrived in 1939.

Andre (Moul) Ross, Cornell DVM 1943
Graduation Photo, Cornell University

Andre Moul was raised in Gloversville, NY. While helping deliver piglets from the sow of a family friend, she became hooked on the idea of becoming a veterinarian. Despite her mother’s encouragement to become a teacher, a nurse, or a secretary, 11-year-old Andre couldn’t be dissuaded from wanting to become a veterinarian. 

“Back in the thirties, girls seldom went to college”, Dr. Ross said in a 1998 interview. “The belief was that educating a girl to become a veterinarian robbed a worthy boy of his education as the girl would most likely marry and never practice”.

With her mother’s support, Andre enrolled in Cornell’s agricultural college in 1938 for her requisite year of pre-veterinary education. A year later, she began her veterinary studies as the sole woman in the class of 40 students. 

The horse (not dog) was still the principal species used in first-year dissection classes. Clinical experiences during the final two years were divided equally between the small and large animal clinics. Though there were occasional class exercises in which she was not allowed to participate because of her gender, she shared most learning activities with her male colleagues. 

Andre (Moul) Ross, the only woman in Cornell's Veterinary Class of 1943
with four of her classmates and an equine patient.
Photo provided by Ms. Carol Shank, 2012

Male veterinary students from several classes
in uniform during WWII at Cornell University
Photo by Cornell University.

Cornell was transformed into a quasi-military base during WWII with most male veterinary students enrolled in some form of military training. Summers were used for instruction to accelerate the curriculum and enable the male veterinarians to be commissioned upon graduation.

In May 1942, Andre married a recently-graduated engineering student named Donald Gunn Ross, Jr. They had met as members of the Cornell Radio Guild where he was the chief engineer and she the sound effects engineer. Andre moved from the dorm where single students were required to live, to married student housing.

“For nearly 15 years after graduation, I took on the role of wife and mother”, Andre wrote in 1998. Then she gradually returned to veterinary medicine, first as part-time small animal practitioner, and eventually as practice owner. She finished her career in Stone Ridge, New York until her retirement in 1993.

The author is grateful to Dr. Ross' daughter, Ms. Carol Shank, for providing stories and photographs of her mother. The quotations of Dr. Ross are from an article she wrote, "On Becoming a Vet", Blue Stone Press, October 16, 1998. Dr.  Ross died in 2006.

Dr. Smith welcomes comments at dfs6@cornell.edu. 

African-American Veterinary Students at Kansas State University (1910-1950)

By Donald Smith, Cornell University; with Howard Erickson, Kansas State University

Posted May 21, 2012
This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013)

Cornell has always been proud of her contribution to the education of African-American veterinarians in the early years of the profession. However, of the 70 Blacks who received DVM degrees before Tuskegee University (Institute) was established in the mid 1940s, about a third of them were graduates of Kansas State University. Moreover, unlike Cornell and Penn where the majority of the Black students studied during the early decades of the 20^th century, Kansas State’s Black veterinary population was distributed evenly between 1910 and 1950.

Kansas State professor and veterinary historian Dr. Howard Erickson feels that the development of the meat packing industry may have been one of the contributing factors to the leadership role that his university played in the education of African-American veterinarians. “The Kansas City stockyards were built in 1871, and the growth of the meat packing industry followed. Former slaves migrated north and more than 50,000 southern Blacks arrived in Kansas during the 1870s. Unable to procure land for farming as they had hoped, they settled in Kansas City in a community that bordered on what would become the meat packing district.”

By 1905, 25% of the meat packing employees in Kansas City were African-American. Some of the best positions for veterinarians at that time were in the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), which was the meat inspection service of the Federal government. “I think the black workers in the packing plants observed the veterinarian as a respected and successful professional and they encouraged their children to study veterinary medicine.”

Erickson believes that the college administration also had an impact on the fact that 22 African-American veterinarians studied at Kansas State. “Dr. Ralph Dykstra, who served as dean of the college from 1919-1948, may have been more receptive to accepting Black students than leaders of other colleges.” There are anecdotal reports that previous administrators were also supportive of diversifying the student body.

Dr. John William Brown was the
first DVM graduate of
Kansas State University in 1912.
Photograph provided by Kansas St. Univ.

John William Brown was the first Black student to graduate from Kansas State, receiving his DVM in 1912. He eventually worked in the BAI and finished his career engaged in meat inspection in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Thomas G. Perry (1921) established the first small animal hospital in Wichita, KS and became Head of the Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery when the veterinary college opened at Tuskegee. 

Theodore Williams (1935) and Walter C. Bowie (1947) each became deans at Tuskegee, and Eugene Adams (1944) became associate dean and university vice provost. Dr. Adams is also known as the author of the definitive history of Tuskegee’s School of Veterinary Medicine. (1)

Twenty-two graduates may not seem like a very large number. However, during a period when becoming a veterinarian was almost never considered a possibility by the African-American community, Kansas State provided an important beacon of hope. Whether in the meat inspection service or in clinical practice, Black graduates served as role models to other young African-American students. The greater impact, however, was the education of those young men who became deans, department chairs and faculty members at Tuskegee’s veterinary college during its formative years.

1.   The Legacy. A History of The Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine, by Eugene W. Adams. Published by The Media Center Press, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL 1995.

Dr. Smith welcomes comments at dfs6@cornell.edu. 

Harvard's Most Accomplished Veterinary Graduates

Posted May 14, 2012
By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University
This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013)

The New York Times called Harvard Veterinary School the “leading school of the science in the country and the one to which the present development of veterinary medicine in the United States is largely due”. The date was Dec. 2, 1900 and the Times was mourning the anticipated closure due to lack of funding.

Harvard’s veterinary school and clinics closed the following year. Established in 1882 as a department within the medical school, Harvard maintained the Village Street Hospital for the treatment and observation of sick animals. The hospital had an entrance door large enough to accommodate a circus elephant. According to the Times, more small and large animal patients were admitted to Harvard at that time than to any other veterinary college in the United States. 
Despite being self-supported with neither endowment income nor appropriation from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the school also maintained a free clinic on Piedmont Street for charity, and to improve the teaching resources of the school.

Harvard School of Veterinary Medicine, circa 1883
Image from Countway Library of Medicine
(Alliance of the Boston Medical Library and Harvard Medical School)

There were only 128 veterinary graduates during the 20-year history of the school, but two are known to have made major contributions to medicine and science. One was Richard P. Lyman, Jr, (MDV 1894). The son of the School’s dean, the younger Lyman was in clinical practice for 17 years and also taught at the Kansas City Veterinary School before becoming the founding dean of Michigan State’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 1910.

The other was Langdon Frothingham (MDV 1889). His initial job was at the University of Nebraska where he was director of the pathobiology laboratory.  He was also the university’s first football coach, and the only undefeated (2-0) and unscored-upon coach in the history of Nebraska football.

Langdon Frothingham,
 Harvard veterinary graduate (MDV, 1889)

Frothingham’s more memorable achievement occurred in Dresden, Germany (1892-94) where he worked with Heinrich Johne and co-discovered the infectious disease that caused chronic diarrhea and weight loss in cattle and was originally thought to be intestinal tuberculosis. A new organism was discovered by the two scientists and the disease was called “pseudotuberculous enteritis”. It is know today as Johne’s Disease.

Returning to the United States in 1895, Frothingham worked briefly at Yale, then as instructor in pathology at his alma mater (Harvard Veterinary). His brilliant research in veterinary pathology, including important articles on rabies, spanned three decades until he retired in 1928 from Harvard’s medical school, where he was employed after the veterinary school closed. The late E.L. Stubbs, veterinary pathologist and historian, wrote that Frothingham “reigned alone during the 19^th century as a veterinary pathologist in the United States” and was a “leading authority on animal pathology in Boston medical circles".  

One can only speculate how much greater our veterinary profession would be today if Harvard’s veterinary school was still in existence, and integrated within the Boston medical community as it was over a century ago.  


Dr. Smith thanks Professor Howard K. Erickson, Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine, for his support, especially with reference to the contributions of Langdon Frothingham.


Selected References: 
The New York Times, Dec 2, 1900
E.L.Stubbs, Biographical Sketch: Langdon Frothingham (1866-1935). Vet Path 1966 2:565.
Dr. Smith welcomes comments at dfs6@cornell.edu.

AVMA Presidents: Dr. Jack O. Walther 2003-04

Posted March 24, 2012

by Donald F. Smith, Cornell University

This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 

of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013). 
See Dr. Walther's complete biography and interview with audio at http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/28642/2/Walther,%20Jack%20).%201963%20UC%20Davis,%20BioInt.pdf

Dr. Walther grew up on a ranch in Nevada and graduated from the University of California, Davis in 1963. He established an equine practice in Reno but like many other veterinary graduates of the early 1960s, he was drafted during the Vietnam War and spent two years in the Army Veterinary Corps. Returning to Nevada after his discharge, Jack entered the companion animal field and over the next 35 years established three small animal hospitals in the Reno area.

Dr. Walther was heavily involved in activities of the Nevada Veterinary Medical Association starting in the 1970s and in 1992 was selected as Nevada’s delegate to the AVMA. From there, he  was elected to the AVMA's executive board representing his region of the country. 

During a trip to Cornell University in September 2001 while AVMA vice president, he received an unanticipated call from a colleague encouraging him to run for the position of president-elect. Though no previous vice president had used that position as a springboard to the presidency for almost 100 years, Dr. Walther entered the race and in July 2003 was installed as the AVMA's 140th president.

Dr. Walther was president in a year in which serious diseases of food-producing animals, notably, highly pathogenic avian influenza and bovine spongiform encephalopathy emerged as threats to the nation’s food animals and international trade.

Dr. Walther testifying before Congress in 2004, encouraging 
improved surveillance for Chronic Wasting Disease that
threatened deer and elk populations.
AVMA photo provided by Dr. Walther

In what he considers one of his most important initiatives, Dr. Walther energized and expanded the public relations programs of the AVMA, transforming that department in ways that were long overdue. He also fundamentally improved the way in which legislative issues in various states were monitored by the AVMA so that relevant and timely information could be shared among veterinary associations in other states. Dr. Walther also facilitated the establishment of a privately-managed testing service for veterinary graduates of foreign and non-accredited colleges that helped reduce a two-to-three year backlog of new veterinarians awaiting examination for licensure to practice. 


Throughout his professional career, Dr. Walther has been involved in community activities. Dr. Walther promoted major expansion of passenger and commercial air service in the Reno/Sparks area while a leader of the Washoe County Airport Authority. He was also chair of the board of the National Championship Air Races in the 1990s. An avid cowboy himself, Dr. Walther served as chairman of the small and financially-fragile Reno Rodeo and saw it become one of the top rodeos in North America. 

Dr. Walther plays his role as working cowboy

on his ranch in Lamoille, NV in 2010.

Photo provided by Dr. Walther.

Dr. Walther continues to be an active leader in veterinary medicine, serving on several veterinary boards, in particular the Western Veterinary Conference. His various roles with the conference were so distinguished that the program for the 2013 annual meeting will be named in his honor (only the sixth time this has occurred in the past three decades).

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

Tuskegee University's Distinctive School of Veterinary Medicine

Posted January 13, 2012 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)

Donald F. Smith, Cornell University

This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013).

The first and only veterinary school at an historic Black college was established in the post WWII period at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. From its humble beginnings under the inspiration of Frederick Douglass Patterson, veterinarian and third president of Tuskegee, the school has had a distinguished history of educating young African-Americans and others for the past seven decades.

Patterson was orphaned at an early age and separated from his family except for an older sister who raised and supported him though his early life and schooling. He had the good fortune to attend Iowa State University, where he received his DVM in 1923 and his M.S. three years later. He then joined the faculty of Tuskegee Institute at a time when the South was transitioning from plantation living where the principal crop was cotton, to livestock production. The need for veterinarians became more acute as farmers were poorly equipped to raise cattle and other livestock.



Tuskegee University veterinary students
examine a dog (above) and assist during
operation of canine patient (below).
Photos provided by Tuskegee University
School of Veterinary Medicine

Though some of the northern veterinary colleges, in particular, Kansas State and Ohio State Universities, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania, had educated African-American students before 1940, the numbers were small (fewer than 70). The southern veterinary colleges, where most of the aspiring Black students lived, were segregated. As the northern colleges became more pressed to admit students from their states, there were few places for African-Americans students to receive the DVM degree.

Dr. Patterson was sent to Cornell for further graduate training. Shortly after returning with his PhD, he was named the third president of Tuskegee.

A bold and visionary leader, President Patterson lobbied successfully from the state of Alabama for a new program in veterinary medicine. Using that modest public support as well as student labor, the college opened in 1945 with the expectation that it would become a regional center where Blacks could study veterinary medicine.

Patterson’s early faculty were led by Dr. Edward B. Evans, who became the founding dean. Several faculty traveled to northern schools like Cornell and Iowa State University for graduate degrees in their early years. This was essential to establish credible teaching and research programs and to eventually achieve accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

President Patterson's legacy extended to other fields as he encouraged African-Americans to pursue higher education. Historically, he is best known as the leader who established the United Negro College Fund. He also supported the establishment of the famed Tuskegee Airmen program .

Tuskegee’s School of Veterinary Medicine currently enrolls approximately 70 DVM students in each class. Two of the current deans of other U.S. veterinary colleges are Tuskegee graduates: Willie Reed '78 (Purdue University) and Phillip Nelson '79 (Western University of the Health Sciences). Dr. Michael Blackwell '75 served as chief of staff for the surgeon general of the U.S. (1999-2000) and also dean of the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine (2000-2008).

Tsegaye Habtemariam, DVM, MPVM, PhD
Dean, Tuskegee University 
College of Veterinary Medicine,
Nursing and Allied Health 
All photos provided by Tuskegee University

Most Tuskegee graduates practice east of the Mississippi, though only 7% live in Alabama. Fifty percent reside in states adjacent to Alabama (Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky); and another 10% practice in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Other notable Tuskegee veterinary graduates include Dr. Harold Davis '76, past president of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and former VP, Amgen, Inc., and Dr. Matthew Jenkins '57, former practitioner in California and former member of Tuskegee’s Board of Trustees. Dr. and Mrs. Roberta Jenkins are generous supporters of Tuskegee’s School of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

Veterinarian Frederick Douglass Patterson and the Tuskegee Airmen

Posted Veterans Day, November 11, 2011

by Dr. Donald F. Smith, Cornell University

This historical blog is in recognition of the 150th anniversary 
of the American Veterinary Medical Association (1863-2013).

Did you know that the Tuskegee Airmen program was established by a veterinarian? 

I didn’t until last May, when I interviewed Dr. Charles Robinson, the only African-American veterinary student to attend Cornell during the 1940s.

Charles R. Robinson, DVM (Cornell 1944)
and his wife, Yolanda. Picture by author, 2010

Robinson imbued me with a sense of wonder of the great accomplishments of his former boss, Dr. Frederick Douglass Patterson, who served as the third president of Tuskegee Institute (now University).

Frederick Douglass Patterson, DVM, MS, PhD
founder of the Tuskegee Airmen
President of Tuskegee Institute (now University)

Frederick Douglass Patterson (1901-1988) was raised an orphan by his sister who inspired him to get an education. And he did: a DVM and MS from Iowa State University, and a PhD from Cornell. Appointed president of Tuskegee in 1934, he founded the veterinary college (1945) and was the driving force in establishing the United Negro College Fund (1944).

Earlier in his presidency, however, he learned to fly. So committed was he to also providing that opportunity to other young African-Americans, he overcame the political and social impediments of the day―the military was strictly segregated at the time―and won a federal grant to establish a training site to teach young Black men to fly military planes. This gave birth to the legendary Tuskegee Airmen of the World War II U.S. Army Corps.

Nearly half of the Tuskegee Airmen served overseas as combat pilots during World War II. Historical records boast that they were so accomplished pilots that their 1,500 missions were completed with a single lost to enemy planes. The success of the Tuskegee Airmen program is also credited with hastening the eventual desegregation of the U.S. armed forces.

Congressional Medal of Honor

The next time you think about the Tuskegee Airmen, give credit to the Iowa State- and Cornell-educated veterinarian, Frederick Douglass Patterson, who had the fortitude and foresight to defy enormous odds and establish one of the most decorated group of pilots of WWII.

Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu.