A Tribute to African-American Deans in Veterinary Medicine

Posted February 27, 2012
Written by Donald F. Smith, Cornell University

My final blog for February is a celebration and tribute to African-American veterinarians who are currently deans of U.S. veterinary colleges, or have recently served in that capacity.  At a time when fewer than three percent of the veterinary students in the United States are African-American, three of our 28 veterinary colleges are currently led by African-American deans.



Current deans of veterinary medicine (L-R): Willie M. Reed (Purdue), Phillip D. Nelson
(Western University of the Health Sciences) and Tsegaye Habtermariam (Tuskegee).
Photo by the author, 2011



Dr. Willie M. Reed, dean of Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, was raised in Alabama and received his DVM from Tuskegee University in 1978, and PhD from Purdue in 1982. He served as an avian pathologist on the faculty at Purdue, then became director of Michigan State University’s Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory (now called the Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health). An accomplished scientist, administrator and champion of diversity, Dr. Reed was attracted back to Purdue as dean in 2007, where he has served both the college and the greater veterinary community with distinction. He is past president of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges.

The dean of newest veterinary college in the U.S. at Western University of the Health Sciences is Phillip D. Nelson, DVM, PhD. A 1979 veterinary graduate of Tuskegee University with his PhD from North Carolina State University (1993), Dr. Nelson established a career that included research on a feline model for human HIV infection. He held senior administrative positions at Tuskegee University and at Mississippi State’s veterinary college before moving to Western in 2005 and becoming the college’s second dean in 2007. Dr. Nelson is a strong proponent that each student should develop a positive moral compass, and practice the profession with compassion and decency.

Dr. Tsegaye Habtemariam’s journey to becoming Tuskegee’s Dean of Veterinary Medicine and Nursing and Allied Health in 2006 began in his home country of Ethiopia where he received his B.Sc. in 1964. His passion to become a veterinarian led him to the U.S. where he received this DVM from Colorado State University in 1970, and advanced degrees (MPVM and PhD) from the University of California at Davis. Dr. Habtemariam has a distinguished research record in risk analysis with a focus on diseases of agricultural species like Food and Mouth Disease and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (often referred to as “mad cow disease”). He has held numerous prominent international assignments of significant importance to disease surveillance and control.



Dr. Michael Blackwell, veterinary dean,
the University of Tennessee (2000-2007).
Photo provided by Dr. Blackwell



Dr. Michael J. Blackwell was the first African-American to serve as dean of a veterinary college outside of Tuskegee. A second-generation veterinarian—his father was in the second graduating class at Tuskegee—Dr. Blackwell was appointed dean of the veterinary college at the University of Tennessee in 2000 after having been Chief of Staff of the Office of the Surgeon General of the United States.

Dr. Blackwell served as dean with distinction for seven years when he left the university to form The Blackwell Group, a management and venture-capital corporation.


Dr. Smith invites comments at dfs6@cornell.edu

Notable African-American Veterinarians

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University 
Posted 01.26.11.



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



February is designated as Black History Month and this year I would like to recognize some notable African-American veterinarians. The deans of three of our 28 veterinary colleges are African-American: Drs. Willie M. Reed (Purdue), Tsegaye HabteMariam (Tuskegee), and Phillip D. Nelson (Western Univ Health Sciences). Dr. Reed, who also serves as 2010-11 president of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, recently shared with me his hope that they might serve as role models for young African-Americans who aspire to a career in the health professions.

Frederick Douglass Patterson (1901-1988) was one of the most influential Black veterinarians in U.S. history. Orphaned before he was two years of age and raised by an older sister who encouraged him to get an education, Patterson received his veterinary degree from Iowa State University (1923) and PhD from Cornell (1932). After becoming president of Tuskegee Institute (now University) in 1935, he overcame tremendous obstacles to establish a veterinary college for Black students at a time when higher education in the South was generally segregated and there were only about 12 veterinary colleges in the country.

Though his contributions to veterinary medicine represent worthy lifetime achievements, more Americans recognize his name as the organizer of the United Negro College Fund which was incorporated in 1944.  To veterinarians and animal lovers everywhere, we can pay tribute to a DVM the next time we hear the well-known phrase, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste”. Patterson also helped establish the Tuskegee Airmen program during his tenure as president. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Reagan in 1987.

Finally, a recognition to several institutions, in particular, Kansas State, Iowa State, Michigan State, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania. Between 1900 and the establishment of the veterinary college at Tuskegee in 1945, these colleges accepted and educated about 70 young Black men to become veterinarians. Several also received postgraduate training, usually leading to a PhD. They formed a core of mentors and role models for the succeeding generations of African-American veterinarians.

Shown below (left) is the graduation photo of Aubrey E. Robinson, Sr. Originally from Pennsylvania, he received his DVM from Cornell in 1920 and established a progressive mixed animal practice in New Jersey. Most of his clients were white, and he served some very large dairy herds and hog operations. He and his wife had one daughter (a teacher), and three sons (a federal judge, an engineer and a veterinarian).

The veterinarian, Dr. Charles R. Robinson, graduated from Cornell in 1944. As a second-year student, he met President Patterson of Tuskegee Institute when he visited Cornell to recruit faculty for his new college. Though Robinson was not one of the inaugural faculty as Patterson had hoped, he did teach there after his war service. He then returned to his father's practice where he spent the remainder of his career. Dr. and Mrs. Robinson (right) are retired and live in Arizona.

Photos courtesy of Cornell University (left) and the author (right).