TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE & BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES

By Donald F. Smith, DVM, DACVS

Posted January 11, 2016.

Editors Note: This is the first of six contiguous articles on veterinary medicine at Texas A&M University, in honor of their college’s centennial year.

2016 is a big year for Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M University. Not only is this year the centennial of the founding of the only veterinary college in Texas, but it also heralds the completion of a $350 million capital expansion plan and the progress on a major small animal hospital campaign. Here are a few facts about the college and its environment.

The institution’s official name is the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. This designates the inclusion of Biomedical Sciences, the pre-professional undergraduate program that is aligned administratively with veterinary medicine. Only two other US veterinary colleges have a similar arrangement (Colorado State and Washington State).

In 2015, the college achieved its highest ranking to date among US veterinary colleges (third), and also placed sixth in the world by Quacquarelli Symonds ranking.

Texas is the second largest state in the country. The city of College Station, where the university is located, and the contiguous city of Bryan have a combined population of 200,000.  They also strategically located within 170 miles from the state’s four largest cities with Houston to the southeast, Austin and San Antonio to the southwest, and Dallas-Fort Worth to the north.

Texas is the number one state for cattle (a $10.5 B industry), as well as for sheep and goats. The state also has 15% of the nation's horses, making it number one in that category as well.

Dr. Mark Francis (first dean) and Dr. Eleanor Green (current dean)
Photo courtesy of Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Mark Francis, Texas’s first veterinary dean (Ohio State graduate, 1887) became so influential nationally that OSU’s president said of him in 1937, “If Ohio State University had trained but one man in the seventy-five years of its existence, and that man was Mark Francis of Texas, it had given back to its people more than they had expended upon it in the three-quarters of a century of its existence.”

Until the 1960s, all male students at Texas A&M (including veterinary students) were required to participate in military training as part of the Corps of Cadets.

Of the college’s 5,000 AVMA-member graduates, over 77% live in Texas, giving the highest percentage of in-state graduates of any veterinary college in the country.

VETERINARYLEGACY ADOPTS NEW FORMAT FOR 2016

By Donald F. Smith, DVM, DACVS

Posted January 1, 2016

The New Year ushers in a new feel for VeterinaryLegacy. Now in its seventh year with readers in over 100 countries, I decided to adopt a theme-based sequence of blogs this year. With a few exceptions for special topics, we shall devote the majority of blogs each month to a single thematic topic.

Themes for the first quarter will be:

January: Honoring the centennial of Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.

February: Honoring African American veterinary medicine during Black History Month

March: Honoring the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges during its 50^th anniversary year.

For those of you who have followed my blog at veritasdvmblog.com during the last three years, thank you for your loyalty. Though the blog is no longer active, I wish to acknowledge my gratitude to Cornell University and Texas A&M University, and to Zooetis, for their sponsorship of over 200 blogs and stories from April 2013 to October 2015. Thank you: it was a good run!

As always, I invite comments and questions, and well as suggestions, especially from veterinary students, interns, residents and graduate students. Please email me at the address below.

Best Wishes for a happy and prosperous 2016.

Dr. Smith can be reached at dfs6@cornell.edu

Veterinary Education at St. George's University in Grenada, West Indies

Donald F. Smith, Cornell University
Posted December 9, 2015

Two decades after Charles Modica established a medical school on the island of Grenada, he added a School of Veterinary Medicine to his thriving campus, which by then included degree programs in nursing, public health, graduate studies and business administration. In 2011, the School of Veterinary Medicine at St. George’s University was accredited by the AVMA’s Council on Education.

St. George’s admits two classes per year of about 100 students each and provides traditional summer breaks. Students spend the equivalent of their first three years at the island location, then complete their fourth-year clinical year at an AVMA-accredited college, usually in the United States.

St. George’s students reflect an unusually robust geographic diversity. A substantial proportion of students is admitted from New York and the Northeastern corridor as well as the other populous states of California, Florida and Illinois, but it is not uncommon to see representation from less populated states without veterinary colleges or contracts with established colleges. There is also a significant contingent from Canada, other Caribbean Islands, South America and Africa. This “global” community is a feature across the university, and is consistently acclaimed by Chancellor Modica in his address to each incoming veterinary class.

When Dr. Ray Sis arrived in Grenada as professor of Anatomy in August 2001, he joined a young veterinary program with inaugural dean, David Hogg, who had established the School in 1999. In 2003, Sis became the second dean of the school. A 1957 Kansas State alumnus of considerable veterinary and administrative experience, he was a perfect fit for the young school, shepherding the DVM and graduate degree program through an impressive period of maturation and growth.

He recruited sufficient faculty so that the veterinary program would provide instruction for all of the first-, second- and third-year curricula, and expanded clinical sites for fourth-year rotations to 24 US and six foreign colleges. He enhanced a system of visiting professors, often distinguished senior faculty from international colleges, who delivered important parts of the curriculum and provided guidance in research and graduate education. They also contributed expert advice toward achieving the goal of accreditation.

A priority that unites the health sciences components of the campus and gains momentum each year is St. George’s interpretation of One Health One Medicine. Seven years ago, a third-year student named Brittany King was performing a community rabies vaccination clinic with other veterinary students when the mother of a child who had brought her dog for vaccination scolded the students for preferentially caring for animals over the community’s children. With the support of Dean Sis, King met with students from the human medical college and together they organized a combined veterinary medical and human medical community care clinic for pets and children. As the program grew, public health undergraduate students were also drawn into the program.

Students from the three health sciences schools began a semiannual community clinic covering several aspects of the human-animal relationship, from animal vaccinations, to common zoonotic disease prevention in children, to nutritional counseling. The program continued after King, now a veterinarian working in a multi-doctor practice in Texas, graduated in 2010. The success of one critical public health aspect of the program (rabies control) was honored in early 2015 by the awarding of the Global One Health Challenge prize, sponsored by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control.

Dean Timothy Ogilvie, DVM, MSc, LLD, Diplomate ACVIM

(Photo by Julie Kumble, 2015)

Canadian Dr. Tim Ogilvie, a graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College and former dean at the Atlantic Veterinary College, is the current dean. An accomplished large animal internist with extensive administrative experience, including serving as president of the Canadian VMA, and blessed with a bright smile and engaging personality, Ogilvie continues the supportive learning environment that was a trademark of the Sis years.

Dr. Ruby Perry Appointed Tuskegee Dean

Donald F. Smith, Cornell University

Dr. Ruby Perry has been selected as dean of Tuskegee University's College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health. Her appointment was announced yesterday by university president, Dr. Brian L. Johnson who is quoted as saying that Dr. Perry "is truly the best person at one of the best times in Tuskegee's long and prestigious history". (1)  

Dean Perry will not have to move into the dean's office as she has served as interim dean since mid 2014, during which she has made a major mark on the college. She has also begun to establish herself as a significant force among her colleague deans in the US and Canada.

With Dr. Perry's appointment, there are now three Tuskegee graduates serving as deans simultaneously. The others are at Purdue (Dr. Willie Reed) and Western University of the Health Sciences (Dr. Phillip Nelson).  Their friendship extends from their college days as they attended Tuskegee at the same time, being graduates of the classes of 1977 to 1979. 

Congratulations and best wishes to Dean Perry.

(1) Tuskegee University (press release): New permanent san of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health; Historic appointment of Tuskegee University alumna, Mar 30, 2015

Traveling Beau

By Donald F. Smith, Cornell University

As we travel through life, we often segment our journey with reference points: our years growing up, our time at college, our retirement years, or our years with a certain pet.  For my wife, Doris, and our three children, we recently closed the chapter on an 18-year segment of our lives with a happy and gentle dog named Beau.

From his earliest puppy days Beau was a traveller. Born on election day in November 1996, Beau’s first long trip (with his littermate, Belle), was from our home in Ithaca to Doris’s parents’ home near North Bay, Ontario.  Adorned with a cute Christmas bow, and his sister with a bell around her neck, the two balls of fluff played in the powdery snow 200 miles north of Toronto. Because we always encouraged them to be outdoors, the puppies grew to love being outside whenever possible.

Beau enjoying a fresh March snowfall at home in Ithaca (2008)
(all photos by the author)

It was only in his waning months this past winter that there were days when Beau, having lost 14 pounds from the 41.5-pound frame that he carried his entire adult life, began to shun being outside on cold and rainy days. But if it was snowing, he continued to happily make his way slowly through the soft snow on all but the coldest of days.

Beau and Belle were English Cocker Spaniels, not purebred, and with full tails that were as much their trademark as their long and floppy ears. They were bred by my brother and his wife and we got the pick from a litter of six.  We had only intended to adopt one for our five-person family: two sons, Darryl (18) and Dennis (13), and a daughter, Debra (15).  Our older son, Darryl, had selected the male puppy from the litter, but before we could leave with our little prize bundle, the runt of the litter (a petite female) slid across the slippery floor after her brother.  She would not let him leave without her, so we arrived home that early December afternoon 18 years ago with the obeisant Beau, and his alpha sibling, Belle. 

The two were raised together with regular twice-daily walks and free-choice Eukanuba dry food. They made occasional visits to Cornell where Darryl and later Debra went to college.  Between 2002 and 2006, Beau and Belle made frequent weekend trips to the University of Delaware to see Dennis when he was playing lacrosse. 

When Darryl relocated to southern Florida after his graduation from Cornell, and later, while he studied law at the University of Florida, the dogs would join us on long drives south. On one occasion, the family car was loaded with four adults, two dogs and Christmas parcels packed to the roof.  No pet-friendly hotel stops on that holiday trip.  We left Ithaca after the Christmas Eve service and, with multiple drivers, drove straight through, arriving in Gainesville mid-afternoon on Christmas day. 

After a long and painful illness in late summer 2006, Belle left us. Though Beau missed his companion his mourning was eclipsed by a new lease on life because his sister no longer dominated his every action as she had since they had been puppies.

Our family, now reduced in size with our children having establishing their own lives, and with only one dog, Doris and I settled into a new routine. Our trips continued, visiting our children and occasional regional vacations, often accompanied by Beau.

Upon completion of my ten-year dean position at Cornell in 2007, I had the good fortune to have my portrait photographed with Beau. Though the college tradition had been to have a painted portrait, Doris suggested that a photograph with Beau would be more interesting.  Not only would it present a more engaging image, but Beau had been with me throughout my entire deanship, and had been such a frequent visitor to the college that many staff and students knew him well.

We made a trip to New York City, staying in the pet-friendly Hilton hotel on 6^th Avenue. Early the following morning, a Saturday in July, we met our good friend and photographer, George Kalinsky, in Central Park adjacent to the bridge that looked similar to the bridge at Beebe Lake on Cornell’s campus. The photo shoot lasted over two hours, with the result now hanging in the atrium of the veterinary college. Some months later, I discovered our picture on Mr. Kalinsky’s web site, on the same page as several presidents and other dignitaries.  Beau was the only dog on that particular page of portraits (though he featured animals elsewhere on his web site).  As of this writing, Beau’s image with me is positioned between those of businessman Carl Icahn and Pope John Paul II. (1)

That fall, Beau and I took an epic journey by Jeep to Alaska. Chronicled elsewhere in this blog, (2) we crossed the northern states to North Dakota, then headed through Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia where we joined the Alaska Highway. We progressed through the glorious Yukon, arriving in Anchorage in late August. There we met Doris, who had flown in to spend a week with us, then man and dog departed for the 4,000 mile return to upstate New York.

Beau in the Yukon with the Kluane mountain range
and the Alaskan Highway in the background (2007)

During the 34-day trip, Beau and I made a myriad of human and animal friends, slept in a tent, under the stars and in a four-star hotel. It was the defining experience that solidified our friendship.

It also fortified our relationship in ways that only became apparent in the days following Beau’s departure two months ago.  It didn’t make the separation less painful, but it added depth and substance, as well as balance, to memories that may fade, but will never be extinguished.

Even last spring at age 17, Beau was still enjoying his regular morning walks
and craving the freedom of being temporarily off-leash (2014)

If I have one piece of advice for others who share their lives with their pets, it is this: give them their space to create memories. Our pets make the present more vibrant, and they enrich your future when you must go on without them.

Compared to people, our pets have limited life spans. Regardless of whether they share eight years with us, or 18, they come into our lives for a defined period of time, helping us navigate our own journey and fulfill special needs in that particular season of our life. When we move on without them, perhaps to have another pet and perhaps not, we will remember them for providing one of our greatest blessings through that special relationship we call the human-animal bond. 

(1) From the Lens of George Kalinsky, Portraits.

(2)  Smith, Donald F. Traveling with Beau: My 34-day Trip to a Deeper Understanding of One Health, Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, September 9, 2014.

Smith, Donald F. Returning to my Canadian Roots: Traveling with Beau. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, Sept 11, 2014.

Smith, Donald F. From Ontario to Wisconsin: Traveling with Beau. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, October 16, 2014.

Smith, Donald F. A Lesson in Humility: Traveling with Beau. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, October 17, 2014.

Smith, Donald F. The Canadian Prairie: Traveling with Beau. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, October 21, 2014.

Smith, Donald F. The Texas of Canada: Traveling with Beau. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, October 29, 2014.

Smith, Donald F. The Alaska Highway: Traveling with Beau. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, October 31, 2014.

Smith, Donald F. Lake Kluane: Traveling with Beau. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, November 6, 2014.

Smith, Donald F. Arriving at Anchorage: Traveling with Beau. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, November 7, 2014.

Smith, Donald F. The Long Journey Home: Traveling with Beau. Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, November 12, 2014.

Smith, Donald F. Rethinking One Health, Part 1, Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, November 18, 2014.

Smith, Donald F. Rethinking One Health, Part 2, Perspectives in Veterinary Medicine, November 19, 2014