Proceedings AAVP American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists Progressive Solutions for Age-Old Problems Membership Directory 65th Annual Meeting Virtual Meeting June 20–23, 2020 Reproduced with permission from Dr. Russell Avramenko and Dr. John Gilleard and cover of International Journal for Parasitology 49,1 6/18/2020 7:35:12 AM American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists 65th Annual Meeting, June 20th – 23rd 2020, Virtual Meeting 2020 AAVP-Boehringer Ingelheim Distinguished Veterinary Parasitologist Sharon Patton, MS, PhD Sharon Patton was born on a farm in Watertown, TN to Virginia Bland and Charles Patton. She was the middle child with an older brother and two younger sisters. Her father was an “egg peddler” and sold eggs door to door in what is now considered the “greater Nashville” area. In the summer, Sharon went with her father to sell eggs 2 days/week – leaving at 4 am and returning around 7 pm. It was hard work for a little girl carrying buckets full of eggs door to door, but she loved it and gradually began to deliver more eggs than her father (although she always slept during the 50-mile drive home). The family moved from the farm where they were living with her grandparents to the small town of Watertown, but the egg peddling continued as did raising Black Angus cattle, and her father tending to 10,000 chickens that he managed in chicken houses on the farm. Later the family returned to the farm and built a house across the road from the grandparents’ house. Her father died while she was in college. 2 American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists 65th Annual Meeting, June 20th – 23rd 2020, Virtual Meeting Sharon attended Watertown public schools and graduated as salutatorian of her class in 1965 having majored in Home Economics and Science. She was rather shy and timid as a young girl, but her fifth grade teacher loved her and gave her major speaking parts in plays at the school, and she became known for her speaking ability. One never knows how actions can affect people’s lives. That teacher made her think she was intelligent. Sharon changed from a timid child to one who won speaking contests and had major roles in plays. Neither of her parents were college educated, but they always encouraged the children to do their best in school. Sharon kept up the family tradition by attending Middle TN State University in Murfreesboro, TN, graduating in 1969. Her grandmother had attended Middle TN Normal School to receive a teaching certificate, and her Aunt had attended Middle TN State College. MTSU was a wonderful experience. Murfreesboro and the campus seemed large to this small town, farm-girl, but it was also exciting and full of opportunities she did not know were possible. She was assigned to the oldest dorm on campus which was originally a boy’s dorm. Her grandmother and aunt were teachers, and she had been teaching children in Sunday School since she was 14, so, naturally, she planned to major in elementary education. However, as much as she enjoyed children, she did not enjoy the Elementary Education curriculum. The second semester she was in the last group to register for classes, and the only Biology class left was one taught by Dr. Mary C. Dunn. On the way back to the dorm, several people told her how demanding Dr. Dunn was, and that was why only her section was still available! She went to the class in fear and trembling and sat in the middle of the 75 students there. Dr. Dunn explained that all exams, except the final, were pop quizzes and cumulative. Woe is me, she thought. I have to come every day ready for a final exam. She could not see from where she was sitting, so at the next class period she moved up to the front row. The class turned out to be exciting, and Sharon excelled. One day, Dr. Dunn asked about her major and suggested she change it to Biology. Actually, she suggested this almost every day for several weeks – and it worked. As a Biology major Sharon loved all the classes, particularly parasitology taught by parasitologist, Dr. John Patten. The scholarship she had received from MTSU was a work scholarship, and she worked during those years for Drs. Dunn and Patten. Oddly enough, both were parasitologists. After graduation, Sharon worked for a summer in a veterinary practice in Murfreesboro, not knowing it was a foretaste of things to come. Sharon enrolled in graduate school in the Biology/Zoology Department of the University of KY which offered her a teaching assistantship. She became proficient at dissection of all kinds of animals, vertebrate and invertebrate, preserved or fresh. Her major professor, Professor J.M Edney, a Middle TN graduate himself, provided her space to study a variety of parasitic organisms. (Prof too was a parasitologist.) Since he was considering retirement, he suggested that she run the laboratories and help write the exams. At first, Sharon taught the comparative anatomy laboratories and then the Parasitology and Helminthology laboratories. It was a wonderful teaching experience. It was always exciting to go on field trips collecting snails to study trematode stages or horse feces for various parasite eggs. Her Master’s and PhD research involved trematodes in snails, and the collecting of cercariae from hundreds of snails. The cercariae were fed to fish to try to complete a trematode life cycle. Later she studied the immune response of rodents to Hymenolepis nana. Upon graduation six years later, Sharon accepted a post-doctoral fellowship in what 3 American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists 65th Annual Meeting, June 20th – 23rd 2020, Virtual Meeting was then called the parasitology wing of the Veterinary Science Department in the College of Agriculture at UK. She was to be mentored by Drs. Harold Drudge and Gene Lyons (famous parasitologists who also received this award). The experience with Drs. Drudge and Lyons was indescribably wonderful! Sharon studied the immunopathology of doses of Strongylus vulgaris larvae on ponies, measuring a variety of parameters like temperature, immunoglobulin levels (IgGT at the time). She learned to inject ponies, take their temperatures, necropsy them etc. She became involved in all the exciting research that was going on there and found it unbelievably delightful. The hard work, mentoring, and teaching by Gene Lyons and Harold Drudge prepared her for a career in Veterinary Parasitology. Unbeknownst to Sharon, the legislature of TN approved the formation of a School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of TN. Being a big blue fan, Sharon gave it little thought. Drs. Drudge and Lyons urged her to apply, and she was hired as the first female on faculty at the new UT College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Robert Scholtens, formerly with the CDC had moved to TN and accepted a parasitology position at UTCVM. He already had a good start on organizing the diagnostic parasitology laboratory and had been thinking about how best to teach the course and labs with so few specimens. Sharon’s UK mentors sent her away with lots of specimens that were used in those first few years until the UTCVM parasitologists were able to collect their own. Sharon found that she loved teaching Veterinary Parasitology, and she loved the veterinary students. For 38 years she taught parasitology and sections of epidemiology, organized labs, taught the Parasitology rotations for seniors, and gave lectures for other courses like gastrointestinal tract, infectious disease, epidemiology, cardiology etc. She had some wonderful parasitologists colleagues at UTCVM through the years like Drs. Robert Scholtens, Craig Reinemeyer, Charles Faulkner, and Rick Gerhold. She worked with some incredible technicians and student workers without whom she could not have met her teaching, research, and service commitments. She was privileged to serve as president of the American Society of Parasitologists. Sharon always ended her lecture to the veterinary students with “Remember I love you”! This became folk lore in the college, and one year after a couple of lectures in the new semester, a student approached her and said, “I heard that you always tell the students that you love them. Why do you not tell us that?” She replied, “I do not love you yet. I have not known you long enough.” On about the 4th lecture as time was winding down, she said – “well, have a good day, and remember I love you.” They cheered! All was well. Sharon Patton loved teaching the veterinary students and won several awards for her teaching and service including the SCAVMA Outstanding Educator Award (6 times), University of Tennessee National Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher Award, Lindsay Young Outstanding Teacher Award (twice), Norden Distinguished Teacher Award (3 times) and the North American Norden Distinguished Teacher Award for the Outstanding Teacher in Veterinary Medicine in North America (1999). She credits her successful teaching career to the wonderful students she taught. Since retirement she has found many opportunities to use her love of teaching at First Presbyterian Church with children and adults. 4 American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists 65th Annual Meeting, June 20th – 23rd 2020, Virtual Meeting Sharon credits any success she has had at UTCVM to her wonderful colleagues, particularly her Diagnostic Lab technicians and student workers. Her efforts were always supported by her family, particularly her husband, Raymond McCord, and daughter Rachel. Sharon thought she would never have time to get married and have a family, but fortunately Raymond changed her mind. She is now helping home school her six-year old grandson, Paul, during the pandemic. 5 American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists 65th Annual Meeting, June 20th – 23rd 2020, Virtual Meeting AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF VETERINARY PARASITOLOGISTS AWARDS HISTORY AAVP-Boehringer Ingelheim Distinguished Veterinary Parasitologist Award 1985 Jitender P.