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eterinary REPORT WINTER 2006 | VOL. 29 | NO. 1 2 Meet David Williams State-of-the-art 3 small animal surgery suites and ICU/ER College Unveils Facility Plan 25 Thank You, College Supporters Equine Sports Medicine Clinic Academic Commons, to support expanded veterinary class size Dean’s Column In this issue Spotlight on the Veterinary Teaching Features Hospital New Clinical Department By Herb Whiteley Head . 1 For many alumni and friends of the College, the Veterinary Teaching Facility Plan . 2 Hospital is the most visible and tangible aspect of our institution. The Ugandan Connection . 4 This is where your beloved companion animals and valuable agricul- tural assets—or those of your referred clients—receive expert care. Illinois Program Has Global This is where your future veterinarian or your future colleagues in Impact on Animal Health . 5 practice receive their capstone education. Without a Operation Polar Bear . 6 This is where the newest surgical approaches, best diagnostic tests, doubt, the and state-of-the-art treatment protocols are developed and tested. Joan Embery . 7 Without a doubt, the Veterinary Teaching Hospital participates in Veterinary News from the Zoos . 7 all aspects of our mission and vision, contributing indispensably to the Teaching College’s leadership in veterinary education, scholarship, and public engagement. Hospital College News . 8 This past summer, the teaching hospital became an independent participates College unit equivalent to the three academic departments and the Research News . .10 in all aspects Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. A new faculty-level position, director New Faces . .12 of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, was created. of our mission This leader will work very closely with Dr. David Williams, the new Featured Faculty . .13 and vision, head of the Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, to ensure out- contributing Faculty and Staff Awards . .14 standing clinical service that is integrated with and supports departmen- Kudos . .16 tal teaching and research activities. indispensably I am pleased to have Dr. Williams aboard and to have the realign- to the College’s Alumni News . .19 ment of the hospital administration taking shape. (See more next page.) leadership In Memoriam . .21 The teaching hospital will play crucial roles in two new College initiatives that will transform our future. in veterinary Advancement News . .24 As I hope many of you now know, the Urbana campus of the Uni- education, 2005 Veterinary Report versity of Illinois has undertaken to develop national prominence in the Donors List . .25 area of translational biomedical research, work that uses discoveries in scholarship, the basic sciences to create practical applications for improving human and public Calendar . .37 and animal health. Our College is leading this effort, which fosters collaborations among scientists in disciplines across the campus. As the engagement. only full-service medical facility on campus, the teaching hospital sup- plies a crucial real-life laboratory and experts in biological systems for this outcome-oriented research. The second major initiative of 2005 is our comprehensive facility plan. We have mapped out facility needs to support our growth over the next 20 years. Key additions to the teaching hospital include a new small animal surgery wing and expanded capacity for diagnostic imaging. The equine surgery and medicine section seized the opportunity afforded by the planning process to propose an Equine Sports Medicine Clinic. This advanced facility would provide unmatched service to the Midwest equine industry, expose veterinary students to a broad range of cases, and facilitate research in equine performance and physiology. The proposal for an Equine Sports Medicine Clinic is generating excitement. Two new equine surgeons have joined the faculty. continued on page 3 Clinical Department Head Brings Teaching Hospital a Focus on Research, Teaching Gets a Promotion, Director As the new head the Department of Veteri- Acting on the recommendations of an nary Clinical Medicine, Dr. David Williams external advisory committee that studied steps into a recently redefined role, one that the Department of Veterinary Clinical focuses on the scholarly and educational Medicine last spring, the College has ele- aspects of the department. vated the Veterinary Teaching Hospital to An internationally known expert in gastro- the level of the three academic departments enterology, Dr. Williams joins us from Texas and the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. A&M University, where he led the Depart- A new faculty-level position, director of the ment of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery hospital, has been created to focus on pro- from 1997 to 2003. viding outstanding patient care and service He looks forward to encouraging “a culture to clients and referring veterinarians and on that elevates discovery through research” and fostering a clinical environment that sup- helping faculty build successful collaborative ports both teaching and research activities. research programs. Creation of this position allows the head of the Department of Veterinary Producing new information Clinical Medicine to focus on departmen- “Veterinary schools produce new information tal goals: enhancing scholarly activities, for our profession. If we are not performing developing graduate programs, continuing that role, who will do it?” he asks. “My own the excellence of residency programs, and research career has been spent using fairly ensuring the quality of the clinical educa- basic biochemistry to solve clinical problems.” An interesting career tion of veterinary students. While completing his PhD at the Uni- Dr. Ann Johnson, a member of the versity of Liverpool, he developed the canine “A blend of research, teaching, and clinical College faculty for more than 20 years, serum trypsin-like immunoreactivity (TLI) service makes for a more interesting career and returned from semi-retirement to serve as assay that has become the gold standard for makes the job a satisfying one,” he says. interim director of the Veterinary Teaching diagnosis of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. His enthusiasm about the role of the clini- Hospital. Over the past 6 months she has Later while a faculty member at the cian scientist and his international reputation made much progress in setting up a hos- University of Florida, he established the will facilitate making strategic faculty hires. pital management structure that is closely Gastrointestinal Laboratory, which offers “I will work with faculty in the department linked to but independent of the clinical specialist gastrointestinal function tests to identify and build areas of strength,” he says, medicine department. used by veterinarians around the world. The noting that strong emergency/critical care and A committee, chaired by Dr. Larry laboratory, which moved with him to Kansas internal medicine sections are vital for sup- Firkins and comprising of College faculty, State, Purdue and Texas A&M Universities, porting the clinical and educational program. students, hospital staff, and referring veteri- conducts clinical research trials related to the Dr. Williams was born in England. He narians, is conducting a national search to diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal earned a veterinary degree and master’s degree find a permanent director. diseases in dogs and cats. at the University of Cambridge, completed Dr. Williams has received more than 70 an internship and residency in small animal funded grants thus far in his career, with more internal medicine at the University of Penn- than 150 publications in refereed journals and sylvania, then returned to England for a PhD. proceedings. His first faculty position was at the University As department head, one of his chief roles of Florida, and he has also been the head or will be to help faculty members garner the chief of small animal sections at Kansas State financial support they need to grow their University and Purdue University. research programs. He is a diplomate of both the American “On the companion animal side, which and the European Colleges of Veterinary includes horses, we’ll seek funds largely Internal Medicine. Many organizations in through private support,” he explains. “In large Europe and the United States have honored animal, we’ll look to federal sources related to public health and biosafety issues.” continued on page 3 Veterinary Report • Winter 2006 q Leadership Takes Shape College Unveils Facility Plan to Advance Its Vision Through ongoing strategic planning, the growing need for veterinarians. Federal legislation intro- College of Veterinary Medicine has estab- duced in 2005 would authorize grants to expand the size lished a vision to be a leader in veterinary and of veterinary colleges and increase the number of veterinar- comparative biomedical education, scholar- ians educated in public health and biomedical research. ship, and public engagement. Having our facilities plan in place will make us competitive In 2003 we crafted a strategic plan that for these funds, when they are available. outlines our programmatic goals. In 2005 we In addition, our plans advance our prominence within completed a comprehensive facilities plan that the University of Illinois system. The Urbana campus this gives shape to those goals. year committed to developing national competitiveness in The plan maps out more than 200,000 biomedical translational research—interdisciplinary col- gross square feet of potential new buildings laborations