Congratulations and Capital Budget Update | Message from the Dean

Message from the Dean | May 2019

Congratulations and Capital Budget Update

During the next few months, the Wisconsin legislature will begin voting on the 2019-21 budget, with the goal of passing their full budget by the end of June. As they are making decisions, hearing from constituents about the need to include the School of Veterinary Medicine's expansion project in the final budget is critical. If you are interested in reaching out to your state legislators, now is the time.

To send a personal email or letter, you can visit legis.wisconsin.gov and enter your address to be taken to the contact information for your legislators. You can also call your legislators. Talking points are available here.

Alternatively, you can visit animalsneedheroestoo.com and click on "Get Involved." A form on the right side of the page will automatically determine who your state legislators are (based on your address) and allow you to send an email directly to them. The email is pre-written, but you can (and are encouraged to) modify it as you wish.

For state employees: You cannot use state resources (time, email, letterhead, phone, etc.) to contact legislators. This must be done on your own time, using your own non-UW email, computer, phone, etc. If you have any questions about this rule, please read more here or contact Kristi Thorson.

Thank you for all you do every day to support the school! We are very excited to move forward with this expansion project to provide you with much-needed space and equipment.

Also here at the school, the semester is rapidly approaching its end, with classes wrapping up last week and finals now underway. Last Saturday, the school had a fun-filled awards ceremony. I want to congratulate all of the award winners who were highlighted during the event. I also want to congratulate the Class of 2019, who will graduate in a little over a week on May 10, with our students' investiture ceremony the morning of May 11. I wish each of you the best of luck with your entry into this amazing profession. I hope you find it as fulfilling and exciting as I have.

On the exciting news front, last week we had the opportunity to attend the architect and engineer launch meeting for the school's building expansion. Flad Architects and Affiliated Engineers, Inc. were selected as the designers for this important project. As I highlighted in a previous message, Ruthanne Chun will lead the hospital-focused team and Lyric Bartholomay will lead the research-focused team to provide input to Flad and Affiliated during the design. Kristi Thorson will be the lead contact for the school during this process.

We are continuing to work with transportation services on proposed parking solutions during the parking ramp construction, which is slated to begin later this year. I would encourage each of you to read any communications from transportation services or me regarding your parking lot selection for this upcoming year. We are also investigating strategies to provide transportation from remote parking ramps to the school during the construction phase. No definitive decisions have been made yet, but I will inform you when we have a plan ready to present.

Have a great rest of your spring and enjoy the flowers blooming and trees leafing out!

UW Veterinary Care Updates from the Director

Congratulations to second-year residents Laura Lee, Anatomic Pathology, and Diya Sharma, Clinical Pathology, on passing the Phase I qualification examination of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists.

Taylor Yaw, third-year resident in Zoological Medicine, received the 2019 American Association of Veterinary Clinicians Resident Award at the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges Annual Conference in March.

Michelle Piccione, resident in the Dermatology Service, was awarded second prize at the North American Veterinary Dermatology Forum in April for her abstract presentation, "A Comparative Study of Serum IgE Against Cross-Reactive Carbohydrate Determinants in Atopic and Healthy Dogs."

As the school and hospital's recent Open House highlighted, "big and small, we treat them all," and here is some feedback from a client whose grand pig was a patient of Large Animal Surgery:

" I couldn't have asked for a more compassionate, patient team to care for my precious Rhoda. I had trouble loading her in the trailer and got to the hospital much later than expected, but they were marvelous. The receptionist told me to just be safe. Everyone I met was fabulous. Big shout out to each and every one of them! They're the only ones I trust with my full-sized hog's spay and care. No one else is equipped to accommodate her 600 pounds of awesomeness. "

- Cynthia, New London, Wisconsin

Ruthanne Chun DVM'91
Director, UW Veterinary Care
Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs

School News

The School of Veterinary Medicine was represented in many ways at the UW-Madison Day at the State Capitol, a daylong advocacy and outreach event April 10. In the morning, UW alumni visited the SVM for tours and to learn more about our building expansion campaign, so they could be well-informed for meetings later that day with their state senators and representatives. Tony Goldberg and David Vail presented faculty flash talks about diseases threatening Wisconsin's fish populations and comparative oncology's impact on human and animal health, respectively. In addition, presenting research posters were graduate student Anna Marie Rowell (of Ted Golos' lab), on the response of uterine cells to infection with Listeria, and research intern Brett Mueller and graduate fellow Kyle Wegner (from Chad Vezina's lab), on improving urinary function in aging male humans and intact dogs.

Karen Walsh, a member of the school's Board of Visitors, has been appointed to the UW System Board of Regents by Governor Tony Evers. Walsh will serve a seven-year term that begins May 2 and runs through 2026.

The UW Shelter Medicine Program is working closely with Wisconsin animal shelters and rescue groups to implement quarantine procedures after two dogs transported from overseas to Wisconsin tested positive for canine brucellosis.

The SVM's efforts to provide specific financial literacy information that coincides with veterinary students' decision period to request student loans was highlighted in a recent dvm360 article .

Three campus news stories recently highlighted the SVM's impact in Wisconsin, our work developing medical care to keep dairy cows healthy , and smartphone apps created for dairy health and productivity .

A special limited edition mini Terrace chair will be available for sale later this month from the Wisconsin Union, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the SVM. Watch for more details soon.

A Well Wisconsin free health screening event for employees, retirees and spouses enrolled in the State of Wisconsin Group Health Insurance Program will be held May 6 at the SVM from 7:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Please register in advance: wellwisconsin.staywell.com.

Faculty and Staff News

Congratulations to Kim Lord Plummer, senior lecturer in the Department of Comparative Biosciences, on receiving the Chancellor's Hilldale Award for Excellence in Teaching. Lord Plummer is a cornerstone of the first year of study here at the SVM.

Congratulations also to two longtime staff members on their retirement: Business Services Manager Sue Dahmen, who worked at the SVM for 18 years and with the university for 35 years, retired in March. And JoAnn Disch, program assistant in the Office of Academic Affairs, will retire at the end of May following almost 15 years of service at the SVM and nearly 39 years at UW-Madison.

Keith Poulsen keynoted the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association Annual Conference in April and Terri Ollivett demonstrated lung ultrasounds in a hands-on seminar, teaching registrants how to perform this test.

Laurie Larson and the Companion Animal Vaccines and Immuno Diagnostics Service (CAVIDS) Laboratory, a world-renowned leader in the study of companion animal infectious disease and clinical immunology, recently served their first client from Australia -- a border collie named Tessa and her breeder, Francisca.

Lyric Bartholomay and Mostafa Zamanian are part of the scientific committee for the 27th Conference of the World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology, to be held July 7-11 in Madison. The conference will welcome veterinary parasitologists from over 70 countries. Zamanian has also spearheaded planning for the 8th Consortium for Anthelmintic Resistance and Susceptibility meeting, to be hosted on campus July 6 .

Student News

The Comparative Biomedical Sciences graduate program had a successful recruiting weekend in March, inviting admitted PhD students to campus.

Danielle Schuld DVMx'20 was installed as secretary of the Student American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA) for 201 9-20 at the 49th annual SAVMA Symposium in March. And Marie Bucko DVMx'21 was chosen as SAVMA president-elect for 2020-21.

Kyle Granger DVMx'20 was awarded a $2,000 Zoetis Veterinary Student Scholarship Award.

The SVM chapter of Veterinarians as One Inclusive Community for Empowerment (VOICE) received the Social Justice Advocacy Award at the campus Bucky's Award Ceremony in April.

All fourth-year DVM students will begin their clinical year May 13. Welcome to Ross University students Harmeet Jassal, Bella Degelorm, Jaclyn Tomlin and Jessica Herman, who will also start in the clinic on the 13th .

Research News

Daniel Radecki, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Comparative Biosciences and the lab of Jayshree Samanta, had a winning entry in UW-Madison's 2019 Cool Science Image Contest. His epifluorescence microscope image, at right, shows stem cells in the developing brain of a 16-day-old mouse embryo.

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Zoetis Research Awards at the seventh annual SVM-Phi Zeta Research Day: Kevin Snyder , best research by a house officer, for work with Gillian McLellan, "Multimodal Imaging of Aqueous Humor Outflow Pathways in Feline Congenital Glaucoma;" Parker Lin , best research by a graduate student, for work with Troy Hornberger, " The Role of TRIM28 in Mechanical Loading and Injury Induced Myogenesis;" and, i n a tie for best research by a veterinary student, Dustin Fink DVMx'21 for work with Rob Lipinski, "Development of an Immunocompetent Mouse Model of Vertical Zika Virus Transmission," and Jake Nilles DVMx'19 for work with Gillian McLellan, "Effect of Acute Intraocular Pressure Elevation on the Post-Trabecular Aqueous Outflow Pathways in Dogs."