All Kinds of Good News | Message from the Dean

Message from the Dean | November 2019

All Kinds of Good News

This past month I was thrilled to announce that the school received a $15 million gift from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation in support of our building project, enabling us to pass our $38 million fundraising goal required by the state to initiate construction. I want to thank everyone who either behind the scenes or publicly has supported this project and enabled us to achieve this milestone. The school and our Office for Advancement will not rest on our laurels though, since we believe we need to raise an additional $10 million in gift funds to fully outfit our new building and our remodeled facility with the equipment required for us to continue to lead this profession in the coming decades.

Under the lead of Kristi Thorson, Ruthanne Chun and Lyric Bartholomay and working with Flad Architects, Affiliated Engineers, Inc. and representatives from UW-Madison, UW System and Wisconsin's Department of Administration, the program verification stage of the building project is almost complete. The design team will next move into the preliminary design phase, with the goal of achieving 10 percent completion in November and 35 percent completion of the design in April 2020. Regular workshops with user groups will continue throughout this phase.

It was a pleasure to assist in the awarding of the UW Veterinary Care Vet Tech of the Year Awards this past month, with Emma Doubleday recognized in the early career category and Sandra Eklof honored in the legends category. Our veterinary technicians are critical to the success of the hospital and the School of Veterinary Medicine, whether it is their clinical care provided to patients, the compassion and listening required to truly serve our clients, or the role they play in the education of our professional veterinary medical students.

I'd like to congratulate Ted Golos for being awarded a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorship and Sheila McGuirk for being awarded the Honorary Klussendorf Award, the highest recognition given to a dairy cattle showman in the United States. I'd also like to welcome Sean Bossinger, who joins the school today as our new IT director. Sean comes from the Division of Information Technology and we very much look forward to his joining the SVM family.

I hope each of you has an outstanding remainder of your fall; before you know it the holidays will be right around the corner .

UW Veterinary Care Updates from the Director

Last month, as part of the hospital's recognition of National Veterinary Technician Week, we enjoyed an appreciation breakfast and luncheon to thank all hospital staff and clinicians for their work, dedication and support. We are grateful to UW Veterinary Care clients Deb Wells and Tom DeBeck for providing the breakfast and to Purina for their support of the luncheon. As Dean Markel mentioned above, congratulations to our Vet Tech of the Year Award recipients Emma Doubleday and Sandra Eklof.

Please join me in welcoming new Small Animal Internal Medicine clinical instructor Susan Carr, whose clinical interests include kidney disease, feline medicine and interventional radiology. Welcome also to new employees Caitlin Christian, CVT, Anesthesia; Meagen Gleichauf, Denise Petrick and Sarah Short, all CVTs in the ER/CCU; Harris Sophocleous, helping temporarily in Kennels; Olivia Stiles, veterinary assistant, Large Animal Hospital; Allison Wilkins, flex technician in the Large Animal Hospital; and Jessica Zaring, CVT, Surgery Ward.

Congratulations to residents Susanna Solbak and Ben Liao on passing their American College of Veterinary Emergency Critical Care board examinations and Elizabeth Wood for winning the E. Gregory MacEwen Memorial Award for outstanding oral research project in basic science at the Veterinary Cancer Society meeting for her work with Xuan Pan entitled Targeted Therapy Pevonedistat Promotes Canine Melanoma Cell Death Through DNA Replication and Senescence.

This recent comment from a client of Dermatology is emblematic of the expertise and collaboration demonstrated throughout the hospital . Thank you!

" This was my first visit to UW and I was blown away at the professionalism, compassion and level of care and interest placed with Brody. I did not feel rushed, I asked a long list of questions and each one was answered or researched in the room with me. The treatment team clearly reviewed Brody's charts before coming into the room which made me feel wonderful. This was stressful and the extra effort really helped put me at ease. I can honestly say there is not one thing that could have been improved upon. The entire experience from check-in through the appointment, leaving Brody with you to obtain an orthopedic consult to check-out and pharmacy was a pleasant experience considering the stress of the situation. Thank you for not making it harder. I was also incredibly impressed by UW's willingness to work with Brody's primary care doctor at a different facility to make sure all of Brody's treatment team was on the same page. I had no idea that this type of teamwork across providers was possible ."

- Amber, Cedar Grove, Wisconsin

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

School News

The School of Veterinary Medicine is the featured campus partner for the Nov. 9 Saturday Science at Discovery event from 10 a.m. to noon in the Town Center of the Discovery Building. Free and open to the public, the event will feature interactive exploration stations for children and families around the theme of veterinary medicine and the connection between animal and human health. Thanks to everyone who has volunteered to present exploration stations and activities.

In the fall semester, admissions staff members Jenna Henshue and Carmen Reamer engaged in outreach efforts with undergraduate and prospective veterinary medical students at campuses within Wisconsin and around the U.S. They visited with students, pre-vet clubs and faculty advisors at Marquette University and UW System schools in River Falls, Eau Claire, Milwaukee, Whitewater and La Crosse. (In alternate years, they visit the other UW System campuses and private institutions.) The SVM also participated in the UC-Davis Pre-Health Conference and the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science meeting and student fair.

All employees are invited to attend an informational update on the Title and Total Compensation (TTC) Project to learn more about the UW Standard Job Description Library and title and position description conversations. Five upcoming sessions will be held at various campus locations and times, in addition to an online forum (see schedule).

SVM students, faculty and staff are invited to a special lunch-time forum with the UW-Madison Police Department at noon on Nov. 14 in Room 2360 -- an opportunity to ask questions and get direct feedback from UWPD Chief Kristen Roman and other department leadership. Pizza will be provided; please RSVP.

This year's Partners in Giving campaign is underway, a significant campus engagement that allows each of us to unite in giving while supporting the charitable causes that are most meaningful to us as individuals. The active phase of the campaign extends through Nov. 29.

Student News

Through a recent T-shirt sale, the SVM Broad Spectrum student group raised nearly $800 for PFLAG Madison, an organization that promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning persons and their families and friends, helps educate the public about the LGBTQ community and their concerns, and advocates for the civil rights of LGBTQ people. Members of the SVM community gathered in their T-shirts for a group photo on National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11.

Research News

Applications are now open for UW-Madison Global Health Institute grants and awards, designed to support global health efforts of faculty, staff and graduate students from across campus fostering the Wisconsin Idea locally and globally.

Tony Goldberg, professor of pathobiological sciences, led a study published in Scientific Reports that identifies a newly discovered virus infecting nearly a third of America's bald eagle population. Scientists found the virus while searching for the cause of Wisconsin River Eagle Syndrome. USAID Administrator Mark Green also recently visited Goldberg's lab to learn about global health and international studies in infectious disease.

A team led by Robert Lipinski, professor of comparative biosciences, reports in Environmental Health Perspectives that a chemical commonly used in household and agricultural insecticides, piperonyl butoxide, interferes with the critical signaling pathway dubbed by scientists as sonic hedgehog, resulting in stunted forebrain development and signature facial abnormalities.