We just wrapped up an action-packed month, led by the Investiture Ceremony and graduation of the Class of 2022. I wish each of our graduates well wherever this amazing profession takes you. The Class of 2023 entered their clinical year this past month as well and I hope your fourth year is fantastic.
On May 20-22, the school hosted the Iverson Bell Midwest Regional Diversity Summit with the theme From Talk to Action: Becoming a Change Agent on Your Campus. It was an outstanding three days led off by a keynote presentation from the president of the Ho-Chunk nation, Marlon WhiteEagle.
One of the weekend's highlights was the community mural project led by artist Tia Richardson, which will ultimately result in a mural displayed in the Renk Learning Center. Many in the school and summit attendees participated in painting the mural, which was fun to watch.
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I want to thank Richard Barajas, Lynn Maki, the entire Office of Academic Affairs staff and our communications team for all they did to bring such a successful event to Madison. Please also join me in congratulating Richard, who a little over a week ago was named the school’s assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion.
The construction of the SVM north building is proceeding on schedule with three of the floors poured with concrete and, as I write this column, the concrete pour for the roof of the building is actively ongoing. Visit our Animals Need Heroes Too website to watch our construction progress.
I hope each of you has a fantastic summer and thank you for all that you do for the School of Veterinary Medicine.
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UW Veterinary Care Updates from the Director |
Welcome to new employees Nicole Deram and Justine Finerty, both veterinary technicians with the Emergency and Critical Care Unit; Morgan Kelley, a certified veterinary technician with Dermatology and a small animal hospital float tech; Lisa Mentz, a pharmacy technician; and Hayley Schultz, a new technician with the large animal hospital.
Congratulations and welcome also to Emily Loveland and Shaianne Olson, members of UW Veterinary Care’s certified veterinary technician intern program, who just graduated from Madison College and are joining the hospital as full-time CVTs.
Enjoy this comment from a recent hospital client who, when asked if there are particular staff they'd like to compliment, said "Everyone!!!"
"You are all so wonderful. I'm thankful and blessed to be so close to such a world-renowned clinic." -Kathy
Christopher Snyder, DVM, DAVDC
Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs
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Jeffery Zuba DVM'87, a member of the UW School of Veterinary Medicine's inaugural DVM class, holds his diploma at the 1987 Commencement ceremony with a menagerie of animals atop his graduation cap.
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Jennifer Mnookin, dean of the School of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been named the 30th leader of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Mnookin replaces Rebecca Blank and will begin as chancellor on Aug. 4. Learn more about our next chancellor.
The UW School of Veterinary Medicine and Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory were part of a collaborative effort to detect the currently circulating H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in several fox kits in Wisconsin. This detection in wild red foxes is the first report of HPAI infections in mammals in the U.S. Related: In response to another viral disease spreading across the country, rabbit hemorrhagic disease, UW Veterinary Care has begun offering an emergency-authorized vaccine for rabbits.
A reminder that as part of the School of Veterinary Medicine building expansion and renovation project, water will be completely shut down to the main SVM building (2015 Linden Drive) on June 4. The work will begin at 3 a.m. and is scheduled to be completed by noon. No running water will be available in the SVM building during that time.
SVM faculty and staff are invited to attend the SVM Alumni Reunion on June 25. See a May 10 email from Kristi Thorson for details and the registration link for faculty/staff.
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Teaching and Learning News
An update from Peggy Schmidt, associate dean for professional programs
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The Class of 2023 began clinical rotations on May 16. Students have new evaluation rubrics, grading scales and expectations around initiating direct observations of procedural skills in their Core 8 rotations. Over the coming year, we will gather feedback on these changes and continue to work collaboratively with services to integrate the new rubrics and forms into all rotations in May 2023.
We are excited to begin using ExamSoft, an online assessment platform, in the DVM program. ExamSoft allows faculty to create or upload exam items, tag items by multiple categories, design formative and summative assessments, and generate individual student and aggregate performance reports, all from one central hub. Individual assessment items can be tagged to multiple categories, allowing for analysis of learning outcomes for an individual student within a course or throughout the curriculum as a whole. Category tags can align with professional competencies to provide robust data analysis for professional accreditation and with professional licensing exam categories to provide predictive analytics for student performance.
ExamSoft delivers assessments without the need for a persistent WiFi connection, completely locking down the exam taker’s device to protect the integrity of exams and assessment data. It is a powerful tool for our current and future curricula. Training sessions for faculty and instructional specialists will begin in July.
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Jorge Osorio MS'88, PhD'96, professor of pathobiological sciences in the UW School of Veterinary Medicine, has been named the next director of the UW–Madison Global Health Institute. Related: A new agreement between UW-Madison and the Colombian government, which grew out of Osorio’s work in Colombia, opens opportunities for research and bilateral exchanges for students and researchers.
Professor Thomas Friedrich of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences has received a Kellett Mid-Career Award from the UW-Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The award provides needed support and encouragement to faculty at a critical stage of their careers and comes with $75,000 that may be spent over five years.
Kim Keil Stietz, assistant professor, Comparative Biosciences, received the 2022 Society of Toxicology Midwest Regional Chapter Early Career Toxicologist Award, which honors an outstanding Midwest toxicologist with up to 10 years of professional experience.
Welcome to Michael Maruga and Michael Navarro, who join the SVM Information Technology team, and to Brian Petri, the new custodial supervisor for the SVM building who had previously served in the role on an interim basis.
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In a study published in Nature in May, a research team led by School of Veterinary Medicine virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka and colleagues in Japan show that the BA.2 subvariant of omicron is similar to BA.1 in both the severity of illness it causes and in its ability to cause infection. Omicron is now the dominant version of the virus that causes COVID-19 worldwide and BA.2 is the dominant subvariant in nearly seven dozen countries.
A second line of defense — the immune system’s T cells — may offer protection from COVID-19 even when vaccine-induced antibodies no longer can, according to new research led by Marulasiddappa Suresh, a professor of immunology, and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Mostafa Zamanian, assistant professor of pathobiological sciences, has received a Research Forward award to fund research titled Harnessing Microbial Ecology for Broad-Spectrum Antiparasitic Discovery. The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education hosts the Research Forward initiative to stimulate and support highly innovative and groundbreaking research at UW–Madison, with funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
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School of Veterinary Medicine graduates in the Class of 2022 celebrate with inflated gloves, a veterinary student tradition, at the May 13 spring Commencement ceremony. |
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June 3
Finishing Residents and Interns Certificate Ceremony
8-9:30 p.m.
School of Veterinary Medicine
June 17
Dean’s Get Together
School of Veterinary Medicine, under the overhang
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June 25
SVM Alumni Reunion
Celebrating graduates from the classes of 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017
11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
School of Veterinary Medicine
July 15
Ice Cream Social
Hanson Biomedical Sciences Building
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Veterinary Practice News
Entomology Today
PennLive
Science
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“Our job is to try to stop this cycle of transmission. Because if you stop the cycle of transmission you will be able to basically stop the mutation and stop the replication of the virus.”
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-Adel Talaat, a professor of microbiology at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine, speaking with Vox about how a vaccine that could reliably reduce transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza would go a long way to slow the spread of outbreaks. Talaat is using a database of thousands of avian influenza antigens to create a “composite” vaccine that he hopes will protect against current and future virus strains.
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