A New School Year in a New Time |
The UW School of Veterinary Medicine will begin its academic year this coming week with in-person instruction. I look forward to welcoming back our Classes of 2023 and 2024 and welcoming for the first time our Class of 2025. As you know, our Class of 2022 has been working in UW Veterinary Care since May, but it has been since spring 2020 that we've had fully in-person instruction on the UW-Madison campus.
All of this will feel much more normal than this past academic year. Still, as noted below, due to the rise of the more infectious delta variant of COVID-19, the university will require everyone to wear face coverings indoors for the foreseeable future. We are fortunate that the overwhelming majority of our faculty, staff and students are vaccinated against COVID-19; vaccination is your best protection and the most effective way to limit the ability of the virus to spread. But out of an abundance of caution, face coverings are required when inside campus buildings.
On Friday, September 10, we will hold our Dean's Get Together, the SVM School Year Kickoff Picnic, outdoors under the school's north entrance/overhang. For many of us, it has been 18 months since we've seen each other together in person. I very much look forward to seeing our students, faculty and staff at what usually is our best-attended Dean's Get Together.
The following day, on September 11, the school will hold an “alumni palooza” celebration. This event is a combined tailgate, 2020 and 2021 reunion, and in-person celebration for 2020 and 2021 graduates. We will also recognize the recipients of the 2020 and 2021 Alumni Advisory Board’s alumni awards and will have John Hallett DVM'90 on-site to show how his sculpture for the school is coming along.
As you may remember from my August message, I have charged the SVM Wellbeing Task Force to engage in listening sessions with the SVM community and offer recommendations to me regarding future directions for wellbeing initiatives and programming within the school. The task force will host listening sessions throughout September and October. These sessions will be at varied times and locations (SVM, Hanson and Zoom) to accommodate our varied and diverse groups of persons who work and learn here at the school. For those who are unable to attend or would prefer to share their feedback in another format, the task force will create an online opportunity. More details and schedules will be shared via email within the next week. I hope that many of you will share your thoughts!
This coming year should be an interesting one. I, among others, hope that we emerge from this challenging period with optimism and hope. Here’s to a great fall.
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UW Veterinary Care Updates from the Director |
Welcome to Cody Davis, the new Histology technician supervisor and Adrianne (Addy) Raso, CVT, a new flex technician in the ER/CCU. And congratulations to Sandy Eklof, who began a new role as a small animal float technician following over nine years with the Anesthesia service, and Jim Hudson, who became the client care liaison for Primary Care and Special Species in June (after serving the UWVC Call Center since May 2018)
Keep up the great work, everyone. This recent comment from a client of orthopedic surgery, who also noted “I have heard this is some of the top veterinary care in the country," says it all.
"I have never had a bad experience. I drive almost three hours to bring my dog to this facility and it's worth it. Every single person I deal with from start to finish is pleasant and always gives me a clear and thorough explanation of what is going to happen with my dog. Everyone also answers all of my questions and never makes me feel rushed, or that my dog is just a number." -Stacee
Christopher Snyder, DVM, DAVDC
Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs
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As a new academic year gets underway, let the enthusiasm and vigor of Bucky Badger propel you through your days. Here, in this 1988 photo, the beloved mascot gets a check-up from Dean Bernard Easterday and Professor E. Gregory MacEwan. (Credit: University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives)
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Campus COVID-19 protocols: UW–Madison continues to modify campus health protocols as needed to respond to the increase in COVID cases locally. To keep up with the latest information about UW–Madison’s response to COVID-19, and view an extensive collection of commonly asked questions, visit covidresponse.wisc.edu. Among recent updates:
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All students, employees and visitors to campus are now required to wear masks when inside campus buildings. Masks may be removed if you are working alone inside an office or lab with the door closed. Masks are not required outdoors. Related: The most updated COVID precautions for visiting UW Veterinary Care can be found on the hospital website.
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Effective August 30, employees and students who are not vaccinated will be required to test weekly.
- Vaccination is safe, effective, and available for free on campus and in the community. The state of Wisconsin has announced a $100 vaccine reward for people who get their first vaccine dose between August 20 and Sept. 6.
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University Health Services (UHS) is offering a new app that will help employees and students schedule COVID-19 tests, access lab test results and vaccine records, and more. The MyUHS app replaces the Safer Badgers app, which will no longer be used on campus.
Local to global: On two different sides of the world, two alumnae of the UW School of Veterinary Medicine were just getting settled into new professional roles when the novel coronavirus struck. They rolled up their sleeves, called upon the relationships, resources and skills they’ve developed, and have led One Health-guided efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic – all the while advancing other public health priorities as well. Read more about the experiences of Stephanie Salyer DVM’11 and Darlene Konkle DVM’93, MS’97.
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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion News
An update from Richard Barajas, director of diversity, equity and inclusion
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The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) has announced their next book in the Diversity Community Reads program: "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" by Beverly Tatum. More details on both AAVMC and UW SVM-specific discussion groups will be forthcoming. |
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Welcome to Stella Molde, an administrative assistant in the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA). Stella will be the first point of contact for students, faculty, staff and prospective students who are interested in meeting with someone in OAA or learning more about the SVM.
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The National Veterinary Scholars Symposium and DVM/PhD Student Colloquium were held virtually in August, hosted by Iowa State University. Twenty-two Summer Scholars and two DVM/PhD students from the UW School of Veterinary Medicine presented their work. They include: Tessa Arendt, Dustin Banooni, Kiley Brauer, Ariela Burk*, Jacqueline Chi, Serena George, Emily Hamilton, Meghan Hoel, Alexandria Hoerth, Derek Jantzen, Maya Jonas, Emma Kobitter, Ashley Kuehnl, Molly Kuhn, Nicholas Marino, Hannah Martin*, Nickolas Massaro, Savannah Pees, Macy Peterson, Maxwell Schermacher, Benjamin Walter and Hannah Wildermuth (*DVM/PhD students).
Welcome to our new Comparative Biomedical Sciences graduate students: Alex Chu (Susannah Sample Lab), Sarah Ferguson (Jenny Gumperz Lab), Jenn Heyward (Freya Mowat Lab), Taksoo Kim (Yoshi Kawaoka Lab), Ashley Kuehnl (Xuan Pan Lab), Jackie Perino (Sample Lab), Michele Salzman (Mowat Lab), Tania Sharmin (Colleen McDowell Lab), Dhruthi Suresh (Gopal Iyer Lab) and Yinghua Wang (Pan Lab).
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Professor Thomas Friedrich co-authored a study showing that some vaccinated people infected with COVID-19 in Wisconsin in June and July had just as much virus in their nasal passages as newly infected unvaccinated people. Though they did not examine it directly in the study, the researchers say this suggests fully vaccinated people who get sick with COVID-19 could potentially infect others. As with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at a national level, the findings in Wisconsin of high viral load even in vaccinated people led Public Health Madison & Dane County to return to recommending face coverings indoors for vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka will present a program titled Flu and COVID-19 Vaccines and the Science Behind Them, hosted by the Rotary Club of Madison, on Oct. 13.
Applications are now being accepted for fiscal year 2022 Companion Animal Fund grants. These grants are intended to support projects directly related to the health of companion animals, including studies of normal anatomy and physiology. Proposals must be submitted by Oct. 22; for more information, see an August 9 email from Dale Bjorling.
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Since the School of Veterinary Medicine officially broke ground on our building expansion on June 18, activity has been bustling. View the latest progress snapshots from our on-site construction camera; this timelapse video shows July 2021 to present.
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September 10
SVM School Year Kickoff Picnic
5-7 p.m.
School of Veterinary Medicine
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September 11
SVM Alumni Palooza (for alumni & families)
3-6 p.m.
School of Veterinary Medicine
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Wisconsin State Journal
Nature
Wisconsin Public Radio
JAVMA News
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“It’s not just a warning about deer. ... Please add this finding as reason no. 2,784 to get vaccinated.”
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-Professor Tony Goldberg, discussing with The New York Times a federal study that found a third of the white-tailed deer tested in four states had been exposed to the coronavirus. In separate research, Goldberg has been surveying North American bats for evidence of infections with the coronavirus; so far, they have shown no evidence of infection.
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