Leaves, They Are A-Changing
It's been a wonderful fall so far, and as evidenced by all the golds, reds, and oranges on our trees, we are in the middle of a great fall season.
Last month we had the opportunity to celebrate much at the School of Veterinary Medicine, including the important contributions that our veterinary technician/nurses and our pharmacists make to the School of Veterinary Medicine, our students, our patients, their owners, and the research that we conduct to benefit both animal and human health. It was a great National Veterinary Technician week and National Pharmacy week, ending with the awarding of three veterinary technician awards to Morgan Kelley, Ashley Onsager, and Amanda Anderson.
We also held our annual Fall Research Day, celebrating all that our faculty, staff and students do to advance health care for all. I want to again congratulate the following three winners for their outstanding poster competitions: Amanda Gimenez, Brynna Jovanovich, and Linnea O’Neil.
Last week, the campus also held a celebration of the 175th anniversary of UW Madison’s founding, highlighting a coming year of activities honoring our anniversary.
Later this month, on November 13th, the school will hold a ribbon-cutting event to spotlight the opening of our new North Building this coming March. Although this event will be limited in the number of individuals who can attend, we plan to provide an opportunity for all who work and learn at the school to tour our new building this coming winter. The new North addition will double the size of our small animal hospital and significantly improve our teaching and research spaces. Our new Large Animal Arena is also slated to open this winter, which will provide our clinicians with the opportunity to evaluate our large animals in an indoor arena benefiting our diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities.
I hope everyone has a fantastic November.
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Mark D. Markel
Dean, UW School of Veterinary Medicine
Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor
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UW Veterinary Care Updates from the Director |
Please join me in welcoming the following new employees who joined our team in September:
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Peggy Waters joined the Large Animal Hospital as a new assistant facilities manager. Peggy has extensive experience in the care and management of livestock, equipment, and staff, and will be a tremendous addition to the LAH team!
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Karen Veenhof, CVT, recently transitioned into a new permanent role in the ECC, where she had been serving as an LTE since this past spring.
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Aisha Olson, CVT, joined the Primary Care and Primary Care Dentistry services as a new veterinary nurse. Aisha comes to UWVC from VES/VCA, but some may remember her from UWVC ECC back in 2018.
It was great to celebrate National Veterinary Technician Week and National Pharmacy Week with our staff last month. We are incredibly proud to have such talented and hard-working teams serving our clients each and every day. Congratulations to the following technicians for being recognized for their respective accomplishments:
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Morgan Kelley, CVT - Early Career (Less Than 5 years at UWVC)
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Ashley Onsager, CVT, Legends Category (More than 5 year at UWVC)
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Amanda Anderson, CVT, Large Animal
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I’m also proud to share the following client comment, which highlights the excellent care and customer service delivered by all members of our team. From the reception staff to the students, nurses, clinicians and everyone behind the scenes, we all play an important role in delivering compassionate care to our patients.
"The care that Poppy was given yesterday was excellent. From people at the front desk to the students, nurses and veterinarians . It's not only about the technical aspect of her visit, but it's the empathy that I appreciate so much. Poppy has been through so much, and the extra love they give her warms my spirit. Not only do they care for my girl, but they listen and take my questions and feelings into account as well."
Thank you for all that you do!
Christopher Snyder, DVM, DAVDC
Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs
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The SVM was honored to host members of the UW-Madison Police Department for a town hall about policing on campus, officer training, and the future stabling of UWPD mounted patrol in the school’s new arena.
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School News
Teagan Leah DeForge, small animal resident, took first place in the annual Outstanding Surgery Residents’ Awards competition at the ACVS Surgery Summit for her study on the evaluation of environmental factors contributing to risk of cruciate ligament rupture in Labrador Retrievers.
Richard Barajas, assistant dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, is participating in a year-long seminar provided by the Academic Engagement Network focused on Antisemitism
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Teaching and Learning Update
The SVM had a strong presence at the recent Veterinary Educators Symposium (VES) held at Texas Tech in Amarillo TX on Oct. 27-28. The symposium is a collaborative effort from the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) and the newly established Academy of Veterinary Educators (AVE) that attracts veterinary educators from across the globe to share scholarly work in education and share best practices in teaching and learning. Seven members from the school led or co-led two workshops, seven presentations, two panel discussions, and one poster presentation. It’s exciting to see our amazing educators share their work with the greater veterinary educator community.
VES Workshops:
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'Step-up' to Clinical Problem Solving: Instruction Strategies for developing early clinical reasoning skills. M Anderson, P Schmidt
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Navigating the Curriculum Development Groan Zone. M Anderson, J Narlock, P Schmidt
VES Presentations:
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What are we teaching our students? Creating a Topic Inventory for a DVM Curriculum. C Schmidt, P Schmidt
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Successful Use of the Critical Incident Questionnaire for Feedback and Reflection After Veterinary Instruction. K Hershberger-Braker
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Discrepancies between practitioner, faculty and student expectations of graduate-level independence. A Nichelason, P Schmidt, N Bollig, M Anderson, S Hetzel
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Where to start? Professional skills course development: Lessons learned through flexible thinking, technology, and wooden blocks. J Narlock, C Schmidt, M Anderson, P Schmidt
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Empowering Technicians: Building Excellence and Community through a Technician Educator Training Program. P Schmidt, M Anderson
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Topographical interrelationships of abdominal organs: One model - three active learning activities. M Gunderson, K Hershberger-Braker, S Lygo-Baker
VES Panel Discussions:
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More than one way to revise a curriculum: experiences incorporating the CBVE framework in curriculum revision efforts in three different veterinary programs. H Banse, P Schmidt, E Burton
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When should attendance be required? E Malone, G Brown, P Schmidt, P Barr
VES Poster Presentations:
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Peer Simulations Using Student Generated Case Studies in Pre-Clinical Veterinary Students. A Nichelason, E Alvarez, K Schultz
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Calico Schmidt, assistant teaching professor, addresses a group of veterinary educators from around the globe about the approach the SVM is taking to create a new topic inventory for our DVM curriculum. |
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Kavi Mehta
Assistant Professor
Department of Comparative Biosciences
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Hometown: Milwaukee, WI
Hobbies/other interests
I really enjoy cooking, but put the majority of that on hold during my postdoc. I also enjoy travel, hanging out with my family (which includes a chatty, curious, and inquisitive 4-year-old), collecting records, and talking about renewable energy.
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Educational/professional background:
BS in Biochemistry and French, UW-Madison; MS in Bioprocess Engineering, Northwestern University; PhD in Virology at Northwestern University In Lou Laimins’ lab; Postdoc in DNA Repair and Cancer Biology at Vanderbilt University in David Cortez’s Lab.
What is your field of research, and how did you get into it?
I am interested in the DNA repair mechanisms that prevent genomic stability and mutagenesis and how cancers arise when organisms face genotoxic stresses such as therapeutic interventions, environmental chemicals and toxins, and viruses.
What attracted you to UW-Madison?
The Wisconsin Idea is what I was raised on, emphasizing the idea of forward progress and education. There is a real feeling of being excellent to each other and excellence in general within the university and in Madison. My family is still nearby in Milwaukee, and Madison is a beautiful city.
What was your first visit to campus like?
My first campus visit was when I was a little boy so that involved eating a Garibaldi at Paisan’s in U Square and feeding the ducks at the union. I was absolutely terrified on my second campus visit last year because of the impending interview and amazed by the changes that took place in Madison. Once I got to the interview I felt home. The scale of research, the city, and campus has changed a lot.
The pandemic forced us all to reconsider many things we took for granted. What did you learn that helped you through these challenging times, personally or professionally?
Although it may sound trite you really have to pursue every opportunity given to you or earned if you have the time and bandwidth. Every experience is worth it even if it may not be your favorite one at the time.
Do you feel your work relates in any way to the Wisconsin Idea?
Absolutely. My work aims to make discoveries that influence the greater understanding of biology…both human and animal and potentially influence health and inform potential therapeutic interventions and screenings while educating the future scientists and vets of the world all in collaboration with other disciplines. You know…a lab of democracy (pun intended).
What’s something interesting about your area of expertise you can share that will make us sound smarter at parties?
That your DNA needs a copy editor too! And that is what DNA repair mechanisms are all about! Imagine a story about a bass swimming in the sea. Now imagine that story (your DNA) experienced some damage from an environmental toxin (a lot of sunlight is a great example) that altered the b in “bass” leading it to be erroneously removed because DNA repair was unsuccessful. Your story now gets a little confusing or a little more amusing.
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The school held its annual Fall Research Day October 20th, during which DVM Summer Scholars presented their research to the SVM community. (From left) SVM professor Joan Jorgenson joins poster presentation winners Amanda Gimenez (1st place), Linnea O’Neil (3rd place), and Brynna Jovanovich (2nd place)
and SVM Dean Mark Markel.
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November 11
Tailgate 2023
UW vs. Northwestern
Starts at Noon
November 17
Dean’s Get Together
Breakfast with Sally
7:30 - 9 am (SVM Foyer)
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November 17
DEI Potluck
Noon-2 pm
Location TBD
December 15
Dean’s Get Together
11am - 1pm
Room 2255
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David Vail, the Barbara A. Suran Chairperson of Comparative Oncology, was featured in a story on CBS 58 about the Vaccination Against Canine Cancer Study (VACCS). The VACCS trial, a collaboration between the SVM, Colorado State University, and the University of California-Davis, has enrolled more than 800 dogs so far and is the largest clinical trial to date on canine cancer
Lyric Bartholomay, professor of pathobiological sciences, was a guest last month on New Hampshire Public Radio's podcast, "Outside/In," during which she answered a variety of listener questions about mosquitos.
Amy Nichelason, clinical assistant professor of primary care, was featured in a story on greatpetcare.com about ticks and ways to protect pets from tick-borne diseases
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