Accolades

Published on
information-circle This article is more than 3 years old

Academia

Dr. Smith
Dr. Bonnie J. Smith

Dr. Bonnie J. Smith (OSU '85) of Christianburg, Va., received the national Carl J. Norden-Pfizer Distinguished Teaching Award for 2008, the profession's top veterinary teaching award. Dr. Smith of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine was selected from thousands of professors teaching in the nation's 28 veterinary medical colleges. Each college chose a recipient, and those awardees were listed in the Dec. 15, 2008, JAVMA.

Dr. Smith went on to become the national winner. She is a professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology. Before joining the college in 1991, Dr. Smith was a visiting assistant professor at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary medicine. She has been recognized for her ability to simplify material and make it clinically applicable for students, who have consistently placed Dr. Smith among the college's top faculty members in their reviews.

Government

Rear Adm. Tollefson
Rear Adm. Linda K. Tollefson

Rear Admiral Linda K. Tollefson (IL '80), a veterinary officer in the U.S. Public Health Service, is the new director of the Food and Drug Administration's Europe Regional Office in Brussels, Belgium, which opened in December 2008.

This past year, the FDA began opening centers around the world as part of the government's ongoing strategy to ensure the quality and safety of exports to the United States. The first FDA offices were established in several cities in China.

Admiral Tollefson most recently was the assistant commissioner for science in the Office of Science and Health Coordination and is a former deputy director of the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine.

In addition, she chaired the Research Involving Human Subjects Committee and was the FDA representative to the Office of the Surgeon General. Admiral Tollefson is also involved in several FDA science issues, including serving as the agency's co-chair of the Federal Inter-Agency Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance.