Accolades

Academia

The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges has chosen Dr. Richard L. Meadows (TEX '81) of the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Veterinary Medicine to receive the 2010 national Pfizer Teaching Award. The AAVMC presented the award during its annual meeting March 10-13 in Alexandria, Va.

A diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in the canine and feline category, Dr. Meadows has served as a member of the faculty at Missouri's veterinary college and director of community practice at the college's teaching hospital since 1999. He established the Helping Overpopulation through Education project that allows students to volunteer to assist with neutering clinics in underserved areas.

Dr. Meadows is the faculty adviser for the Pet-Assisted Love and Support program, which brings companion animals to visit people at hospitals and senior centers. He also is a faculty adviser for the college's student chapter of the AVMA.

Also during its annual meeting the AAVMC honored three members for their leadership and contributions to the association.

Dr. John U. Thomson (ISU '67) was awarded the AAVMC Senator John Melcher, DVM, Leadership in Public Policy Award. Dr. Thomson spent 20 years as a rural veterinarian in a private mixed-animal practice and 23 in academia. His career culminated in his position as dean of Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He retired at the end of 2010 as dean and remains on the ISU faculty.

Dr. Thomson helped win millions of dollars in funds to enhance the veterinary diagnostic laboratories at South Dakota State University, where he was chair of the Department of Veterinary Science, and Mississippi State University, where he was dean for five years. He secured more than $120 million in construction funds at ISU. He also helped develop the cooperative agreement in veterinary medical education between ISU and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which expanded veterinary educational opportunities for Nebraskan students. Most important, Dr. Thomson helped draft and win passage of the National Veterinary Medical Service Act, which authorized the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program in 2003.

Dr. Peter Eyre (EDN '60), dean emeritus at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, delivered the 2011 AAVMC Recognition Lecture. Dr. Eyre began his career teaching at the University of Edinburgh Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and later joined the faculty at the University of Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College before he was appointed dean of VMRCVM in 1985. There he established the Center for Government and Corporate Veterinary Medicine in 1989. He retired in 2003.

The Peter Eyre Student Leadership Award at VMRCVM and the Peter Eyre Prize in Pharmacology at the University of Guelph are both named in his honor. He is a past president of the AAVMC, a fellow and former board member of the American Academy of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and a former member of the AVMA Legislative Advisory Committee.

Dr. Willie M. Reed (TUS '78) was presented the Iverson Bell Recognition Award for his leadership and contributions in promoting opportunities in veterinary education for underrepresented minorities. Since 2007, he has been dean of Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine. Under Dr. Reed's guidance, the school's 2008-2014 strategic plan affirms its commitment to promoting a work and learning environment dedicated to diversity. He established the school's Office of Diversity Initiatives and, in 2009, appointed a Diversity Action Committee.

Also during Dr. Reed's tenure, the school established the Access to Animal-Related Careers program to bring high-ability students from underrepresented minorities to Purdue for a residential immersion experience, and the Common Read Program for incoming veterinary students to discuss how discrimination and stereotyping can occur in a clinical environment. In 2010, the school was awarded a $136,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture multicultural scholars program grant to support recruitment and retention of underrepresented students.