August 01, 2014
The Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine is located in a rural area at a land-grant university without a medical school. Yet, that hasn’t prevented it from offering something quite impressive with its Veterinary Specialty Center, a referral veterinary specialty practice located in a human medical facility four miles from the veterinary college. This collaborative relationship has allowed the college to offer cutting-edge diagnostic and treatment technologies while sharing costs and creating one-health opportunities.
AVMA
Dr. Heather Case has helped young veterinarians develop as leaders, cared for animals displaced by disasters, and worked to give veterinarians a voice in federal government. After nearly seven years in the AVMA Scientific Activities Division, she left the Association in late June to become executive director of the National Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.
Issues
An examination of unusual lesions on two sea otter pups has led researchers to identify a previously unknown poxvirus.
Practice
A vaccine that gained conditional approval in June could protect herds against a virus that has killed millions of pigs since spring 2013. Officials of the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced that the vaccine against the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus is intended to generate antibody production in sows, which transmit antibodies through milk to neonatal pigs. It is the first USDA-licensed vaccine against the virus, which can kill nearly all neonatal pigs in a herd and cause illness among others.
Community
Dr. John C. Baker, a longtime faculty member at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, took over as dean of the college, effective June 20. He succeeds Dr. Christopher M. Brown. Dr. Baker had been a professor in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences for the past 30 years and served as the associate director of AgBioResearch at the university.