Spelman named National Zoological Park director
The possible arrival of new pandas from China is not the only cause of a stir at the zoo in Washington, DC. Dr. Lucy H. Spelman (CAL '90) was named director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoological Park on June 19.
"To work in this setting has been an amazing and inspiring experience. As director, I hope to share this inspiration with the visitor in a number of ways, primarily via exhibits of the highest quality and a progressive public outreach program," Dr. Spelman said.
In 1995, she began her career at the zoo as an associate veterinary medical officer. She was promoted to senior veterinary medical officer in September 1999.
Dr. Spelman's background in exotic animal medicine meshes well with the needs of the zoo. From 1990-1991, she was a consulting veterinarian at the Wildlife Way Station for zoo medicine and wildlife rehabilitation in Los Angeles. For the next three years, she was a zoo medicine resident at the North Carolina University State College of Veterinary Medicine and the North Carolina State Zoological Park.
She still serves as a mentor of the zoo animal medicine residency program at the National Zoological Park, and is an adviser for the zoo's veterinary preceptor program. Annually since 1995, she has been an instructor of a training course in zoo animal husbandry and medicine in Guyana, South America. Dr. Spelman taught a carnivore and giant panda veterinary training workshop in China in 1999. She is also an adjunct professor at the Center for Government and Corporate Veterinary Medicine, Virgina-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maryland.
Since 1997, Dr. Spelman has been an associate editor of the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine. She has served on various committees of the American College of Zoological Medicine, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, and the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians. She is a diplomate of the American College of Zoological Medicine.