Scott honored for advancing feline health
Some 450 people attended the 94th annual meeting of the Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases, Dec. 8-10, 2013, in Chicago.
The national meeting was dedicated to Dr. Fred W. Scott, the founding director of the Cornell Feline Health Center, who spent much of his career improving the quality of life for cats through research and education.
After receiving his DVM degree from Cornell University in 1962, Dr. Scott spent two years in private practice in Vermont. He was introduced to veterinary virology by conducting research on foot-and-mouth disease at Plum Island Animal Disease Center. Dr. Scott returned to Cornell in 1965 to study virology under the late Dr. James Gillespie.
Dr. Scott earned a doctorate and then joined the veterinary college faculty in 1968 as an assistant professor of virology, rising through the ranks to full professor, a position he held until his retirement in 1996. From 1974-1996, Dr. Scott was also the founding director of the Cornell Feline Health Center.
He was especially interested in research on feline viral diseases, including those involving infectious peritonitis, coronaviruses, panleukopenia, and respiratory disease; the effects of viruses on the developing fetus; and mmunoprophylaxis of viral diseases.
At the veterinary college, Dr. Scott taught the core virology and viral diseases course for approximately 20 years. He also taught students about feline infectious diseases within the veterinary curriculum for more than four decades, first within the Small Animal Infectious Diseases elective that he started in 1970, and then in retirement as a guest lecturer within the Feline Infectious Disease elective.
Dr. Scott served in leadership positions on numerous professional organizations, including as president of the American Association of Feline Practitioners from 1976-1978 and as chairman of the AVMA Council on Biologic and Therapeutic Agents from 1987-1989. He was also a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee and the World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization Board for Comparative Virology’s international working teams on caliciviruses, parvoviruses, and small RNA viruses.
Life membership in CRWAD was awarded to Louisa Tabata-bai, PhD, Ames, Iowa, and Dr. J. Glenn Songer, Ames, Iowa.
The 2014 CRWAD officers are Dr. David A. Benfield, Wooster, Ohio, president; Dr. Roman R. Ganta, Manhattan, Kan., vice president; and Robert P. Ellis, PhD, Fort Collins, Colo., executive director.
AVEPM awards
The Association for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine awarded the 2013 Calvin W. Schwabe Award to Dr. Yrjö T. Gröhn, the James Law Professor of Epidemiology at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Gröhn has enriched the field of veterinary epidemiology with cutting-edge research, as demonstrated by a large number of publications, and is widely known for his pioneering work on mixed models and dynamic programming.
The two main areas of investigations currently ongoing in Dr. Gröhn’s laboratory are mathematical modeling of zoonotic diseases and optimizing health and management decisions. Dr. Gröhn has received continuous funding from the Department of Agriculture in support of his research while holding a major grant from the National Institutes of Health in the area of public health.
Dr. Gröhn has been a highly regarded educator in a series of workshops on modern epidemiologic methods that have been taught throughout the world. Through his published research, his presentations, and the courses he has taught over his career of more than 20 years, Dr. Gröhn has advanced veterinary epidemiology and preventive medicine.
Recipients of the AVEPM student awards were as follows: Epidemiology and Animal Health Economics/Companion Animal Epidemiology category, oral—E.M. Corbett, Michigan State University, for “The effect of feeding a direct fed microbial on antimicrobial resistance in fecal coliforms from dairy calves” and J.L. Bromberek, Colorado State University, for “What influences treatment and end-of-life decisions for lymphoma affected dogs.” Ecology and Management of Foodborne Agents category, oral—C.L. Cazer, Cornell University, for “Assessing antimicrobial pressure on commensal enterobacteria of beef cattle fed chlortetracycline for growth promotion, metaphylaxis or diseases treatment.” Poster—D.M. Dewsbury, Kansas State University, for “Prevalence of Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) serogroups and associated virulence genes in feces of commercial feedlot cattle.”
The Mark Gearhart Memorial Award for best manuscript in epidemiology and preventive medicine was presented to J. Ribeiro Lima, University of Minnesota, for “Network analysis of cattle movements in a previously infected area with bovine tuberculosis in Minnesota, US–A framework for risk-based surveillance.”
AAVI awards
The American Association of Veterinary Immunologists named Dr. Ian Tizard its Distinguished Veterinary Immunologist for 2013. Dr. Tizard is a professor at Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, where he also oversees the Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center. The Schubot Center supports research into all aspects of disease in wild and captive birds, particularly the large parrot species, as well as endangered avian species.
Dr. Tizard led a team of researchers in 2013 who successfully sequenced the complete genome of a scarlet macaw. His research interests include immunology with emphases on innovative vaccine technology and domestic mammals. Dr. Tizard also studies avian diseases, most notably those of parrots.
Recipients of the AAVI student awards were as follows: First place, oral—Valerie E. Ryman, Michigan State University, for “Oxylipid production by bovine macrophages in response to Streptococcus uberis.” Second place, oral—William Raphael, Michigan State University, for “Oxidized polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolites are associated with leukocyte inflammatory markers in periparturient dairy cows.” Third place, oral—Sally R. Robinson, University of Minnesota, for “Broadly neutralizing antibodies against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus: a rapidly evolving RNA virus.” Poster, first place—Mari K. Lehtimaki, Virginia Tech, for “Staphylococcus aureus antigens induce long term Th17 cell responses.” Poster, second place—Jagadish Hiremath, The Ohio State University, for “Differential expression of DAP12 molecule and its associated receptors in the lungs of pigs infected with swine influenza.” Poster, third place—Alejandro Benítez-Guzmán, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), for “AIF nuclear translocation is induced by Mycobacterium bovis infection in bovine macrophages.”
ACVM awards
The American College of Veterinary Microbiologists named Dr. M.M. Chengappa its Distinguished Veterinary Microbiologist of 2013. Dr. Chengappa is a university distinguished professor and head of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine. As department head, he leads a diverse department of over 45 faculty and 100 staff, residents, postdoctoral candidates, and graduate students.
Dr. Chengappa’s primary research interests are to investigate the pathogenesis of important infectious diseases of animals and to develop strategies to protect animals from these diseases. Identification, molecular characterization, and functional analysis of antigens/toxins of Streptococcus suis, Mannheimia haemolytica, and Fusobacterium necrophorum are his primary focuses.
He has authored or co-authored more than 126 refereed publications and 130 abstract presentations, holds five U.S. patents, and has made numerous presentations worldwide.
Dr. Chengappa has been active in several veterinary professional organizations, including the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists, for which he served as president of the Board of Governors from 2008-2010. He has also served on several ACVM committees over the years and was a guiding force in helping ensure the parasitological specialty was approved within ACVM.
The ACVM student awards were presented to the following recipients: Don Kahn Award—M. Han, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for “Non-structural protein 1-mediated interferon modulation as a common strategy for porcine, equine, murine, and simian arteriviruses.” In vitro category—F. Leite, Iowa State University, for “Antigenicity of Envelope Protein Complexes of Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis.” Molecular category—S. Menon, Kansas State University, for “Characterization of an outer membrane protein adhesin of Fusobacterium necrophorum subsp necrophorum.” In vivo category—L.M. Linke, Colorado State University, for “A novel avian influenza antiviral technology using RNAi targeting avian epithelium and respiratory tissues.” Poster—X. Wang, University of Minnesota, for “Deep sequencing analysis of PRRSV genetic variation among cell types.”
Other awards
The Society for Tropical Veterinary Medicine presented its student award to Emily Reppert, Oklahoma State University, for “Characterization of the tick bite site in sheep experimentally infected with the human NY-18 isolate of Anaplasma phagocytophilum.”
The American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists presented its student award to Carly Barone, University of Rhode Island, for “Anthelmintic efficacy of cranberry leaf powder and cranberry leaf proanthocyanidin extract on ovine Haemonchus contortus.”
The NC-1202 Enteric Diseases (North Central Committee for Research on Enteric Diseases of Swine and Cattle) student awards were presented to the following recipients: Lynn Joens Memorial Award, first place, oral—Q. Chen, Iowa State University, for “Isolation and characterization of porcine epidemic diarrhea viruses associated with the 2013 disease outbreak in US swine.” Second place, oral—J. Oh, Kyungpook National University, for “Development of a stable cell line expressing porcine epidemic diarrhea virus spike S1 protein for the production of subunit vaccine antigen.” David Francis Award, poster—L.W. Noll, Kansas State University, for “A four-plex real-time PCR assay for the detection and quantification of Escherichia coli O157 in cattle feces.”
The Biosafety and Biosecurity Awards, sponsored by the Animal Health Institute and the Joseph J. Garbarino Foundation, were presented to Nadia Saklou, Colorado State University, for “Evaluation of activated hydrogen peroxide and peroxygen disinfectants as misting applications” and Xiangdong Li, Kansas State University, for “Pigs immunized with modified live Chinese high pathogenic PRRSV vaccine are protected from North American PRRSV strain NADC-20.”