AAVMC acknowledges contributions from veterinary faculty, student
The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges recognized the 2017 recipients of five awards during its Annual Conference March 10-12 in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Steven L. Stockham (Kansas State ’72) received the Distinguished Teacher Award, presented by Zoetis. Dr. Stockham, who retired in 2016, is professor emeritus of the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine Department of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology. His teaching philosophy involves engaging and motivating students through real-life clinical situations, allowing them to acquire clinical reasoning skills that lead to rewarding, lifelong professional careers, according to an AAVMC press release.
He is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and an honorary member of the European College of Veterinary Clinical Pathology.
Dr. Edward B. Breitschwerdt (Georgia ’74) was honored with the Excellence in Research Award.
Dr. Breitschwerdt is a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine and adjunct professor of medicine at the Duke University Medical Center. He directs NC State’s Intracellular Pathogens Research Laboratory in the Comparative Medicine Institute. His research focuses on proving the link between biting insects and hard-to-culture intravascular and intracellular organisms as well as creating reliable diagnostic methods, according to an AAVMC press release.
His laboratory is currently exploring the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which chronic infection with vector-borne pathogens lead to disease, including human disease.
He is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
Dr. Allen Cannedy (Tuskegee ’94) is the recipient of the Iverson Bell Award. The award is presented in recognition of outstanding leadership and contributions in promoting opportunities for underrepresented minorities in veterinary education. Dr. Cannedy is responsible for securing over $800,000 in diversity-related scholarship funds for underrepresented veterinary students at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, where he lectures, recruits, mentors, and advises students. He has developed innovative programs to promote diversity and inclusion throughout his institution and the profession, according to an AAVMC press release. Thanks to his efforts, the college’s 2019 class is the most diverse in its history, with 29 percent minority enrollment.
Dr. Francisco J. Trigo Tavera (UNAM ’73) received the Billy E. Hooper Award for Distinguished Service. Dr. Trigo is vice provost for international affairs at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He founded the Mexican Society of Veterinary Pathologists and has been a leader in advancing and promoting a strong accreditation system in Mexico and Latin America.
Dr. Trigo has published 102 scientific papers in national and international journals, including the first reports on six veterinary diseases in Mexico.
He is the former president of the Mexican Veterinary Academy and was appointed by the Mexican secretary of agriculture as honorary president of the National Council on Animal Health, which provides advice on animal health to the Mexican Department of Agriculture.
Erin Black (Texas A&M ’17) was awarded the Patricia M. Lowrie Diversity Leadership Scholarship, which recognizes veterinary students who have demonstrated promise as future leaders and have made substantial contributions to enhancing diversity and inclusion in academic veterinary medicine.
Black’s many efforts to promote diversity at Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences include mentoring minority students and being selected as the liaison for the Student AVMA and the national organization Veterinary Students as One in Culture and Ethnicity. She also serves as the president of the TAMU student chapter of the Women’s Veterinary Leadership Development Initiative and is a member of Project Diversity, which reaches out to undergraduates at historically black colleges and universities to encourage students to consider a career in veterinary medicine.