December 01, 2020

Event

Virtual annual conference, Sept. 24-26

Program

The conference drew 979 virtual attendees, including 264 veterinary students. Amy te Plate-Church, Shawano, Wisconsin, presented the keynote address “Believe. Engage. Connect!” Continuing education included beef, dairy, clinical skills, practice management, and student sessions in addition to sessions from the American Association of Small Ruminant Practitioners. Also on offer were more than 50 virtual exhibits. The issues of mental health and wellness were addressed during the conference. Josh Tanguay, a clinical psychologist in Plainville, Kansas, delivered a presentation that included statistics on suicide among veterinarians. The immediate past president of the AABP, Dr. Calvin Booker, spoke on the association’s new initiative, the Humans of AABP series, established on the AABP Facebook page, giving members the ability to share their stories and struggles. Student members of the AABP who received $193,500 in scholarships this year were recognized at the conference. The awards were funded by AABP members, the AABP Foundation, Merck Animal Health, Zoetis, and the National Cattlemen’s Association.

Awards

Boehringer Ingelheim Bovine Practitioner of the Year
Dr. Pat Comyn, (North Carolina ‘88), Madison, Virginia, for exemplifying practice excellence, leadership, and service. Dr. Comyn owns Virginia Herd Health Management Services in Madison, focusing on reproductive ultrasounds, embryo transfer, nutritional consultations, bull fertility, general herd health management, laparoscopic artificial insemination in ruminants, and small ruminant medicine. He is a member of the executive board of the American Embryo Transfer Association, chairs the AETA Education Committee, and serves on the AABP Genomics and Genetics Committee.

James A. Jarrett Award for Young Leaders
Dr. Brandon Treichler (Minnesota ’12), Canyon, Texas, won this award, given to a member who has graduated in the past 10 years and exemplifies leadership via significant contributions to the association. Dr. Treichler serves as a quality control veterinarian with Select Milk Producers, working primarily with dairies in western Texas and eastern New Mexico. He is active with the National Mastitis Council and serves on the AABP Animal Welfare Committee.

Boehringer Ingelheim Excellence in Preventive Medicine Award—Beef
Dr. John D. Bolinger (Missouri ’08), Tipton, Missouri. Dr. Bolinger owns Bolinger Veterinary Service in Tipton. He works exclusively with beef producers, assisting with their cow-calf and stocker operations. Dr. Bolinger has served in leadership roles with the Academy of Veterinary Consultants and Missouri VMA and is a member of the Society for Theriogenology and Missouri Cattlemen’s Association.

Boehringer Ingelheim Excellence in Preventive Medicine Award—Dairy
Dr. Roger Thomson (Michigan ’79), Battle Creek, Michigan. Dr. Thomson owns MQ-IQ Consulting in Battle Creek, a milk quality consulting company, offering training programs on evaluation of milking systems and a teaching parlor for various organizations, including the AABP and National Mastitis Council. He also serves as an academic teaching specialist in the Department of Animal Science at Michigan State University College of Agriculture & Natural Resources and in the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Zoetis Distinguished Service Award
Dr. Jim Brett (Mississippi State ’83), Starkville, Mississippi. Dr. Brett is a clinical professor and a member of the large animal ambulatory service at Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He previously practiced mixed animal medicine in Georgia for more than 20 years. Dr. Brett serves as Mississippi’s delegate to the AVMA House of Delegates and is a past member of the House Advisory Committee and the AVMA Convention Education Program Committee. He has also served as Georgia’s alternate delegate to the AVMA HOD.

Merck Animal Health Mentor of the Year Award
Dr. Gordon Atkins (Western University ’73), Calgary, Alberta. A past president of the AABP, Dr. Atkins serves as a professor of production animal health at the University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. His practice career, based in Alberta for almost 50 years, has focused on dairy veterinary medicine and has involved all aspects of dairy herd health with particular emphasis on nutrition, cow comfort, and reproductive performance and a special interest in bovine gastrointestinal surgery. Dr. Atkins has also served as a veterinary consultant for Holstein Canada as a member of its Classification Advisory Committee and Breed Advisory Committee.

AABP Award for Excellence
Dr. Terry Lehenbauer (Oklahoma State ’79), Exeter, California, is a professor in the Department of Population Health and Reproduction at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and serves as director of the UC-Davis Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center in Tulare, California. A diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Medicine, he focuses his research on herd health and production medicine in dairy cattle with an emphasis on the epidemiology of infectious diseases, risk management, and the economics of animal health, especially related to bovine respiratory disease, mastitis, and antimicrobial stewardship.

AABP Foundation Competitive Research Grant Award
Drs. Gerard Cramer, University of Minnesota, for “Development of a sole ulcer induction model in Holstein cows: The next step in lameness research”; and Manuel Chamorro, Auburn University, for “Effects of lameness on semen quality in beef bulls: A case-control study”

AABP Research Summaries Graduate Student Award
First place—Dr. Matthew Scott, Mississippi State University, for “Transcriptomic profiling of BRD-attributed mortality in stocker cattle identifies active inflammatory and antiviral pathways at arrival”; second place—Dr. Claira Seely, Cornell University, for “Effect of hyperketonemia on circadian patterns of blood metabolites and milk predicted constituents in dairy cows”; and third place—Dr. Ainhoa Valldecabres, University of California-Davis, for “Associations of serum calcium and subclinical hypocalcemia at calving with productive, reproductive and health outcomes in multiparous Jersey cows”

2020 Student Case Presentation Competition Winners
Overall—Isabella Knecht, Cornell University, for “Intravenous dextrose as a treatment for hyperketonemia in dairy cows”; clinical case report—Elizabeth Rumfola, Louisiana State University, for “Urolithiasis in a bull”; research report: first place—Isabella Knecht, Cornell University, for “Intravenous dextrose as a treatment for hyperketonemia in dairy cows”; and second place—Caroline Cunningham, Texas A&M University, for “Genetic variability of bovine coronavirus isolated from the respiratory and enteric tract of calf-ranch raised dairy calves”

Officials

Drs. Carie Telgen, Greenwich, New York, president; Pat Gorden, Ames, Iowa, president-elect; Sandra Godden, St. Paul, Minnesota, vice president; Brian Reed, Lititz, Pennsylvania, treasurer; Richard Wallace, McFarland, Wisconsin, parliamentarian; and Calvin Booker, Okotoks, Alberta, immediate past president