March 15, 2021

In 2019, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine Alumni Advisory Board launched an alumni awards program to recognize graduates who have made significant contributions to society and whose accomplishments, affiliations, and careers have honored the legacy of excellence at the school.

The Distinguished Service Award went to Dr. Terrence P. Clark (Wisconsin ’87), of Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, who serves as president and CEO of Nexcyon Pharmaceuticals, a company he co-founded in 2008. There, he has led the development and approval of several veterinary pharmaceuticals commercialized through various business partners. He also holds two patents for novel transdermal drug delivery.

Following graduation from UW, Dr. Clark completed an internship at Oklahoma State University and practiced veterinary medicine for two years in Arizona. After completing a doctorate in biomedical science at Auburn University, he remained as an assistant professor of pharmacology, advancing research in basic and clinical endocrinology and pharmacodynamics. He also served as director of the university’s clinical pharmacology laboratory.

From there, Dr. Clark worked at Pfizer Animal Health, now Zoetis, and Eli Lilly and Co. Dr. Clark has served with various organizations, including the American Academy of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, U.S. Pharmacopoeia, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, and American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology. He is a diplomate and past president of the ACVCP.

The Young Alumni Award went to Dr. Ryan M. Wallace (Wisconsin ’12), of Decatur, Georgia, a veterinary epidemiologist within the National Center for Zoonotic and Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Currently, he is deputy director for the CDC One Health Office. In this role, he is leading the implementation of surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in animals in the United States and advising on public health policies related to one health.

Dr. Wallace began his career in public health in 2004 at the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, working on projects to improve refugee access to health care. In 2006, he received his master’s of public health from Emory University with a focus on epidemiology.

Dr. Wallace joined the CDC rabies program in 2012 and trained for two years with the center’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, a training program in applied epidemiology for health professionals. For the past eight years, he has led the Rabies Epidemiology Unit at the CDC, while also serving as a World Health Organization expert consultant for rabies and director of the CDC’s World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) rabies laboratory. He has led numerous domestic and international zoonotic disease investigations pertaining to human deaths and animal disease outbreaks.