AVMA News

American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians – October 10-16, 2024

Updated January 23, 2025

Event

The American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) held its 67th annual meeting from October 10-16, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee. The meeting was held jointly with the United States Animal Health Association (USAHA).

Awards

E.P. Pope Award

Dr. Kristy Pabilonia
Dr. Kristy Pabilonia

Dr. Kristy Pabilonia (Colorado State ’02), Fort Collins, Colorado. A diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists, Dr. Pabilonia is executive director of clinical diagnostics for the veterinary health system at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. She also serves as a professor in the veterinary college’s Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology. Dr. Pabilonia’s research interests include avian influenza virus, backyard poultry populations, Salmonella, and several zoonotic diseases. She has served as chair of the former AAVLD Publications Committee and as a member of the AAVLD Committee on the National Animal Health Laboratory Network and the AAVLD Accreditation and Executive committees. Dr. Pabilonia is secretary-treasurer of the AAVLD.

Distinguished Service Award

Dr. Bruce Akey
Dr. Bruce Akey

Dr. Bruce Akey (Minnesota ’87), Ruckersville, Virginia. Dr. Akey owns Akey Laboratory Consulting. He previously served as director of the Texas A&M University Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory and was an adjunct clinical professor in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology at Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. Early in his career, Dr. Akey was assistant state veterinarian and director of the Virginia Regional Animal Health Laboratory System. He also had served as assistant director and assistant state veterinarian with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets’ Division of Animal Industry. A past president of the AAVLD, he has chaired or co-chaired the AAVLD Government Relations Committee—created during his presidency—and has co-chaired the USAHA/AAVLD Joint Committee on Animal Health Surveillance and Information Systems, and the National Animal Health Reporting System Steering Committee.

Outstanding Performance Award for Diagnostic Services

Kristin Zuzek
Kristin Zuzek

Kristin Zuzek, Barron, Wisconsin. Zuzek is the compliance director at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (WVDL), responsible for quality assurance and safety. She is also part of the WVDL leadership team. Zuzek previously served as a microbiologist and quality manager at the WVDL. Early in her career, she worked in private industry as a quality assurance laboratory supervisor, quality manager, and technical director of quality assurance as well as research and development. Zuzek has chaired the AAVLD Quality Assurance Committee and is a member of the AAVLD Accreditation Committee.

Pioneer in Virology Award

Richard A. Hesse, PhD, Manhattan, Kansas. Dr. Hesse received his doctorate in virology in 1993 from the University of Lincoln-Nebraska. He is a professor emeritus in the Department of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology at Kansas State University (KSU) College of Veterinary Medicine. During his tenure, Dr. Hesse also served as director of diagnostic virology at the KSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and was co-chair of the virology section.

Award for Excellence in Diagnostic Veterinary Microbiology Award, sponsored by BIOMIC

Dr. Sara Lawhon (Texas A&M ’97), College Station, Texas. A diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists, Dr. Lawhon is a professor at Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. She also serves as director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory at the Texas A&M’s Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Dr. Lawhon’s clinical and research interests are focused on antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic pathogens. She is a member of the Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute’s Subcommittee on Veterinary Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing.

Best Oral Presentation Award

First place: Brooklyn Cauwels, Iowa State University, for the presentation “Evaluation of a blocking ELISA on serum and milk samples for monitoring highly pathogenic influenza A virus (H5N1-IAV) 2.3.4.4b in dairy cattle”; second place: MaRyka Smith, Kansas State University, for the presentation “Modeled impacts of improved cattle traceability and size of control area and surveillance zone on business continuity and foot-and-mouth disease outbreak size”

Best Poster Presentation Award

First place: Kendall Mara, Michigan State University, for the presentation “Standardizing an antimicrobial susceptibility testing protocol for Mycoplasma bovis”; second place: Calvin ChengYu Ko, Iowa State University, for the presentation “Development of a viability-qPCR detection system and in vitro growth evaluation of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae

Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation Best Full Scientific Report Award

Dr. Emily M. Birckhead, Wagga Wagga, Australia, for the presentation “Visualizing neutrophil extracellular traps in septic equine synovial and peritoneal fluid samples using immunofluorescence microscopy”

Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation Best Brief Report Award

Dr. C.R. Smith, Ithaca, New York, for the presentation “In situ hybridization to detect Escherichia coli in canine granulomatous colitis”

Richard L. Walker Bacteriology Award, sponsored by Anaerobe Systems

Blaire MacNeill, Colorado State University

J. Lindsay Oaks Best Student Molecular Biology Presentation Award, sponsored by Veterinary Medical Research & Development

Maria Hakimi, Iowa State University

Brenda Love Best Student Bacteriology Poster Presentation Award, sponsored by BioMerieux

Calvin C. Ko, Iowa State University

Diagnostic Pathology Slide Seminar Resident/Graduate Student Award

First place: Andrew Noel, Iowa State University; second place: Calvin C. Ko, Iowa State University; and third place: Dr. Trevor Arunsiripate, Iowa State University

AAVLD/American College of Veterinary Pathologists Diagnostic Pathology Resident/Graduate Student Award

Andrew Noel, Iowa State University

Molecular Diagnostics & Bioinformatics Oral Presentation Award

Dr. Maria Chaves, Iowa State University

Molecular Diagnostics & Bioinformatics Poster Presentation Award

Dr. Hayley Masterson, Washington State University

Pathology Oral Presentation Award

Dr. Nora Gardner, North Carolina State University

Life Membership

Dr. Jeff Hayes
Dr. Jeff Hayes

Dr. Jeff Hayes, Reynoldsburg, Ohio

President’s Award

Dr. Hemant Kashinath Naikare
Dr. Hemant Kashinath Naikare

Dr. Hemant Kashinath Naikare, University of Minnesota

Officials

Drs. Tanya LeRoith, Blacksburg, Virginia, president; Ashley Hill, Davis, California, president-elect and program chair; Francisco A. Uzal, San Bernardino, California, vice president; Kristy Pabilonia, Fort Collins, Colorado, secretary-treasurer; Keith Poulsen, Madison, Wisconsin, immediate past president; and David H. Zeman, Brookings, South Dakota, executive director

A version of this story appears in the March 2025 print issue of JAVMA