Chadima recognized for global work, Babcock for public service

The AVMA presented the AVMA Global Veterinary Service Award to Dr. Susan Chadima and the AVMA Public Service Award to Dr. Sarah Babcock at the Global One Health Networking Reception, held July 20 during AVMA Convention 2025 and the 40th World Veterinary Congress in Washington, D.C.

The AVMA Global Veterinary Service Award recognizes an AVMA member who has contributed to international understanding of veterinary medicine.

Dr. Chadima (Iowa State ’79) is a Maine-based veterinarian who has worked for decades to strengthen Afghanistan’s animal health infrastructure.

After receiving her veterinary degree, Dr. Chadima began a career in private small animal practice with the founding of the Androscoggin Animal Hospital in Topsham, Maine, which she operated for 30 years. But it was a six-week trip to Afghanistan in the early 2000s that transformed the trajectory of her professional life. It was a war-torn veterinary clinic in Kabul that compelled Dr. Chadima to help rebuild the country’s animal health system.

Over the past two decades, Dr. Chadima has served in a range of international roles—from training Afghan veterinary professionals and paraprofessionals to facilitating legislative reform for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture. As team leader of the European Union–funded Animal Health Development Programme, Dr. Chadima oversaw policy implementation and interagency cooperation on a host of major issues, including control of such diseases as Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and peste des petits ruminants.

Dr. Chadima’s work with the Dutch Committee for Afghanistan and various Kabul-based animal rescue organizations reflects her commitment not just to livestock and agriculture, but also to the welfare of companion animals and street animals in a region with limited resources. Through these partnerships, she has provided both technical expertise and logistical support to Afghan veterinary field units.

Dr. Chadima has served on the Maine Board of Veterinary Medicine, in the AVMA House of Delegates, and on multiple AVMA task forces. In 2020, she earned a master’s in veterinary preventive medicine from her alma mater, deepening her One Health perspective.

In addition, Dr. Sarah Babcock received the AVMA Public Service Award, which honors an AVMA member who has demonstrated long-term excellence in public service or made exceptional contributions to public health and regulatory veterinary medicine.

A 2004 veterinary graduate of Michigan State University, where she also earned a law degree that same year, Dr. Babcock has spent more than two decades shaping policy at the intersection of animal and human health. She joined the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as an American Association for the Advancement of Science-AVMA Science and Technology Policy Fellow, eventually becoming a senior advisor for global health security in the DHS’s Office of Health Affairs. There, she played a key role in pandemic planning, veterinary disaster response, and cross-border health security coordination with Canada.

Dr. Babcock has served as a Brookings Institution Fellow with the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, where she worked on agricultural trade, disease traceability, and global competitiveness in livestock production. She has also represented the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, formerly OIE) in discussions with the World Trade Organization. As part of this work, she served as an expert at the 2nd Global Animal Welfare Conference on legal mechanisms to implement animal welfare guidelines within the international legal framework.

In addition to her work at the national level, Dr. Babcock has provided guidance to state agencies and veterinary boards, particularly in areas related to telehealth, controlled substances, and zoonotic disease. She continues to support the profession through her legal consultancy, Animal and Veterinary Legal Services, which offers continuing education and compliance training for veterinary professionals. She works part-time as a small animal veterinarian and owns The Island Vet, a mobile veterinary practice in Boca Grande, Florida. Further she serves as a One Health adjunct faculty at the Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine and a peer reviewer for a veterinary medical board.

Dr. Babcock has served on the AVMA’s Judicial Council, Council on Public Health, and Model Veterinary Practice Act Expanded Working Group. She has authored several peer-reviewed publications on legal veterinary issues, such as veterinary record keeping and compliance with professional guidelines, and is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences.