Phi Zeta presents research awards for 2022

Phi Zeta, the international honor society of veterinary medicine, recently presented the 2022 Research Manuscript Awards. This year, Mars Veterinary Health subsidized the award amount with a donation of $5,000, allowing the society to offer $2,500 to each of the three winners, along with engraved plaques.

The award in basic sciences went to Dr. Emily Binversie (Wisconsin ’18) of the Alpha Alpha chapter of Phi Zeta at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her winning paper was “Analysis of copy number variation in dogs implicates genomic structural variation in the development of anterior cruciate ligament rupture.” Dr. Binversie received a doctorate in computational bioinformatics in 2021 at UW-Madison studying genomic structural variation and its contribution to complex canine orthopedic diseases. She recently started a dermatology residency at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

The competition for the award in clinical sciences resulted in a tie. The winners were Dr. Laura Constance (Kansas State ’21) of the Sigma chapter of Phi Zeta at Kansas State University and Dr. Kelsey Jurek (Minnesota ’17) of the Nu chapter of Phi Zeta at Oklahoma State University.

Dr. Constance’s winning paper was “Gut microbiome associations with outcome following co-infection with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) in pigs immunized with a PRRS modified live virus vaccine.” She earned her doctorate in diagnostic medicine and pathobiology from Kansas State University in 2021 and was a member of the inaugural class of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility Scientist Training Program. Currently, she is a veterinary medical officer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostics Laboratory.

Dr. Jurek’s winning paper was “Effect of perfusate volume on amikacin concentrations after saphenous intravenous regional limb perfusion in standing, sedated horses.” She completed an internship at Stillwater Equine Veterinary Clinic in Stillwater, Minnesota; an internship in large animal surgery at Tufts University; and a residency in equine surgery at Oklahoma State University. She is currently the large animal emergency clinician at Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine.