Asheni becomes man’s best friend

Dr. Kaufman formulates fruit with fizz

CVM welcomes class of 2011 during orientation week

2006 Employees of the Year

World Rabies Day Activities

Congratulations Dr. Apley

Check it Out at the Library
Welcome Back!

Under the Microscope:
Stefan Yates - Veterinary Medical Library Assistant

CVM News Ticker

New Arrivals

Lifelines back issues

Extra stories and photos*

• A Note from SCAVMA
  
• Employees enjoy appreciation picnic
  
• Extended New Faces in the VMTH
  

*Not included in the print or PDF versions of Lifelines.

Asheni becomes man’s best friend

Asheni (pronounced Ah-zha-nee) is the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s word for angel. And for Patrick Baldwin, Asheni, a KSDS dog, has lived up to the meaning of her name.

Faculty, staff and students will remember Asheni, the black Labrador retriever who was constantly at the side of Dr. Patricia Payne, CVM assistant professor in diagnostic medicine and pathology. Asheni now loyally stays at Patrick’s side. Patrick, a junior at Central Washington University, Ellensburg, has Duchenne Muscular Dystropy, an exhausting condition that leaves him with very little energy. Asheni conserves Patrick’s energy by performing tasks such as opening doors and retrieving items. Patrick said he feels more confident and independent with Asheni at his side.

Dr. Payne, who is currently raising her third puppy for KSDS, had Asheni from July 2005-December 2006. Asheni went everywhere with Dr. Payne, learning and growing from each new experience. “We teach basic obedience and socialization and expose our dog to anything and everything we can think of — traffic, elevators, statues, crowds and cars,” Dr. Payne said.

KSDS is a nonprofit organization located in Washington, Kan., that trains and places assistance dogs with disabled individuals. The K-State Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital provides 40 KSDS dogs with free Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) hip evaluation radiographs and discounts eye exams every year. People receiving service dogs attend 13 days of team training at the KSDS facility.

Patrick said, “The classes are to train the people, not the dogs; the dogs are already trained really well. It is us, the people, who need the work.”

Coincidentally, Asheni’s new veterinarian in Washington state is Matt Moultray, class of 2002.

I thank everyone in the college — faculty, staff and students — for supporting Asheni and me during her early training. I can’t express in words how proud I was when I saw our little black angel jump up and hit the metal plate that opened the door for Patrick. The smile on the young man’s face was truly the most precious gift. I wish you all could have been there!

Imagine fruit that sparkles, tingles and is fun to eat. Sound good? Then look no further than Fizzy Fruit, the unique invention of an alumnus who is transforming the way kids feel about eating fresh fruit.

In 1994, Dr. Galen Kaufman, class of 1989, discovered a process that adds carbonation to the water that naturally exists in fresh fruit. The result is carbonated fruit with a 100 percent nutritional value and no additives. He patented his process and named the product, appropriately, Fizzy Fruit.

“Veterinary school opened my eyes to biology and provided a rigorous basis for learning the scientific method,” Dr. Kaufman said.

“I remember being amazed at all the information they kept trying to cram into our heads! I think that’s one of the most important lessons of all — to realize how much you don’t know, and to learn how to plow through difficult work and not be too intimidated.”

Fizzy Fruit has gained national attention and has been featured in USA Today, Newsweek, People and dozens of other newspapers and magazines. Currently, the company’s primary markets are school lunchrooms nationwide, where kids are now more willing to eat fresh fruit thanks to kid-friendly Fizzy Fruit. Fizzy Fruit is not currently available on shelves, but plans are under way to sell it in retail grocery chains as well as quick-service restaurants in 2008.

Besides discovering the Fizzy Fruit process, Dr. Kaufman earned a doctorate in neurobiology, worked in partnership with NASA and began a neuroscience lab at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He has written two science fiction novels and is an active partner in a business incubation company, MindFund. Dr. Kaufman currently sits on the board for Fizzy Fruit, does public relations and oversees the company’s research and development efforts.

For more information on Fizzy Fruit, visit the Web site: www.fizzyfruit.com.

Hey guys!

I just wanted to take this chance to officially say hello! Hopefully your Fall 2007 semester is off to a great start (a.k.a. is it Thanksgiving yet???). Keep up the hard work and I’m sure it’ll go by fast, as it always seems to.

SCAVMA is off to a great start this year! We had Dr. Kevin Dajka, SAVMA Advisor, speak at our first meeting of the year on August 23 about what the AVMA and SAVMA can do for you. We plan to bring in a bunch of great speakers this year – Jim Humphreys on communication, a SeaWorld Veterinarian, Doug Richey from Graduate Leverage, a resident panel to answer everyone’s burning question (“What exactly does it take to get a residency?”), plus several more ideas in the works. We are trying to make these All-School meetings useful and worth your time, so please let us know if you have any suggestions about how we could work to improve SCAVMA.

I wanted to let you all know that you have a wonderful SCAVMA board working very hard for you.  Seth Hartter, Bryant Blank, Kerri Hampe, Sarah Weber, Chelsea Kunst, Katie Teutemacher, Meghan Tindle, Stephanie Schneider, Chris Potanas, C.W. Seitz, Kayla Rawalt, Carly Waugh, Kim Hosking-Weiss, and Trent Glick have been working on many projects over the summer and are ready to dig in for a great year. Please thank these people when you see them around – they really do deserve some recognition!! I know that I’m really fortunate to get to work with this great board.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.  Good luck on your upcoming tests, and as always, keep up the great work!

Thanks!

Nikki

Nicolette Dudley
SCAVMA President
ndudley@vet.k-state.edu

Employees enjoy appreciation picnic
(with bonus pictures)

     The annual staff appreciation picnic was held Aug. 9 after work on the lawn outside Trotter Hall. Attendees enjoyed the time with family, friends and co-workers. Hamburgers, hot dogs and bratwurst were served, along with beans, potato salad, chips and drinks. T-shirts and doorprizes were given away to those present.  

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CVM welcomes class of 2011 during orientation week

Freshman orientation was held Aug. 13-17. New students learned about CVM history (bottom left) and introduced themselves and met new classmates (bottom middle). Families were treated to a welcome picnic (bottom right). Parents had a Q&A session (organized by SOKS) with the dean and current students (right). SOKS (with support from Pfizer) sponsored a lunch for the incoming first year students, their families, and the senior students. Students also partook in teambuilding activities, tours and meetings. Each student was issued a Toshiba tablet computer to use throughout veterinary school as the college goes “paperless” starting this year.

Class of 2011 stats:
Females to males: 72 to 33
Average age: 24 (range 20-44)
Avg. previous college experience: 4.6 years
Areas represented: 24 states, Japan and Korea
Top 4 states: Kansas 46, Nebraska 11, New York 7, North Dakota 5
Students with a degree: 85

    New Faces in the VMTH - Welcome!

From left to right:
Dr. Dudley McCaw, Oncology; Dr. David Rankin, Anesthesiology; Dr. Tracey Jackson, Small Animal; Dr. Marco Margiocco, Cardiology; Dr. Amy Rankin, Ophthalmology; Dr. Dirsko von Pfeil, Small Animal Surgery; Dr. Lucy Bergamasco, Research Assistant Professor; Dr. Michele Borgarelli, Cardiology; Dr. Mary Lynn Higginbotham, Oncology;  and Dr. Troy Holder, Equine Emergency.

    Congratulations Dr. Apley!

Dr. Mike Apley, was recently listed in Bovine Veterinary magazine as one of the six most influential veterinarians in the cattle feeding industry over the last 35 years.

“A leader in evidence-based medicine discussions.” “Has brought pharmacology education and its issues to the forefront of feedlot medicine.”

A 1987 veterinary school graduate of Kansas State University, Mike Apley, DVM, PhD, gravitated toward feedlot medicine because he liked cattle, production systems and good people. Apley believes data collection capabilities in the feedlot industry initially advanced well before our ability to interpret the data.

“I think the industry as a whole is getting more of an understanding of how to structure and analyze the numbers we collect from the feedlots,” he says. “There is a huge difference between seeing if monthly numbers meet our arbitrary benchmarks and letting the numbers tell us what is truly going on in the system followed by trying to refine the system.”

Apley believes organic production will continue to be a truly niche market, but that more consumers are responding to that market and are more aware of welfare and food safety issues. “I don’t think we have yet found the ultimate mix of consumer interest (and willingness to pay), product quality, environmental impact, animal husbandry, and production cost.”

In the next decade Apley hopes to see advances in animal diagnostics and more individual case management. “When a universal response to a lame animal is restricted to needles, we still have a long way to go.” Apley also believes the beef industry has completely ignored selecting for disease resistance along with performance. “We accept that carcass quality and performance have huge genetic components, but then turn around and ignore health in our selection process.” 

An AVC member since 1991, Apley says beef cattle veterinarians range from those completely dedicated to the industry all the way to a very small population of shameless con artists. “Fortunately, our profession is very, very heavily weighted to the former rather than the latter,” he notes. “I continue to be amazed by the insight and observational skills of the veterinary practitioner. The strength of the beef practitioner is still in observing what is going on around him or her. The most successful among us are those who use the word ‘why’ the most.”  

Apley recalls mentorship from others such as his father who practiced in central Kansas from 1964 through 2001 and demonstrated the realities of life in veterinary medicine and approached those realities with integrity. Veterinary pharmacologist Dan Upson sparked an interest in the application of drugs in food animals and demonstrated respect for the veterinary practitioner. Feedlot consultant Del Miles embodies intensity, dedication to an industry, the ability to read people and digging for answers.

“If you want to talk about heroes, then those are the quiet professionals that serve the small communities in which many of us live,” adds Apley. “Foremost among those are the general-practice veterinarians serving rural communities, like my father did, and the professionals that teach our children.”

Apley encourages students to first figure out their personal goals for professional fulfillment, income and lifestyle. “If working with cattle on feed is a goal, you can do that in many different ways. If feedlot medicine rises to the top of your interests, grow in that direction.”

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by Carol Elmore

Now that the fall semester has begun here at the College of Veterinary Medicine, we want to remind you that the Veterinary Medical Library is resuming our regular hours. We will be open until 10 p.m. on Mon.-Wed. and Sun., 11 p.m. on Thurs., 6 p.m. on Fri., and 3 p.m. on Sat. We open at 7:45 a.m. on Mon.-Fri., at 11 a.m. on Saturdays and 1 p.m. on Sundays. We will be closed on Saturdays of home football games for security reasons. Our hours will always be posted at: http://www.vet.ksu.edu/depts/library/info/hours.htm.

Our food-and-drink policy permits drinks in spill-proof containers in the library in all areas except in our computer area and eating of food in the library within reasonable limits. We have a service-oriented staff who will assist with all of your faculty, staff and student information needs. We are also open to the public, and one of our staff members provides reference service and assistance for any questions and help that public users may need. Library Research Services is also available to provide document delivery, reference and database searching for non-university persons who can’t come to our library.

We would also like to remind you that we are always taking donations for our annual book sale held every February. As you are organizing your offices for this new school year, remember that we will take donations of books and journals that you no longer want.  

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