Monthly Newsletter

Horse Health and Winter Weather

Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory advises vigilance for emerging cattle parasite

The Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory is advising livestock producers to be vigilant for a new red blood cell parasite diagnosed in calves imported to Kansas. The parasite, Theileria orientalis Ikeda, causes anemia and other serious health issues in cattle and was recently diagnosed in Kansas.

Dr. Hans Coetzee receives NAS prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences
By National Academy of Sciences

Dr. Mike Apley Named AVC Consultant Of The Year for 2024
By Bovine Veterinarian

The Academy of Veterinary Consultants (AVC) has named Dr. Mike Apley, DVM, as recipient of the AVC Consultant Of The Year award for 2024. The award, sponsored by Zoetis, recognizes outstanding achievements in beef-cattle medicine. Dr. Apley is the 38th recipient of the AVC Consultant of the Year honor, which was first presented in 1986.

Dr. Bonnie Rush is the new president-elect of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges
By AAVMC

Hodes Family Dean Dr. Bonnie Rush was recently selected to be the AAVMC's new president-elect. Her term began Nov. 4, 2024, and she will ascend to the office of president at the conclusion of the annual conference in April 2025. She has served in a variety of roles including educator, research and administrator during her career at the K-State CVM.

Drs. T.G. Nagaraja and Raghavendra Amachawadi received funding from Novonesis for their project, “In vitro Evaluation of Anti-Fusobacterum necrophorum Activities of Bacterial Probiotics for Eventual Development as a Feed Additive for the Control of Liver Abscesses in Cattle.”Dr. Kate KuKanich received $30,800 in funding for the Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Scholars Program.Dr. Matt Miesner presented “Restraint and Analgesia in Cattle,” at the 2024 Academy of Veterinary Consultants winter conference in Kansas City, Missouri, Dec. 6.

_{CRWAD honors Dr. Frank Blecha as a 2025 FellowDr. Frank Blecha (left), retired research dean and longtime faculty member, is inducted as a 2025 Fellow by CRWAD Executive Director Dr. Paul Morley. He was honored along with Drs. Radhey Kaushik, South Dakota State University, and Rod Moxley, University of Nebraska (retired).}

CORE graduate students receive awards at CRWAD

_{From left: Dr. MaRyka Smith, Dr. Lucas Horton, Dr. David Renter and Taylor McAtee attend the annual Conference for Research Workers in Animal Diseases, or CRWAD.}

Two Graduate students, Taylor McAtee and Dr. MaRyka Smith, earned awards for their oral presentations at CRWAD 2025. Taylor McAtee was awarded 2nd place in The Association of Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine (AVEPM) graduate student award competition for her presentation titled “Associations between estimated greenhouse gas emissions in feedlot cattle cohorts and their health and performance.” Dr. MaRyka Smith was awarded 4th place in the AVEPM graduate student award competition for her presentation titled “A scoping review of Foot-and-Mouth Disease biosecurity practices and farm-level risk factors.”

Dr. Lucas Horton was selected as the 2025 recipient of the Mark Gearhart Memorial Graduate Student Award presented by the Association for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine (AVEPM). This prestigious annual award recognizes a graduate student completing advanced academic or professional training in veterinary epidemiology, public health or preventive medicine. He presented “Stochastic Modelling of Economic Risk and Net Return Distributions for Feedlot Steers Marketed at Alternative Endpoints” at CRWAD 2025.

More pictures from CRWAD

_{Top left: Graduate student Torre Dunlea. Middle: Saurav Pantha, a master's student with his professor Dr. Santosh Dhakal. Right: Dr. Stephen Edache. Bottom left: Rachael Weiderman an MPH/Ph,D, student in Dr. Laura Miller’s lab. Right: Dr. Jianfa Bai and Eric Cheng, MPH student.}

_{Back picture, from left: Hari Balaji, Sri Nithya Dasari, Dr. Raghavendra Amachawadi, Haitham Alneaemy and Harith Salah. Bottom: Dr. Amachawadi, Sri Nithya Dasari and Dr. T.G. Nagaraja.}

Local gallery spotlights photography by VHC veterinary nurse Jen Free

A screenshot of Jen Free's artist page at Gallery of Arts.

By day, Jen Free is a dedicated Registered Veterinary Technician at the large animal ICU in the VHC, where she balances the demands of her profession with the joy of being a grandma to two lively grandsons and caring for a variety of animals her and her husband have. It wasn’t until recently that Jen delved deeper into photography, discovering it as not only a passion but a form of creative expression that brings her peace and fulfillment. For her, photography is an escape — a way to capture the magic in the everyday, from Kansas’ sweeping prairies to its hidden wildlife.