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May 2018 - Vol. 13, No. 5
Top Stories

 

Eagle flies again

Bald Eagle

Thanks to diligent action by concerned landowners, local law enforcement, staff of the Milford Nature Center, and veterinary intervention at Kansas State University, a bald eagle diagnosed with lead poisoning has regained its health and spread its wings to fly again through the skies over the Tuttle Creek River Pond near Manhattan. Lead poisoning is a common threat, not only to bald eagles but other animals as well. Read how the eagle was successfully treated and learn about other potential hazards from lead in the environment.

Video Feature

Spar and the Dangers of Lead Toxicity

See Spar's road to recovery in this video produced by the Kansas State University Division of Communications and Marketing.



Video produced by Kent Nelson, technology coordinator from Computing and Technical Support (CATS). See more CVM videos at our YouTube site: youtube.com/KSUCVM

K-State Black Student Union awards Choma family with Stacey Hall Humanitarian Award

Tosha and Dr. Kimathi Choma

Tosha and Dr. Kimathi Choma, DVM 2007.

Congratulations to Dr. Kimathi Choma, DVM 2007 and assistant dean for diversity, recruitment, and retention in the College of Arts and Sciences at K-State, and Tosha Sampson-Choma, assistant professor of English, who received one of the K-State Black Student Union's highest honors: the Stacey Hall Humanitarian Award.

The Chomas were selected to receive this special award for the continued service they provide in Ghana, Africa. For the past 10 years they have traveled to Ghana to support the African Initiative Mission's Wechiau Girl Conference where they provide community sustainability, education and health.

The Stacey Hall Humanitarian Award is named after K-State student Stacey Hall, who was a member of the Black Student Union. Hall was committed to community service, local civic organizations and becoming a global citizen to work toward a better world. Tragically, in 1996, Hall died in a car accident. In her memory the K-State Black Student Union created this award in her memory and for more than 20 years, the Black Student Union has awarded individuals who display her spirit for humane efforts and civic engagement.

Diagnostics Of Endemic & Emerging Diseases: Beyond The Status Quo

CEEZAD logo June 11-13, K-State Alumni Center

The Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases (CEEZAD) in collaboration with the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (KSVDL) invites you to participate in this special workshop to promote discussions and collaborations on novel diagnostic tests for endemic, zoonotic and foreign animal diseases including the scientific and regulatory challenges associated with the development of such tools.

KSVDL logo A special session of a live lab will be viewed from the K-State Alumni Center along with a poster session on June 11.

The workshop will bring together practitioners, diagnosticians, scientists, federal employees and representatives from the industry.

Regular registration - $150
K-State Faculty/Staff/Students - 75

For more information, Call for Abstracts and to register visit: www.vet.k-state.edu/education/continuing/conferences/CEEZAD-KSVDL-Conf/index.html

Alumni Reunions

In Memoriam - Recently Departed Alumni

Dr. James Lajos Palotay, DVM 1950
Jan. 21, 2017

Dr. Charles David Heinze, DVM 1953
March 25, 2018

Dr. Gerald ThouvenelleDr. Gerald John Thouvenelle, 67, longtime and well-respected veterinarian across central Kansas, and resident of Russell, Kansas, died in a fatal truck accident on Sunday, April 29, 2018, at the Russell Regional Hospital Emergency Room. He was born Feb. 14, 1951, in Fort Benning, Georgia, the son of Gerald Jack and Margaret Rose “Peggy” (Bibza) Thouvenelle. He grew up in a military family, traveling all over the world, graduating from Iolani High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. While in high school he was an avid soccer player and surfer. After High School, he attended Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee, and continued his participation in soccer. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from Carson Newman College in 1973. While attending undergraduate school as a student, he was employed as a research associate with the American Cancer Society.

He then attended Kansas State University and earned a bachelor's degree in animal sciences and industry in 1977, and in 1979, matriculated with a DVM. In 1984, John established Russell Veterinary Service and Reproduction Lab, LLC, which since that time had been a leading innovator and provider of reproductive health and care for large and small animals, including bovine, horses, sheep and exotic animals. He was one of the few local veterinarians who offered acupuncture, and for a number of years provided a weekend acupuncture clinic for clients in the Kansas City area. For 14 years he served as the regulatory veterinarian for the Russell Livestock Commission. He was always supportive of young students interested in working with animals, so he mentored elementary age students through their 4-H club experiences, and often encouraged young volunteers “working” at the clinic. Additionally his enthusiasm for working with animals prompted his appointment as an adjunct faculty member of Fort Hays University.

John held veterinary licenses in Kansas and Colorado. He continued his professional development through active memberships in the following: American College of Theriogenology since 2007, American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), Kansas Veterinary Medicine Association, since 1979 and Academy of Veterinary Consultants.

Surviving family include his mother, Peggy recently of Charleston, South Carolina, two sisters Suzanne Thouvenelle of Arlington, Virginia, and Adrienne Ashby of Charleston, a niece and a nephew, also of Charleston.

Memorials are suggested to Canine Assistance Rehabilitation Education & Services Inc. (CARES Inc.) a group providing training for canine assistance to the elderly and those with disabilities. John was an active participant and avid promoter of their training and certifying animals suitable for this type of work. Memorials may be sent in care of the mortuary.

Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary of Russell, Kansas, is in charge of memorial arrangements.

Questions about Alumni or CE events?

Contact:

Ashley McCowan Photo Ashley McCowan
Alumni and Events Coordinator
785-532-4833
amccowan@vet.k-state.edu

Dana ParkerDana Parker
Program Assistant
785-532-4528
dlaparker@vet.k-state.edu

Annual Conference 2018

News Ticker

More activities and accomplishments in the College of Veterinary Medicine:

Some scenes from the White Coat Ceremony on May 4

White Coat Ceremony
Congratulations to the class of 2019 on receiving their new professional apparel at the annual White Coat Ceremony as they transition into their fourth-year of studies and enter into clinical rotations. Top left, Dr. Laurie Beard celebrates with Amanda Jones. At right, Dr. Mary Lynn Higginbotham straightens the collar for Daniel Lee.

Drs. Kara Berke and Dana White have successfully passed the Phase 1 Small Animal Surgery Boards. Dr. Cori Youngblood has passed Phase I of the Large Animal Surgery Boards.

Dr. Beth Davis presented "The CVM Curriculum at K-State from a Pre-Veterinary Perspective" to the Veterinary Voyagers group on April 10.

Dr. Bonto Faburay was recognized for Quality Mentoring in Undergraduate Research at the Eighteenth Annual Research Poster Symposium by the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry at Kansas State University on April 15.

Dr. Mike Apley presented Pharmaceutical Regulations, Changes and Trends at the Academy of Veterinary Consultants in Dallas, Texas, on April 13.

Dr. Raghavendra Amachawadi presented at the 5th International Conference on Enterococci in Chamonix, France, on April 15-20. His presentation was titled "Effects of zinc and menthol supplementation on antimicrobial resistance among fecal enterococci in feedlot cattle."

Dr. Neala Boyer presented, “Body Condition, Weight and its impact on Disease in Dogs and Cats,” at the K-State Olathe Careers and Cases in Veterinary Medicine Lecture Series on April 25.

Drs. Kate KuKanich and Sue Nelson were part of the Drug Enforcement Administration National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 28. The day provided a safe and responsible way to dispose of prescription drugs which keeps them from being flushed and entering the water supply which can be harmful to pets and humans or being accidentally ingested by pets and children.

Dr. A. Sally Davis joined the editorial board of the Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry (JHC), Sage Publications. She continues to serve as a Councilor for the Histochemical Society chairing their Communications Committee. At Experimental Biology 2018 (EB2018), she chaired the joint American College of Veterinary Pathologist-American Society of Investigative Pathology Symposium entitled “Vector-Borne Diseases: Bridging Scale.” The journal Veterinary Pathology has invited a follow-on cross-cutting review based on this symposium. Two of her students, Kaitlynn Bradshaw and Deepa Upreti, presented posters at EB 2018 entitled, “Pneumocystis: A Polysaccharide Mystery” and “Evaluation of Competitive ELISA for Detection of Rift Valley Fever Virus in Cattle and Sheep Sera.” A third student, MaRyka Smith was selected to serve as the Histochemical Society’s social media consultant and live reported the conference activities at EB2018.

Dr. Kate KuKanich presented “Respiratory One Health: Respiratory therapy for companion animals and public health considerations,” at the Kansas Respiratory Care Society’s Annual Education Symposium, in April.

Drs. Manuel Chamorro and Cynthia Bell presented about the care of food producing animals to a group of fourth-graders on April 30. The Lyon County Farm Bureau hosted the event, “A Day at the Farm,” at the Emporia fairgrounds.

Dr. Walter Renberg presented an international case discussion on “Small Animal Orthopedic Surgery” with DVM students from both K-State and Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania on April 30.

Dr. Nicky Cassel joined the CVM as an assistant professor of radiology.

Congratulations to Dr. Megan Wilson for obtaining her Master of Science Degree in Biomedical Science.

Dr. Ying Fang reports that her Ph.D. student Rui Guo was recently accepted for a postdoc position at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Pradeep Malreddy successfully completed all the requirements for the Teaching Certificate in Higher Education Pedagogy awarded by the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University.

Dr. Philine Wangemann, University Distinguished Professor, has agreed to review grants and attend the AUD (Auditory systems) study section in Washington, D.C., in June.

Mal Hoover visits elementary school at Fort Riley
Kudos to Mal Hoover, the CVM's certified medical illustrator, on visiting an elementary school at Fort Riley. Here she teaches the students to work with grids while drawing an image of a cat. "It is a great exercise for drawing what you see and the relationship of positive and negative space relative to the subject," Mal said.

Second-year student Sarah Wilson reports she is trying to form a new Veterinary Medicine Recruitment and Outreach Club of Kansas State, aka Vet Med ROCKS! The club will allow veterinary students to work on their leadership skills and apply those skills by working to educate the community about veterinary medicine through presentations and hands on activities. "We will work with local organizations (4H, Boy and Girl Scouts, etc.) and schools (K-12)," Sarah said.

Sarah said he club adviser is Dr. Callie Rost, and that she is working on developing summer day camps for elementary through pre-vets this summer that the club will be helping with.

Shelter Medicine hires two full-time faculty

Drs. Alyssa Comroe and Brad Crauer
The Shelter Medicine program welcomes a new member, Dr. Alyssa Comroe, and a returning member, Dr. Brad Crauer.

The College of Veterinary Medicine welcomed two faculty members to its Shelter Medicine program in April. Drs. Brad Crauer and Alyssa Comroe will serve the college as clinical assistant professors of shelter medicine.

Dr. Crauer previously worked for the College of Veterinary Medicine and helped develop the Shelter Medicine program in 2015. After more than two years with K-State, he moved to the Seattle, Washington, area where he served as medical director for the Wenatchee Humane Society. He received his DVM from Iowa State University in 1991.

“I think Kansas State is poised to be a leader in this area, and my goal is to develop this program so the college becomes known as the university that produces the most-skilled, knowledgeable and practice-ready shelter veterinarians,” Dr. Crauer said.

Dr. Comroe joined K-State from Jacksonville, Florida, where she was a veterinarian at Jacksonville Animal Care and Protective Services, a large municipal animal shelter. She received her DVM from the University of Florida in 2015.

“I’m really excited to continue to grow the Shelter Medicine program at K-State to help prepare students to be shelter veterinarians,” Dr. Comroe said. “The field needs more qualified shelter veterinarians, and I think K-State can provide that training.”

The Shelter Medicine program provides learning and teaching opportunities to veterinary students by offering a rotation on the college’s Mobile Surgery Unit. Students on the rotation provide spay, neuter and other surgical procedures and veterinary consultation to 16 private and municipal partner organizations. The Shelter Medicine team includes Drs. Crauer and Comroe as full-time faculty members, an intern, Dr. Sarah Steen, and two veterinary technicians, Gillian Campbell and Ron Orchard.

Veterinary students study for diversity and inclusion certification

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has sponsored a small group of veterinary students through a scholarship fund to complete the certificate program for Diversity and Inclusion through Purdue University during 2017/2018. Kansas State University veterinary students currently completing certification through this program are first-year student Karissa Severud and second-year students Alexandra Allen and Sarah Wilson.

"I signed up for this program because I thought it would be interesting to learn about different cultures and how to work with people from those cultures," Sarah said. "Being able to work with people ranges from coworkers to bosses to clients, and everyone has a different background, so this is a very important communication skill. I have just completed the course as of last week and I received my certificate and pin in the mail today. I would highly recommend this course, regardless of area of interest within veterinary medicine."

Karissa Severud, Alexandra Allen and Sarah Wilson
Karissa Severud, Alexandra Allen and Sarah Wilson.

Equine emergency training

Code 3 college
A special large animal rescue training day was held in April at the Equine Peformance Testing Center. Training was led by staff from the emergency equine response unit of Code 3 Associates. About 20 students were joined for this event by firefighters with the Manhattan Fire Department and members of the Kansas State Animal Rescue Team (KSSART).

Exotic medicine meeting in Poland

Dr. James Carpenter in Poland
Dr. James Carpenter was one of two featured speakers that presented the entire program for the Exotic Pet Medicine meeting April 14-15 in Warsaw, Poland. There were 180 attendees from 16 different counties!

Poultry wet lab

Dr. Cindy Bell gave a short presentation to the student chapter of the ACVP on common diseases of backyard poultry and how to obtain an appropriate “flock history” from the owner.

"We discussed basic husbandry since these issues often relate to disease problems," Dr. Bell said. "During the web lab portion, we focused on skills necessary to perform a diagnostic workup on poultry. Students gained hands on experience in performing a complete post-mortem examination (necropsy) on chickens. We discussed normal and abnormal anatomy and how to obtain the best samples needed to diagnose poultry diseases, including Avian Influenza."

Poultry wet lab
Dr. Cindy Bell (center) works with student members of the ACVP during a wet lab on poultry.

K-State Developing Scholars benefit from CVM mentors; Present research posters

Undergraduate research took center stage at Kansas State University's 18th annual Developing Scholars Program Research Poster Symposium held April 15 in the K-State Student Union's Ballroom.

The Developing Scholars Program is an undergraduate research program that provides opportunities for highly motivated students from diverse backgrounds to participate in research projects with a faculty mentor. Students receive academic, social and financial support while participating in the discovery and creation of new knowledge at Kansas State University. Developing Scholars is housed in the university's Office of Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry directed by Anita Cortez.

"The Developing Scholars Symposium has become an anticipated and celebratory spring tradition at K-State where the campus and community come together to celebrate the diverse contributions of Kansas State undergraduates and their faculty research mentors," Cortez said. "Their research ranges from cutting-edge cancer research to cybersecurity to indigenous hip-hop to green roof systems, beekeeping and much more. We encourage all undergraduates to seek out research opportunities while they are at K-State surrounded by so many gifted faculty. K-State's faculty are well known for their generous support of undergraduates in research."

Among those participating included several students being mentored by faculty in the College of Veterinary Medicine. This included Amara Ehie, in Dr. Meena Kumari’s lab, whose poster was titled, “Differentiation of P19 cells into neurons.” Ruben Pando, in Dr. Deryl Troyer's lab, presented, "Novel Promoter-Controlled Expression of Proteins Selectively in Tumor Cells Using Whole or Fragmented Plasmid Sequences." Jake Jimenez, who works with Dr. Mark Weiss, presented "Evaluation of Cell Culture Media Supplemented with pHPL-depleted exosomes on HUC-MSCs and Cancer Cell lines." Dursitu Hassen, who works with Dr. Troyer, presented, "Delivery of a Peptide with Anti-Cancer Activity Using Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles."

Dr. Bonto Faburay's undergraduate research student/mentee, Sahiba Grover, was recognized as a second-year honorable mention recipient for the James R. Coffman Award of Excellence for her poster, "Recombinant expression of outer membrane proteins of Ehrlichia ruminantium and their assessment as potential diagnostic and vaccine antigens."

“Sahiba is a diligent student and demonstrates the intellectual and scientific curiosity required to succeed in biomedical science,” Dr. Faburay said.

Dr. Bonto Faburary and Sahiba Grover
Dr. Bonto Faburay and Sahiba Grover.

Dr. A. Sally Davis's mentee Mya Masterson was a third-year winner for the James R. Coffman Award of Excellence for her poster, "Visualization of Rift Valley fever virus nucleoprotein by immunohistochemistry."

“Mya, has been a delight to have in my lab,” Dr. Davis said. “She is a consistent performer who enjoys learning new techniques and has the attention to detail and persistence required for succeeding in science.”

Dr. A. Sally Davis and Mya Masterson
Dr. A. Sally Davis and Mya Masterson.

See a full list of awards and recipients at this link: http://www.k-state.edu/scholars/dspsymposium.html.

New 'House' system promotes broader interaction in CVM

House Sorting Ceremony
A special ceremony was held at the end of April to provide new opportunities for interaction, growth and wellness in the CVM.

"Houses function as a smaller cross-section of the larger college, and include students from each of the four classes allowing for formation of meaningful peer and near-peer mentoring relationships," said Dr. Peggy Schmidt. "Faculty, staff, house officers and graduate students are also invited to participate in a house and further enrich students’ veterinary school experience. These broader interactions with members of the college nurtures both personal and professional development of students. Plus, there will be opportunities to have fun and foster a sense of team spirit with house competitions throughout the year."

Above are some photos from the "sorting" ceremony for the first group of students to participate. The students palpated the college's dystocia simulator and drew bandanas, with the different colors representing the houses they would belong to. Names will be assigned to the houses later. Watch Lifelines for updates on this program.

CEVBD holds national meeting in Manhattan

Drs. Roman Ganta, Dr. Christopher Paddock, Dr. J. Stephen Dumler and Dr.  Ed Breitschwerdt
Dr. Roman Ganta, director of the Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Diseases, thanks his invited speakers: Dr. Christopher Paddock from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta; Dr. J. Stephen Dumler from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland; and Dr. Ed Breitschwerdt from the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University.

CEVBD National Meeting
The CEVBD held a National Meeting on Tick Borne Diseases Impacting Human and Animal Health on May 5 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Manhattan. Thanks to all who attended.

CVM hosts guest from AAVMC

Tony Wynne, director of admissions and recruitment affairs for the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) visited the CVM April 25 and 26. He serves as the director of the Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS), editor of Veterinary Medical School Admissions Requirements, and project lead on initiatives involving pre-vet/pre-health advisor development, veterinary school admissions and recruitment, and pre-veterinary student development.

While he was here, he gave a presentation on the VMCAS application to members of the KSU Pre-Vet Club and the KSU Veterinary Voyagers. He also met with several Pre-Health advisers.

Tony Wynne from the AAVMC

New Arrivals/Recent Departures

Lifelines is published each month by the Marketing and Communications Office at the College of Veterinary Medicine. The editor is Joe Montgomery, jmontgom@vet.k-state.edu.

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