Speakers
Please note, we are currently confirming speaker topics. Below are all of the conference speakers. Please note their topics are subject to change.
Small Animal Speakers
Dr. Jessica Meekins |
Conference Topic: May 31 Sunday 8:30AM - Feline Uveitis: Ocular Manifestations of Systemic Disease in the Midwestern United States Dr. Jessica Meekins was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, famously known as the home of the Kentucky Derby. She received her undergraduate degree in biology before attending veterinary school at The Ohio State University, graduating in 2008. She then completed a one-year rotating internship at a private specialty hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico before being accepted into the ophthalmology residency training program at Purdue University. She became a board-certified diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists in 2012, and she has been on faculty at K-State for almost 8 years. |
Dr. Maria Jugan
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Conference Topic: May 31 Sunday 9:30AM - A ‘How-To’ Guide: A Case-Based Approach to Utilization of Feeding Tubes in Small Animal Patients Education:
Teaching:
Research:
Clinical: Dr. Jugan’s clinical interests include gastrointestinal disease, liver disease, and feline medicine. She also has an interest in critical care medicine. |
Dr. John Rush
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Conference Topic:
May 31 Sunday 10:30AM - Mitral Valve Disease in Dogs
John Rush, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Cardiology), DACVECC Dr. Rush is a graduate of The Ohio State University, and he has been a faculty member at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University for over 30 years. He is a diplomate of both ACVIM (Cardiology) and ACVECC, and he currently is a Professor at Tufts. He helped devise the Tufts at Tech Community Veterinary Clinic in Worcester, MA. His research interests include cardiac biomarkers, cardiovascular drugs, and dietary interventions for cardiac disease. He has over 180 peer-reviewed publications in veterinary journals on various topics in cardiology and emergency/critical care medicine. |
Dr. Liz Rozanski
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Conference Topic:
May 31 Sunday 1:30PM - G
et the Most of your Cardiology Friend (co-presenting with Dr. John Rush)
Dr. Rozanski went to the University of Illinois for veterinary school, and then did a residency at the University of Pennsylvania. She has worked at Tufts University in the section of critical care for about 20 years, where she gets to focus on clinical case management and teaching. |
Dr. William Whitehouse
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Conference Topic: June 1 Monday 8:30AM - Management of Hypertension in Dogs and Cats Dr. William Whitehouse received his DVM from the University of Georgia. He then completed a small animal internship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a residency in small animal internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He spent several years in private practice in Denver, CO before coming to Kansas State University where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine. His clinical and research interests are in small animal nephrology. |
Dr. Raelene Wouda
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Conference Topic: June 1 Monday 9:30AM - The Emergence of Atypical and Indolent Lymphomas in Dogs Dr. Raelene Wouda joined K-State’s Faculty as a Medical Oncologist in October 2014. Raelene is a 2003 graduate of the University of Queensland’s Bachelor of Veterinary Science program. Upon graduation, she completed a 12-month small animal rotating internship at Queensland Veterinary Specialists, then a small animal internal medicine residency at Veterinary Specialist Services, both private referral hospitals in Brisbane, Australia. In 2010, Raelene accepted the position of Hematology and Transfusion Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. From Philadelphia, she moved to Wisconsin, to complete a second residency program in veterinary oncology at the University of Wisconsin. Raelene became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Oncology) in 2014. |
Dr. Douglas Winter
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Conference Topic: June 1 Monday 1:30PM - Pediatric Denistry Dr. Douglas Winter is a 1987 graduate of Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He was in small animal private practice for 18 years before starting his residency in veterinary dentistry. He is a Diplomate of the American Veterinary Dental College (AVDC) and a founding certificate holder of the American Veterinary Dental College in Zoo and Wildlife Dentistry (AVDC-Zoo & Wildlife). He provides dentistry and oral surgery services at Kansas State University Veterinary Health Center. He has dental referral practices in Wichita, KS and Springdale, AR. He is passionate about zoo and wildlife dentistry having performed over 1,600 procedures on a variety of exotic and zoo animals. He serves as a dental consultant for ten zoos throughout the Midwest. He is a member of the American Veterinary Dental Society and American Association of Zoo Veterinarians. Presently, he is committee chair of the AVDC -Zoo & Wildlife Dentistry and serves on the Credentials Committee for the AVDC. |
Large Animal/Equine/Practice Management
Dr. John Davidson |
Conference Topic:
May 31, Sunday - 8:30AM - Trichomoniasis: Herd Management and Prevention Strategies - Part 1
Dr. John M. Davidson was raised in south Texas and received his undergraduate and DVM degrees from Texas A&M University. He practiced in rural south-Central Texas where he was owner/partner of a 4-veterinarian mixed-animal practice. In 2007, Dr. Davidson joined the faculty at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences where he served as an ambulatory clinician and extension veterinarian. He has worked as an industry veterinarian since 2011 and is currently the Senior Associate Director for Beef Cattle Professional Services with Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health. He is board certified by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (Beef Cattle). He completed the Beef Cattle Production Management Series at the Great Plains Veterinary Education Center in Clay Center, Nebraska. His professional interests are reproductive and respiratory diseases in beef cattle, rural practice sustainability, and the recruitment and retention of future bovine practitioners. He has served on various Texas Animal Health Commission Working Groups. He served on the development team for the web-based TrichCONSULT decision tool for producers. Dr. Davidson was the 51st President of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) and the recipient of the Zoetis AABP Distinguished Service Award in 2016. Dr. Davidson was an active member of the AABP ad hoc committee on the Future of Rural Veterinary Practice. On the state level, he has served on various TVMA ad hoc committees (Rural / Large Animal Shortage and TVMA Strategic Planning). Dr. Davidson is an active supporter of youth in agriculture and mentor to current and aspiring veterinary medical students. Since 2007, he has served as veterinarian for Rodeo Austin. He is also a member of the AVMA, AVC, SFT, TVMA (lifetime), TSCRA and NCBA. He enjoys Fightin’ Texas Aggie football & baseball, hunting, outdoor activities with his family, and flying. John, wife (D’Ann), and their 2 children (Claire and Jake) reside in Shiner, Texas. |
Dr. Ray Kaplan |
Conference Topic:
May 31, Sunday - 10:30AM - The Changing Landscape of Ruminant Parasite Control: Principles and Approaches for Success and Sustainability
Dr. Kaplan is a Professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia. Dr. Kaplan received his bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech and his DVM from Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. He worked as a clinical veterinarian in a mixed-species private practice in Pennsylvania for several years before leaving for the University of Florida where he earned a PhD in Veterinary Parasitology. Prior to his position at University of Georgia, Dr. Kaplan served in the Army Veterinary Corps at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, where he was Chief of Parasite Biology in the Division of Experimental Therapeutics. Since 1998 he has been in his current position where he performs research, teaching and service in veterinary parasitology. Dr. Kaplan’s research program is focused on measuring, understanding, and solving the problem of drug resistance in helminth parasites. He is a Diplomate of both the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists (Parasitology) and the European Veterinary Parasitology College, and is past President of the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists. Dr. Kaplan also is recipient of the Pfizer Award for Research Excellence, the University of Georgia Charles N. Dobbins Award for Excellence in Service, the Dr. Fred C. Davison Award for outstanding service to veterinary medicine, and in 2018 he received the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists – Boehringer Ingelheim Distinguished Veterinary Parasitologist Award. |
Dr. Matt Miesner
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Conference Topic: May 31, Sunday - 12:30PM - Field Anesthesia & Surgery Techniques - Food Animal Dr. Meisner is a Clinical Professor and Section Head in Livestock Services Section at the KSU-VHC. He has been on faculty at K-State since 2006. Dr. Meisner got his BS from New Mexico State University in Animal Sciences, and graduated with his DVM from Washington State University. He completed his Food Animal Medicine Residency and ACVIM Board Certification at The Ohio State University and served as faculty before coming to Kansas State University |
Dr. Doug Walker
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Conference Topic: May 31, Sunday - 1:30PM - Marketing Considerations for Veterinarian Practices Dr. Doug Walker is an associate professor of Marketing in the College of Business at Kansas State University. His research involves testing empirical models of marketing phenomenon in a variety of contexts, including sales, public policy, and sports. His teaching focuses on applied marketing analytics, including data-driven applications in customer relationship management. Dr. Walker has won a number of college-wide and university-wide teaching awards, both at Kansas State University and Iowa State University. |
Dr. Brian Herrin
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Conference Topic: June 1, Monday - 10:30AM - Bovine and Equine External Parasites Dr. Herrin is an Assistant Professor at KSU CVM, and currently serves as the section head for the Parasitology Section of KSVDL. His primary research interests are focused on ticks and tick-borne diseases of humans and animals. Currently he is working on several projects related to ticks and tick-borne diseases of horses. Although his research focuses primarily on ticks, he enjoys working with all parasites through the diagnostic lab, teaching, and outreach/extension opportunities. Feel free to contact him with any challenging/interesting parasite cases you may have! |
Dr. Warren Beard
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Conference Topic: June 1, Monday - 12:30PM - Analgesia and Standing Chemical Restraint in Horses Dr. Beard received his BS and DVM degrees from Texas A & M University in 1981 and 1983 respectively. He entered private practice in Dickinson, TX for two years before moving to Ohio State University to begin a residency in Equine Surgery. He completed his surgical residency and received a MS degree in Surgical Sciences in 1988. Following the residency he began a clinical instructorship as the emergency surgeon at Ohio State University for one year. Dr. Beard remained on faculty as an equine surgeon for 14 more years as an assistant and in 1995 as an associate professor before leaving to start a new position at Kansas State University in 2004. Dr. Beard has served as on the Board of Directors for the Veterinary Orthopedic Society and the examination committee for the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. Clinical interests include all equine surgery but with a special emphasis on upper respiratory surgery, head and sinus surgery, and gastrointestinal surgery. His research interests include investigation of surgical treatments for dorsal displacement of the soft palate, endotoxemia, and devising new surgical methods to deal with difficult surgical problems. His hobbies include; hunting, flyfishing, and telemark skiing. He has two children ages 17 and 14 and a wife, Laurie, who is also an equine veterinarian. |
Dr. Sonya Lutter
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Conference Topic: June 1, Monday - 1:30PM - Love and Money Sonya Lutter, Ph.D., CFP® is Director for the School of Family Studies and Human Services and a Professor of Personal Financial Planning at Kansas State University. She holds degrees from Kansas State University and Texas Tech University in marriage and family therapy and financial planning. Her research has been featured in news outlets such as New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger’s, and Yahoo! Finance. Sonya won the Best Theoretical research paper award at the national Financial Planning Association meeting two years in a row with her colleagues on topics related to Savers & Spenders and The Financial Implications of Cohabitation. |