September 15, 2020

During the AVMA Virtual Convention 2020 this August, the recipients of this year’s AVMA Excellence Awards were recognized for their contributions in areas such as public service, international veterinary medicine, and research.

Dr. Bonnie V. Beaver received the AVMA Award (see story), and the AVMA Meritorious Service Award went to Dr. John Poppe (see story). The AVMA previously announced that Dr. Robin Downing is the recipient of the Bustad Companion Animal Veterinarian of the Year Award, Dr. Harry Werner is the recipient of the AVMA Animal Welfare Award, and Janice Siegford, PhD, is the recipient of the AVMA Humane Award (see JAVMA, July 1, 2020). In addition, Dr. John Howe, 2019-20 AVMA president, recognized two individuals and one group (see JAVMA, October 1, 2020). Following are some key achievements of the other award recipients.

AVMA Public Service Award

Dr. Mo Salman
A 1973 graduate of the University of Baghdad College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Salman has spent the past 36 years as a professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and is founder and director of the Animal Population Health Institute at the veterinary college. His research interests focus on surveillance and survey methodologies for animal diseases with emphasis on infectious diseases and zoonoses. For more than 30 years, Dr. Salman has been involved in training nationally and internationally in the field of epidemiology, surveillance, disease management, and risk assessment. Many of his research activities are engaged in stabilization and reconstruction of national animal health and public health programs in places such as Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East, East Africa, Georgia, and Armenia, among others. Dr. Salman has been editor in chief of the journal Preventive Veterinary Medicine.

AVMA Global Veterinary Service Award

Dr. David Castellan 
Dr. Castellan (Guelph ’87) is a veterinary epidemiologist with the Texas A&M University Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases. He was previously senior veterinary epidemiologist for Asia and the Pacific with the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases, leading development of the Field Epidemiology Training Program for Veterinarians centers in three countries and delivering FETPV training in other countries. He has worked in more than 25 countries in North America, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean to develop and implement intervention and mitigation efforts for Newcastle disease and avian influenza; contingency planning for avian influenza; tools for vaccination planning and epidemiology capacity development for avian influenza; methods for joint risk assessment by the FAO, World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), and World Health Organization; and outbreak investigations, surveillance, and studies. During the past two years, Dr. Castellan led the FAO’s Frontline In-Service Applied Veterinary Epidemiology Training for 14 African countries.

AVMA Career Achievement Award in Canine Research

Dr. Timothy M. Fan
Dr. Fan (Virginia-Maryland ’95) is a professor and serves as the principal investigator of the Comparative Oncology Research Laboratory within the Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. He is a core member of the Anticancer Discovery from Pets to People theme at the Carl Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the university. Most recently, he has been appointed co-leader of Cancer Discovery Platforms Across the Engineering-Biology Continuum at the Cancer Center at Illinois. Dr. Fan’s laboratory works closely with other scientists to evaluate novel drugs or drug delivery strategies for the treatment of cancer. Dr. Fan investigates treatment strategies in dogs with spontaneously arising cancers and conducts comparative oncology research to aid in treating cancer in not only companion animals but also human beings.

AVMA Clinical Research Award

Dr. Anthony Blikslager
Dr. Blikslager (Virginia-Maryland ’89) is a professor of equine surgery and gastroenterology and head of the Department of Clinical Sciences at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. His research is focused on equine colic, recognition and treatment of pain, and mechanisms of intestinal repair. He has in excess of 180 peer-reviewed publications. At the veterinary college, Dr. Blikslager is also the head of the Comparative Gastroenterology Lab, which studies the roles of nutritional inputs in the development of a healthy and disease-resistant intestinal microbiome, enteric nervous system, and epithelial barrier. He is assistant director of the Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Dr. Blikslager serves as vice chair of the Foundation Advisory Council for The Foundation of the Horse of the American Association of Equine Practitioners.

AVMF/Winn Feline Foundation Research Award

Dr. John Kruger
Dr. Kruger (Minnesota ’81) is a professor of internal medicine and chair in feline health in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He joined the faculty at the veterinary college in 1989. For the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, he has served as assistant chair for research and graduate studies, associate chair, and interim chair. He was co-founder of MSU veterinary college’s Center for Feline Health and Wellbeing and has served as its director since 1998. Dr. Kruger’s research interests have focused on urinary disorders and infectious diseases of cats with special interests in feline idiopathic cystitis, nutritional management of urolithiasis, evaluation of renal function, feline viral uropathogens, and development of feline herpesvirus vaccines. He has authored or co-authored more than 93 peer-reviewed articles, 62 refereed research abstracts, and 78 book chapters largely dedicated to feline health issues.

AVMA Lifetime Excellence in Research Award

Dr. Richard Bowen
Dr. Bowen (Colorado ’73) is a professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. He began his career at the university as a clinician working on bovine embryo transfer and bull reproduction. He always had an interest in infectious diseases and gradually transitioned his research to that area. Dr. Bowen works with a broad range of pathogens to study disease pathogenesis and evaluate countermeasures for mitigating infections with viral and bacterial agents. His projects include working to understand the pathogenesis of infection with West Nile virus in domestic animals, birds, and reptiles and develop vaccines to protect against that virus; determining the competency of vertebrates and mosquitos as hosts for the Japanese encephalitis virus and elucidating the pathogenesis of infection; evaluating the role of bats in transmission of viruses; and understanding the human-animal interface in the transmission of avian influenza.