MU College of Veterinary Medicine Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine Leah Cohn, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, is this year’s recipient of the Lee and Inge Pyle Service Award. The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) presents the Pyle award during the annual ACVIM Forum, a continuing education conference for veterinarians, which this year was held June 6-8 in Phoenix, Arizona.
The ACVIM Distinguished Service Award has been presented each year since 2005 in recognition of outstanding and dedicated service by an ACVIM diplomate. Award recipients have served the ACVIM either as an elected official of the college, through voluntary service on task forces and committees, or as an advocate of the college to the veterinary profession or public. The award was renamed in honor of Lee and Inge Pyle in 2018.
Janice Dye, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVIM, who works with the Environmental Protection Agency in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, nominated Cohn for the honor.
“Receiving the Distinguished Service Award is a tremendous honor,” Cohn said. “The ACVIM is the institution that oversees the training programs and certification examinations to ensure excellence in the specialty practice of veterinary internal medicine, oncology, neurology and cardiology. Through this work, as well as the dissemination of knowledge through the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the continuing education provided through ACVIM, the health and well-being of both animals and humans is advanced. I am proud to play a small part in sustaining those advancements,” she said.
Among her service to the ACVIM, Cohn has been the organization’s president, president-elect and vice president, and chair, immediate past chair and a member of the board of regents. She has also served as the Forum moderator, chair and member of Forum planning committees, and Forum abstract selection supervisor; member of the foundation board of directors; chair and member of the Distinguished Service Award and Kirk Award selection committees; and president of the infectious diseases study group.
She chaired the ACVIM nominating committee, job task analysis task force, small animal internal medicine job task analysis, investment advisory committee, and ACVIMF-ACVIM interactions task force; was chair and a member of the finance committee; and co-chair and member of the small animal internal medicine certifying examination committee. She served on the CEO search committee as well as the leadership development, marketing, credentials examination, credentials appeals, general examination preparation, and small animal internal medicine certification examination committees. She also volunteered as an examination ratings committee developer and member of the examination procedures and case report credentials task forces.
During the awards ceremony, organizers played a video tribute recorded by some of Cohn’s colleagues.
Rajiv R. Mohan, MSc, PhD, FARVO, the Ruth M. Kraeuchi Missouri Endowed Chair Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine and a professor of ophthalmology and molecular medicine, was recently elected to a three-year term on the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) Annual Meeting Program Committee. ARVO is the world’s largest international eye research organization. Mohan was elected from among six candidates with 12,000 organization members from 80 countries casting votes.
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