Congratulations to Gabi Hofmann, DVM
The MU Comparative Medicine Program is proud to share the news that resident, Gabi Hofmann, will receive, from the American Physiology Society, the 2021 Central Nervous System Research Recognition Award at this year’s Experimental Biology conference. Hofman’s award winning presentation is titled Astrocytes and Microglia in the Brainstem Nucleus Tractus Solitarii React to Unilateral Vagotomy.
According to the American Physiological Society’s website, the award recognizes outstanding research by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who present a first-author abstract at the Experimental Biology Meeting.
From, Shelly Nail
Appreciation for the Radiology Team
The VHC radiology team, specifically the technicians (Heidi, Ryan, Joni, Kevin, and Riley) have been so helpful in assisting the anesthesia team with cases, all while completing the many tasks asked of them each and every day. They have always been such a great help, but since the start of COVID, they stepped up with their offers to help move patients and with their communication and coordination with us. We are so thankful for them!
From, Laken Schwarzlose
Cheers for the CVM Family
I’d like to give a huge shout out to everyone in our college who has worked so hard for the past 6 months to ensure that we are still meeting our mission to teach, heal, discover, and heal. Because of you, we have been able to welcome students for the Fall Semester, provide a V.E.T. experience for the Class of ’24, see record numbers of cases in our 3 VHCs and on ambulatory calls, continue to provide service through Shelter Medicine and our testing laboratories, conduct cutting-edge research and bring in much-needed grant dollars, sanitize, reorganize, and upgrade our facilities, communicate critical information in a timely fashion, distribute pet food to those in need, and even ramp up the capacity to run COVID19 testing. I couldn’t be more proud of this college or grateful to all of you. Thank you!
From, Dean Henry
Appreciation for Sue Giger
Sue Giger in Zalk Library has not only been supporting CVM researchers and clinicians, but she’s also been working closely with the librarian at the St. Louis Zoo to make sure Zoo researchers and veterinarians have what they need during this time. Thank you, Sue!
From, Kate Anderson
Appreciation for Leon Tu
We were all looking forward to gaining surgical experience during our shelter rotation but sadly we were unable to. However, Dr. Tu made the most of it. He put together a spay kit for us and we did a virtual spay on Zoom, with step by step guidance. It was a good learning experience and it was hands on. He went above and beyond to construct each spay kit.
From, Stephanie Ferreira
Applause for Dr. Chris Baines
I’d like to second the acknowledgement of Dr. Baines for his weekly check-in emails. They are very much appreciated, and the humor is a bonus!
From, Matthew Keeler
Recognition for Erin Wadsworth
I want to recognize Erin Wadsworth for her contribution of sewn masks during COVID-19. She has made more than 600 masks with the help of donations from friends, family, students and faculty. This girl has been sewing like crazy since this has all started and has donated them all to the vet school, surrounding hospitals, classmates (for personal use and for family), and she has mailed them out to different states for people who have requested them. Way to go, Dr. Wadsworth!
From, Anonymous
Applause for VHC Anesthesia and Teamwork
It’s now 9 p.m. on Friday, May 1, and the Anesthesia Service, Team B, has just finished the 14th case of the day during VHC Phase 3 operations. This would not have been possible without the dedicated work of anesthesia section members Dr. Charlotte Marquis, technician Jamie Brueggeman, and our recently graduated student employee, Lauren Quaney. Fourteen cases over 13 hours with four anesthesia staff. This is incredible and a testament to their work ethic and dedication to the VHC. However, we had help! Furthermore, this would not have been possible without the help of Kacey Lundy from Community Practice and Drs. Kim Aeschlimann, Aidan Chambers, Alba Stavri, Kristen Merrill and Owen Skinner. All of these folks helped in various ways to help us get through the caseload. This is the definition of teamwork and the reason the VHC will emerge from COVID-19 stronger than ever.
From, Alex Bukoski
Appreciation for Lauren Seaton
Lauren has been doing a wonderful job, as have our other large animal front staff, in trying to maintain order amidst the chaos. She continues to finish tasks, follows up with clinicians, helps alleviate stressors and juggles a multitude of duties while keeping a good attitude and graceful professionalism. Thank you for helping to steer our ship!
From, Samantha Haw
Praise for Dr. Bridget Lyons
Dr. Bridget Lyons has been incredible since she joined the ECC team, and she is loved by all. She has truly shined in the wake of all of the challenges we are facing in the COVID crisis. She sincerely cares about everyone on her team. Many have gone to her for support and help in these hard times, and this would weigh on anyone, but she takes this to heart, and gives herself to everyone – patients and people alike. I feel lucky to have her as a leader on our ECC team, and am so very grateful for all that she does.
From, Anonymous
Appreciation for Chris Baines
Just wanted to say thank you to Chris because he has emailed me once a week to check in on how I’m doing. You rock Chris!
From, Barb Calvin
Praise for Mallory Horridge
Mallory Horridge has been an absolute MVP on the ECC night shifts. She is an incredibly hard worker, maintains the most positive attitude, and motivates everyone around her to work hard and be better. She is dedicated to her patients, and is genuinely invested in their treatment and care. She should realize how valued she is, and how much we appreciate having her on our team.
From, Anonymous
Applause for VHC at Wentzville Staff
Over the past several weeks I have watched you all pull together to provide excellent patient care under these extenuating circumstances. Often this has meant caring for patients with half as many people, and pitching in to do things way outside of your job descriptions. Long hours and trying to work from home, while juggling all of your other responsibilities and keeping your families safe. I am so proud to work with all of you and I appreciate everything you have done to go above and beyond for our patients!
From, Tara Ehling
Kudos to Vicki Miller
For all she has done and continues to do as we navigate the HR policies, building access requests, hiring plans, and an endless stream of questions and concerns. Her behind-the-scenes work has required 24/7 access and she has gone above and beyond to ensure that we can maintain needed services − all while keeping a positive attitude.
From, Anonymous
Applause for Dr. Jessi Millwood
Dr. Millwood is temporarily with us on the Equine Service and stepped up to the plate by making several homemade masks available to all sections within the hospital. Her generosity is appreciated!
From, Lynn Martin
Appreciation for Dr. Joanne Kramer
Just prior to COVID-19, Dr. Kramer stepped into a new administrative role. Since then, Dr. Kramer has spent numerous hours helping organize, not only operations in the Equine Section (as our long-standing section leader), but also the way in which our CVM curriculum is moving forward during this unprecedented time. We have sincere appreciation for the work and time she is devoting to our Mizzou Family!
From, Lynn Martin
Appreciation for Kiersten Gillman
Kiersten is one of the best technicians I have had the privilege to work with. She is always smiling and willing to help with any task. She has definitely been given some big tasks since everything has happened. I am so glad I get to have her as part of our team. She has made such a difference in the best ways!
From, Clare Frederking
Appreciation for Dr. David Cross
He has worked very hard to make this transition easier on students. All of his class lectures are posted well ahead of time to allow students to work asynchronously, and he even got at home Wi-Fi. I greatly appreciate the amount of effort he has put in to making this easier on students.
From, Anonymous
Gratitude to Drs. Gayle Johnson and Courtney Valerio
On April 6, 2020, I returned from walking my dogs to find my cat, Mizzou, in severe respiratory distress, open mouth breathing, and becoming cyanotic. She passed away while I was on the phone to Noah’s Ark Animal Hospital. Dr. Gayle Johnson and her resident in charge did a necropsy the next day. Even with her busy schedule, Dr. Johnson took the time to talk to me about what she found and alleviated my concerns, especially as one of my other cats is now showing signs of a respiratory infection. I very much appreciated Dr. Johnson’s time in performing the necropsy and explaining her findings and the compassion she showed to me. Dr. Johnson also remarked that the VMDL have been open for business since the university closed due to COVID-19. As a distraught pet owner wanting to know why beloved animal died suddenly, I am very grateful to Dr. Johnson and the resident on duty for being there during this time. I am sure their efforts are appreciated by many others and should be recognized.
From, Cheryl Rosenfeld
Cheers for Clare Frederking
Clare is an exceptional technician who has gone above and beyond during this pandemic. She continues to work efficiently and effectively at the clinic and from home, while suddenly homeschooling her two children. She strives to keep all of us safe (bleaching our entire facility before leaving), busy (sending coworkers CE opportunities), and sane (making us goodies, making us laugh, and having hope) during these tough times. Her aunt even made all of our staff face masks, which was very thoughtful. All the hard work she does for our clinic at VHC-Wentzville is noticed. Thank you for being you, Clare!
From, Anonymous
More Praise for the OAR Care Staff
A huge thank you to the Office of Animal Care Staff for taking such good care of the research animals while everyone else is off campus! You guys are awesome and take wonderful care of the animals. Thank you!
From, Anonymous
Thanks to Tracey Berry
In addition to all she normally does, Tracey has been keeping the CVM community up to date on all of the rapidly changing information surrounding COVID-19, the school, hospital, town halls and more. In addition, she proofs emails, manages the social media sites and is always the first to say, “Sure, we can do that.” Tracey, you are a gem! Thank you for all you do!
From, Anonymous
Applause for the OAR and Animal Care Staff
These guys are the unsung heroes in research. Now, as always, they are there, working behind the scenes, to make sure that all of the research animals on campus are safe and sound. The entire group deserves a huge round of applause.
From, Anonymous
Kudos for Dr. David Cross
Dr. Cross has been incredible with making sure he has as much information as possible available to his students. He has uploaded all lectures ahead of time for the remainder of our reproductive physiology class, as well as uploaded a ton of supplemental pictures of the thoracic limb for students to study and learn from. Dr. Cross has been amazing in regards to responding quickly to emails, especially considering he did not even have access to Wi-Fi at home before we went online. Dr. Cross always goes a step above and beyond to make sure students are still receiving a great education during this crazy time.
From, Anonymous
Cheers for Team Neuro
Drs. Ji-Hey Lim, Joan Coates, John Gagnepain, Elizabeth Curtis and Natalie Villani: You have all been absolutely fantastic! I so appreciate the time you are all putting into both our topics rounds and case rounds. I feel like you are all truly there for us and even though I’m sad I won’t get a chance to work in person with all of you, I know that I’m still getting some valuable knowledge through our Zoom meetings. Love the enthusiasm you all bring into rounds every time. I can tell you’re all passionate about teaching, which has made these Zoom meetings that much more interesting and worthwhile for me and my classmates!
Thank you so much!
From, Anonymous
Praise for Sammy Gerb
Sammy created the Comparative Medicine Program Positivitree, where we can fill out a Google form to share a kudos for another team member, share something we’ve accomplished or are proud of, or share something we’re grateful for. For each thing shared, a leaf or flower will be added to the tree. There is also an option to share something specific we’re grateful for to be added as an additional slide.
Sammy, the CMP sunshine chair, said, “Since not all of us are physically at work every day, I wanted to have some kind of virtual outlet for all this positive energy to share with everyone, hence, I planted a virtual Positivitree.”
From, Anonymous
Appreciation for Dr. Brian Frappier
Dr. Frappier has gone above and beyond to ensure that the first-year vet students continue to receive the education we need in large animal anatomy even without having our laboratories four days a week. Let me tell you, this was no easy task to do. In addition, it was a difficult adjustment to make for both us and our professors. Needless to say, Dr. Frappier played a crucial role in making sure that this shift to online for our anatomy labs and exam practicals was completed efficiently and effectively. Therefore, I wanted to say thank you and give a shout out to Dr. Frappier and all of our anatomy professors who have worked so diligently and spent so much of their time contributing to our education.
From, Anonymous
Thanks to Dr. David Cross
Dr. Cross has been on top of it! He started posting Panopto videos as soon as the vet school told us to move to online learning. He has stayed in communication with the class, updated old PowerPoints and Panopto videos. Dr. Cross has been managing the COVID-19 situation incredibly well!
From, Anonymous
Kudos to Anh Nguyen
Last week Dr. Tamara Hancock was needing clinical competency reports sent to the members of the Class of 2021. Previous reports were printed and placed in mailboxes, which is not possible at this time. Anh agreed to send 113 individual emails to the students so they could have these reports. She put in a long day on Friday to make sure all of the students received their reports in a timely fashion.
From, Jennifer Hamilton
Gratitude for Delany Wurdinger
Delany made cotton surgical face masks for our veterinarians and staff who help perform equine surgeries. Not only that, they looked incredible!
From, Anonymous
Appreciation for Dr. Kelly Wiggen
Dr. Wiggen has been amazing especially since the start of all online learning! She immediately opened up cardiology zoom rounds to any third- or fourth-year student who wanted to partake in topic rounds. On top of that, she took it upon herself to hold cardiology case rounds every day, even on her days off clinics, to ensure that we were able to still get some kind of real-world experience with actual cases. Throughout all this she has kept her up-beat personality, while still acknowledging that this is a challenging situation all around. She has gone above and beyond to try coordinate schedules with other services so students are able to attend as many rounds meetings as they would like. Mizzou students are very fortunate to have Dr. Wiggen as an instructor and mentor and I hope she knows how much we all appreciate her!
From, Anonymous
Hat tip for Dr. Scott Poock
Dr. Scott Poock teaches the Food Animal Production Elective for third and fourth years. This class consists of lots classroom lectures and farm visits. But since the pandemic and stay-at-home order, we are not able to go on farm visits. But Dr. Poock has been trying to accommodate for this by providing farm records for us to evaluate and providing live Zoom sessions from the farms themselves. Because of these actions, it is very obvious that he values our education.
From, Ashley Ourada
Praise for Dr. Alba Stavri
Even with everything going on, Dr. Stavri has gone above and beyond to help students learn through rounds. She is a phenomenal teacher and I am thankful for her patience with students.
From, Anonymous
Cheers for Dr. Kelly Wiggen
Dr. Wiggen has reached out to all clinical students and allowed them to join in on daily cardio rounds. This is especially helpful for students who were unable to get into the elective. Her dedication to the learning of students is beyond words and we are all so thankful for her.
From, Anonymous
Applause for Dr. Brian Shoemake
He has gone above and beyond making sure our Food Animal Medicine rotation is kept as up to date and informed as possible with the hospital changes in policy. He is also always checking in on us students and truly demonstrates how much he values student health and safety.
From, Anonymous
Kudos to Dr. Leah Cohn, Dr. John Dodam, Dr. Alex Bukoski, Dr. Tim Evans, Dr. Tony Mann, Dr. Amy DeClue, Dr. Keith Branson, Dr. Richard Meadows
Literally all of the professors for the VM2s have been nothing but helpful, understanding, and are still trying to provide us with the best education possible despite limitations.
From, Anonymous
The MU College of Veterinary Medicine is Missouri’s only institution that confers the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. Thank you for exploring how you can partner with us to make a positive difference in the lives of animals and people.