MU CVM Celebrates 75th Class of Graduates // College of Veterinary Medicine

Published 5/13/2024

Keynote speaker Kent Thornberry, DVM, told the CVM Class of 2024 that they may not know the positive impact they have on the people around them, but on hard days remember they are helping people in a time of need.

The University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine celebrated its 75th Commencement Ceremony May 10, 2024, launching the careers of 120 new veterinarians. In addition to the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees, the college awarded bachelor’s degrees in microbiology or veterinary technology to 26 graduates and recognized visiting scholars, house officers completing internships and residencies, graduate students, and veterinary science certificate recipients.

Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs Timothy Snider, DVM, PhD, DACVP, convened the graduation ceremony. CVM Interim Dean Leah Cohn, DVM, PhD served as the emcee.

*Brenda Beerntsen, professor in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, presented diploma covers to students who received a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology degree.*

Kent Thornberry, DVM, a 1988 graduate of the CVM, served as the keynote speaker. Thornberry founded both general and specialty practices in St. Louis. In 2018, he co-founded CareVet, a national practice management group that owns and operates 200 veterinary hospitals in 30 states.

Thornberry spoke about the importance of relationships in the veterinary profession. He started his own practice in 1990. Its rapid growth prompted him to expand his office from 1,000 to 2,500 square feet three years later.

“It opened in the summer of 1993,” he recalled. “Then, five weeks later, my hospital went under 14 feet of Missouri River water in the great flood of 1993. I can still tell you where I was standing when I received the call from the City of Chesterfield at 10:36 p.m. on that Friday night. The levee had broken, not breached, it was worse than they imagined, and Chesterfield Valley was going to fill with water.”

Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs Timothy Snider hoods Jennifer Hoover with assistance from Chair of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery John Dodam. The students selected Dodam to assist with the investiture ceremony.

Thornberry said within hours, clients, team members and other area veterinarians, who had until recently been his competitors, were calling asking how they could help. By the following Monday, his practice had reopened in an empty space in the rear of a pet store in a strip mall.

“It was in that moment I realized how lucky I was to be in this profession,” he said. “The practice is the people, not the space. Imagine that. You are coming into a profession where the people are the most important. Clients would follow you to the back of a horse trailer if that is where you were set up – they don’t care, they come to see you,” he told the graduates.

Also speaking during the ceremony were Chris Chinn, director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture, and John Middleton, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, University of Missouri associate vice president for academic affairs, chief of staff in the Office of the President, and professor of veterinary medicine and surgery.

Middleton told the graduates that when he earned his DVM degree he expected to spend his career as a private practice bovine veterinarian.

*Students recite the Veterinarian’s Oath. A seat was reserved in the front row honoring their classmate Brianna Killian, who passed away Sept. 11, 2021.*

“I think this speaks to the opportunities that your qualifications bestow upon you,” Middleton said. “My career has taken a path that has been serendipitous, but I was always able to seize opportunities because of my training. As Louis Pasteur said, ‘Chance favors the prepared mind.’ … You have put in the time and hard work. Now, your training has prepared you for the challenges ahead. We need your talent and resilience ever more than we have in the past.”

Later in the ceremony Middleton conferred the graduates’ degrees. Kacie Ulhorn, DVM, a 2010 graduate of the MU CVM and the President of the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association, led the DVM graduates in reciting the Veterinarian’s Oath.

The students selected Braiden Blatt to give their response.

“Our stories began with pure joy on the day we were accepted here at Mizzou,” Blatt recounted. “And what an achievement that was because it is tough to get into veterinary school. But I think my classmates would agree when I say, it is a whole lot tougher to get out.

*Vincent Leong, DVM, celebrates with his family following the CVM Commencement Ceremony.*

“Our first and second years were jam-packed with lectures and labs. We spent endless days studying diseases and their treatments, and there was an abundance of both, enough to supplement the material for over 200 tests. … After receiving our white coats, we began our clinical rotations at the Veterinary Health Center and were no longer in the classroom. We were dealing with real patients and navigating both new and difficult situations. For instance, no one tells you what to do when your oncology patient breaks free from the leash and sprints down the hallway. This Labrador retriever was literally running away from his lymphoma diagnosis and there I was, sprinting after him.”

Blatt went on to thank her classmates, faculty, and the friends, family, and mentors for their support.

“As we move onto our new roles and gain the title of doctor, I urge us all to remain as students, maintaining a commitment to lifelong learning and curiosity. This will be our promise to ourselves, our patients, and to everyone in this room today who has taught us so much.” Additional photos from the CVM Commencement Ceremony can be found on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1013574440251765&set=pcb.1013577066918169.