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Category A [Undergrad, DVM]- TIE
Emily Pepin- 52.75 (average score): University of Melbourne, Vet student - 'Stranding Trends of Fur Seals in South-eastern Australia, With a Focus on Ocular Conditions'
Yuka Takahashi- 52.2 (average score): UC Berkley, Undergraduate student - 'Characterizing Non-Pulmonary Lesions in Northern Elephant Seals with The Pulmonary Nematode (Otostrongylus circumlitus)'
Category B [Intern, resident, fellow]- TIE
Laura Martinelli- 51.8 (average score): North Carolina State CVM, Resident - 'Use of Computed Tomography to Determine Body Surface Area and K-Constant in Atlantic Stingrays (Dasyatis sabina)'
Darbi Jones- 51.5 (average score): UC Davis, Fellow - 'Preliminary Comparative Ontogenetic Diet Assessment of Sand Tiger Sharks (Carcharias taurus) in the New York Bight Through Fecal DNA Metabarcoding'
Category C [Phd, masters, postdoc]
Dorthea Megarani: University of Florida, Phd Program - 'One-Pot RT-LAMP CRISPR/Cas12b Platform for Rapid Detection of Tilapia Lake Virus'
Posters [all students]
Sasha Troiano- Seattle Aquarium, Fellow - 'Pharmacokinetics of a Single Dose of Intramuscular Danofloxacin to Whitespotted Bamboo Sharks (Chiloscyllium plagiosum)'
Radiology donor- from an anonymous donor to encourage talks in this area.
Wei Yeng Yeong- Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Vet Student - 'Standardizing Ultrasonographic Protocol in Crocodilian Coelomic Organs Assessment Using Fusion Imaging Technique'
Dear Colleagues,
Knowing your interest in (and work with) wildlife, we would like to ask your support for the development of a recognized veterinary specialty certification in Clinical Wildlife Practice (CWP), the veterinary component of wildlife rehabilitation and associated activities. A veterinary specialty is a focused area of expertise within the field of veterinary medicine and requires specialized training and knowledge. Board certification requires passing an exam demonstrating this expertise. As part of our application for recognition of a CWP specialty, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Board of Veterinary Specialties have published the goals and foundational argument on their website with an invitation for open comments to be submitted through July 31, 2024.
This is an essential stage of the process during which practitioners and invested parties can contact ABVS/AVMA to express their support for the proposed board specialty. We would ask for your support in two ways:
Submit a comment to ABVS expressing your support for the board specialty
Share the comment period announcement with your professional network and ask individuals to submit supportive comments as well
ABVS will be particularly open to our incoming petition if we are able to demonstrate broad industry support for the specialty and demand from a particularly robust number of individual practitioners. If you have questions after reading the announcement, please do not hesitate to reach out. Thanks in advance for your help!
Julia Ponder, DVM MPH
Associate Dean for External Partnerships and Engagement
College of Veterinary Medicine | University of Minnesota
Michelle Willette, DVM, MPH, DACVPM
Senior Veterinarian | The Raptor Center | College of Veterinary Medicine
Veterinary Intern Program Supervisor | Partners for Wildlife │ Building excellence in wildlife rehabilitation
Assistant Professor | Veterinary Population Medicine & Ecosystem Health | College of Veterinary Medicine
Resident | American College of Animal Welfare
Molly Horgan, a third-year zoological medicine resident at the University of Florida/White Oak Conservation, is the winner of the Wildlife Disease Association-International Association of Aquatic Animal Medicines joint award for the best aquatic animal manuscript published by a student in JWD in 2023. She is pursuing a career in wildlife medicine and is interested in studying diseases of free-ranging and rehabilitated wildlife.
Molly's paper DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A NOVEL DUPLEX PROBE–HYBRIDIZATION QUANTITATIVE PCR FOR LYMPHOMA-ASSOCIATED MIROUNGINE GAMMAHERPESVIRUS 3 IN NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEALS (MIROUNGA ANGUSTIROSTRIS) appeared in the January 2023 issue, 59(1) of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases.
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is announcing the issuance of nine warning letters to manufacturers and distributors of unapproved and misbranded antimicrobial animal drugs for violations of federal law. The agency is concerned because these products contain antimicrobials that are important in human medicine and using them without medical oversight contributes to the development of antimicrobial resistance.
2024 Annual IAAAM Conference
Galway, Ireland
May 19-23, 2024
Your IAAAM Board and our conference planning team have been hard at work this summer! I am pleased to announce that some details of the IAAAM 2024 conference have been confirmed!
The next IAAAM will be meeting in Galway, Ireland from May 19 – 23, 2024! Mark your calendars now and save the date! The meeting will be a hybrid meeting, with both in-person and remote attendance options.
Galway is a thriving and cultural city, and it boasts a beautiful promenade, a labyrinth of cobbled streets and colorful shop facades, and importantly, a strong pub culture! Galway is also home to many festivals, museums, historical sites, and many of Ireland’s attractions, including its national aquarium, the Galway Atlantaquaria! More details will be forthcoming!
Allison D. Tuttle, DVM, Diplomate ACZM
Dr. Marshall H. “Spike” Beleau (DVM, Texas A&M ’67), 80, Rio Rancho, New Mexico, died December 23, 2022. Following veterinary school, he served 11 years in the U.S. Air Force. Initially, he served as area veterinarian at the USAF Hospital in Tachikawa, Japan, then as base veterinarian at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. He then returned to Texas A&M for a masters degree in aquatic animal medicine from the Air Force Institute of Technology. He spent the last six years of his military service working as a research veterinarian in the Marine Mammal Program of the U.S. Navy at the Naval Ocean Systems Center in San Diego, California. Along with medical care of Navy owned marine animals, he was responsible for formulating, conducting, and managing research projects directed toward improving and expanding the capabilities of Navy owned marine animals as working animals and biosensory systems.
Following his military service, Dr. Beleau worked as a research scientist and professor in the Department of Fishery Resources of the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, and then in the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory at the Delta Branch Experiment Station in Stoneville, Mississippi. He designed and conducted research in aquatic animal health management, aquaculture, infectious and non-infectious diseases of fish, physiology, and aquatic toxicology. He also performed fish health diagnostic procedures for the public and taught both graduate and undergraduate courses. At Mississippi State University, he established an aquatic animal health program integrating College of Veterinary Medicine resources and personnel with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service aquaculture program. There, his research and development efforts included methods of cost effective diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and control of fish diseases as well as safety and efficacy testing of new drugs and biologics for use with food fish.
He finished his veterinary career researching and developing products for animal health with Abbott Laboratories in North Chicago, Illinois, particularly anti-infective therapeutics for worldwide aquaculture markets and veterinary anesthesia products. Dr. Beleau achieved global recognition in the fields of marine animal health and aquaculture, authoring numerous scientific publications and serving on many professional boards and committees. He was a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and certified as a Fish Pathologist by the American Fisheries Society Fish Health Section. He was a Life Member of the International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine and an IAAAM Board Member from 1992 to 1994.
Retirement allowed Dr. Beleau to pursue his many interests, which included bicycle touring, motorcycling, hiking, camping, travel, scubadiving, snorkeling, fishing, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, cross country skiing, tree climbing, woodcarving, pickleball, hot air ballooning, petsitting, watching movies, spending time with friends, and background acting in movies and television shows. He rode his bicycle self-supported across the U.S. from San Diego, California, to St. Augustine, Florida, and from Canada to Mexico along the Continental Divide. He was always up for adventure and well-liked in any setting.
Dr. Beleau is survived by his wife Dr. Marilyn Chimes (DVM, Michigan State ’79), two sons, three grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters.
(Provided by Dr. Marilyn Chimes)
Written by Dr. Greg Lewbart
We share the heartbreaking news that Dr. Don Abt passed away on Wednesday 27 July. Many IAAAM members owe much, if not their entire career to Don, and few would argue about his deep and lasting impact on aquatic animal medicine. A native New Englander, Don obtained a BS in Zoology from the University of Massachusetts and is a 1961 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. For 3 years, he taught anatomy at Penn and worked on bovine lymphosarcoma. After doing graduate work in biostatistics and epidemiology,
Don taught both of these subjects to Penn veterinary students before becoming the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs where he was instrumental in implementing the novel core-elective curriculum. For the next 19 years, Don continued to teach and serve in the Associate Dean’s role. In the fall of 1989, Don and his loving wife Sandy moved to Falmouth, MA (his adopted hometown) and he became the Director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Laboratory of Aquatic Animal Medicine and Pathology at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. Don served in this role until 1999. Certainly, all of this would make for a full academic career and then some. But Don had another job, and for many reading this posting, a most important one. Don was the founding Director of the AQUAVET® program that began in 1976 and has helped train many of the current and future leaders in our field. Don held the role of AQUAVET® Director for 25 years and officially retired in 2001 as Professor Emeritus of Aquatic Animal Medicine and Pathology. But retirement didn’t slow Don down. He continued teaching in the AQUAVET® program and having a positive and lasting impact on the hundreds of students that were lucky enough to learn from and spend time with him (especially at the famous end-of-course clambakes he hosted every year!). Don was also an IAAAM President, a lifetime IAAAM member, and the first recipient of the William Medway Award for Teaching Excellence. Don leaves a strong and lasting legacy and was so proud of everyone in our field and how far aquatic animal medicine has come.
Rest in Peace, Dr. Abt.
Don is survived by his wife Sandy, son David and wife Debby, daughter Debbie (also a veterinarian) and husband Bill.
IAAAM joins NMMF and the entire marine mammal medicine community in honoring the distinguished life and career of our founding President, Dr Sam Ridgway.
Please see the link below for information regarding a memorial service as well as how to support the NMMF Ridgway Fund in his memory.
Rest easy Dr Ridgway.