National Academies of Practice adds 25 new veterinary fellows, professional members

The National Academies of Practice, an interdisciplinary organization of health care practitioners and scholars, accepted the following 15 new fellows of the Veterinary Medicine Academy.

Dr. Elizabeth "Liddy" Alvarez (Michigan State '03) is a clinical assistant professor and head of the Department of Medical Science's Primary Care Section at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine.  A diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (ABVP) in canine and feline practice, she serves as curriculum director of WisCARES, a Wisconsin One Health program that provides veterinary care and social services to low-income and homeless pet owners. Dr. Alvarez previously served as medical director of the program.

Dr. David Bruyette (Missouri '84) is chief medical officer at Anivive Lifesciences in Long Beach, California, where he leads drug discovery and development for therapies and preventatives. Before that, he served as medical director at the VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital and was an assistant clinical professor in radiation oncology at the University of California-Los Angeles. Earlier in his career, Dr. Bruyette was a staff internist at the West Los Angeles Veterinary Medical Group and a member of the Department of Comparative Medicine at Stanford University. He also served on the veterinary faculty at Kansas State University, where he was an assistant professor and head of internal medicine and directed the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. He is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM).

Dr. Jon Geller (Colorado State '95) is the founder of The Street Dog Coalition, which provides free veterinary care and related services to pets of people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. He also serves as an instructor at the Colorado School of Public Health, where he teaches a seminar on homelessness in America. Earlier in his career, Dr. Geller owned a mixed animal mobile practice in the Fort Collins area, served as an emergency relief veterinarian, and co-founded emergency clinics in Colorado at, Fort Collins, Grand Junction, Greeley, and Longmont. In 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Dr. Geller worked with Romanian veterinarians to set up a clinic at the Romania-Ukraine border, providing free veterinary care to pets of Ukraine refugees. He is a diplomate of the ABVP in canine and feline practice.

Dr. John Gibbins (Ohio State '92) serves as senior veterinary adviser to the Office of Agriculture Safety and Health at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Earlier in his career, he was in mixed animal and emergency clinical medicine practice for six years; served nine years as a public health officer, flight commander, and an infectious disease analyst in the Air Force; and was chief veterinary officer for the United States Public Health Service. Dr. Gibbins is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine (ACVPM) and an honorary diplomate of the American Veterinary One Health Society.

Dr. Daniel Grooms (Ohio State '89) is dean of Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Earlier in his career, he served as a staff veterinarian for the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center; practiced mixed animal medicine in Ohio; and served as a professor, extension veterinarian, and administrator at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Grooms is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists and a past president of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners. He has also served on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary's Advisory Committee on Animal Health.

Dr. Andrew Hoffman (Cornell '85) is dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet). Before that, he served 24 years on the veterinary faculty of Tufts University. During that time, Dr. Hoffman was a professor of large animal internal medicine and director of equine sports medicine and the lung function testing, stem cell, and regenerative medicine laboratories. While at Penn Vet, Dr. Hoffman founded the first extracellular vesicle core in the country. He is a diplomate of the ACVIM, a past president of the Veterinary Comparative Respiratory Society, and a member of the International Society for Stem Cell Research and International Society for Extracellular Vesicles.

Dr. Julie Hunt (Michigan State '07) is associate dean of clinical sciences and a professor of veterinary medicine at Lincoln Memorial University Richard A. Gillespie College of Veterinary Medicine, where she designed the clinical skills program. During her tenure, she has also served as medical director of the veterinary college's DeBusk Veterinary Teaching Center and director of small animal clinical skills. A co-founder of the college's Center for Innovation in Veterinary Education and Technology, Dr. Hunt's research investigates innovative clinical skills teaching and assessment methods, including the validation of surgical teaching models, comparison of learning outcomes achieved using different methods of training, and implementation of virtual reality in surgical training.

Dr. Shantibhushan Jha is a 2001 graduate of Nagpur Veterinary College in India. A diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, he most recently served as chief of surgery at Pet Specialists of Austin in Austin, Texas. Before that, Dr. Jha was the medical director at Animal Medical and Surgical Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. Earlier in his career, he practiced small animal medicine in Syracuse, New York, and was chief of surgery at what is now known as the Veterinary Specialty Center of Seattle. A faculty member of AO VET North America, a community of veterinary surgeons, he serves as the nonprofit's chair of community development and preceptorship.

Dr. Cynthia Otto (Ohio State '86) is a professor of working dog sciences and sports medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. She is also the founder and executive director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, where she oversees fitness and medical care of the program's detection dogs, provides rehabilitation and conditioning for police and other working dogs, and conducts research on detection dogs. Dr. Otto is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care and American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Dr. Keith Poulsen (Wisconsin '04) is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medical Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, where he also serves as director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. A diplomate of the ACVIM, he is president of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, serves as Wisconsin's delegate to the AVMA House of Delegates, and is a member of the International Council for Veterinary Assessment's board of directors. Dr. Poulsen is active in advocacy efforts for animal and public health and Wisconsin agribusiness development to expand international markets from a One Health perspective.

Dr. Audrey Ruple (Colorado State '08) is a professor of veterinary medical informatics at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. Her research focuses on One Health issues, primarily using animals as models and sentinels for human health and disease. Dr. Ruple serves as a co-principal investigator for the Dog Aging Project, an animal health research endeavor. A diplomate of the ACVPM and a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, she has been inducted into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health and Sigma Xi, the scientific research honor society.

Dr. Melissa Singletary (Auburn '12) is an assistant professor of neuroanatomy in the Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology at Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine and assistant director of the canine performance sciences program. She previously served in the Army Veterinary Corps. A diplomate of the ACVPM, Dr. Singletary is a member of the Dogs & Sensors Subcommittee of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science. Her research and outreach activities focus on olfactory neuroscience and canine performance, development, health, and welfare.

Dr. Jane Sykes is a 1993 veterinary graduate of the University of Melbourne in Australia. She serves as a professor in the Department of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Sykes's research interests focus on infectious diseases of dogs and cats with public health significance. A diplomate and a past president of the ACVIM, she has also served as president of the International Society for Companion Animal Infectious Diseases. Dr. Sykes is the editor of the textbooks "Canine and Feline Infectious Diseases" and "Greene's Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat, Fifth Edition."

Dr. Deborah Thomson (Tufts '12) is the founder and executive director of One Health Lessons, a charity that creates and provides science lessons on One Health and teaches the concept to adults and children worldwide. During her career, she has served as a small animal relief veterinarian in the San Francisco Bay area, volunteered as a head veterinarian for the California Veterinary Medical Reserve Corps during the 2018 Camp Fire and as a surgeon for exotic animals at the Foothill College Veterinary Technology Program, provided free veterinary care to the pets of homeless people in San Francisco, and volunteered with Rural Area Veterinary Services to provide veterinary care to Apache reservations in Arizona. Dr. Thomson was the AVMA's 2019-20 congressional fellow.

Dr. R. Emerson Tuttle (Tufts '15) is a program and data manager for PHC Global, a technology startup company developing a global biosecurity platform. In his role, he manages software development priorities and critical data partnerships. Dr. Tuttle previously served as a regional science manager for the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Biological Threat Reduction Program. His interests focus on the intersection of artificial intelligence and biotechnology; pandemic preparedness; and socioeconomic, cultural, and natural environments that facilitate pathogen transmission. Dr. Tuttle is a diplomate of the ACVPM.

This year's awards were presented on March 16 during a ceremony in Jacksonville, Florida. Fellows of the NAP have spent at least 10 years of their professional career in the practice and delivery of health care services.

In addition, the following 10 individuals were added as new professional members of the NAP in the veterinary medicine category:

• Dr. Noriko Aoi received her veterinary degree in 1998 from Kitasato University in Japan. She joined Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine as clinical instructor for outpatient service in October 2007. She established a dentistry service at the veterinary college in 2008. Dr. Aoi is now an assistant professor in small animal clinical sciences.
• Dr. Erin Burton (Ross '12) is senior associate dean for academic and student affairs at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary medicine. She joined the institution in 2015 as a pathology instructor and became an assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences in 2016. She has served as an associate professor for the department since the summer of 2021. Dr. Burton is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in clinical pathology.
• Dr. Kelly Cairns (Colorado State '04) is vice president of medical excellence and education for Thrive Pet Healthcare. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Lincoln Memorial University Richard A. Gillespie College of Veterinary Medicine and a Chicago VMA board of directors member. Dr. Cairns lectures internationally on profession-related wellness and leadership coaching topics, veterinary education models, and internal medicine. She is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in small animal internal medicine.
• Dr. Stacy Eckman (Texas A&M '01) is associate dean of hospital operations for the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences' Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. She joined as a faculty member at Texas A&M in 2009 after eight years in small animal private practice. Since then, Dr. Eckman has taught fourth-year veterinary students, interns, and residents in the primary care and emergency medicine services. In 2017, Dr. Eckman was named the first chief medical officer of the university's Small Animal Hospital.
• Dr. Katharyn Kryda (Illinois '11) is the founder of District Locum, which provides locum veterinary services to primary care and urgent care practices in Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia. She was the first veterinarian selected as an Association of Schools and Programs in Public Health (ASPPH) public health fellow. From 2018-21, she was assigned to the U.S. Department of Transportation in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of Emergency Medical Services. She and other fellows assisted the department's COVID-19 response, biodefense, and global health security engagements and worked to strengthen emergency medical services and 911 systems nationwide.
• Roxanne Larsen, PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences. She has a doctorate in biology and 14 years of teaching experience in anatomy and physiology, and her research has focused on the origin of neurodegenerative diseases.
• Dr. Molly McAllister (Oregon State '04) is chief medical officer of Mars Veterinary Health. Previously, she served as Banfield Pet Hospital's chief medical officer since 2019. Both entities are divisions of Mars Petcare. Dr. McAllister started her career in private veterinary practice before joining Royal Canin as a scientific services veterinarian. In 2012, she joined Banfield to lead medical education programs before transitioning to oversee the veterinary science team and drive research from Banfield's electronic medical records database.
• Dr. Amy Shroff (Pennsylvania '92) is president and founder of Let's Save The Strays International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting animal welfare and population control in underserved locations globally. She has volunteered her services in multiple countries, including the implementation of trap-neuter-vaccinate-return programs. Early in her career, Dr. Shroff owned Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Center of New England in Waltham, Massachusetts, later serving as a freelance staff veterinarian at several practices in Massachusetts.
• Dr. Martha Smith-Blackmore (Tufts '97) is president and director of veterinary forensics at Forensic Veterinary Investigations, a consulting firm with expertise in the investigation of animal cruelty. During her career, she has served as shelter veterinarian, director of veterinary medicine, interim president, and vice president of animal welfare at the Animal Rescue League of Boston. Dr. Smith-Blackmore is a past chair of the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee and a past president of the American Association of Shelter Veterinarians.
• Dr. Elizabeth Venit (Pennsylvania '07) is chief veterinary officer of the American Association of Veterinary State Boards. She began her career working in emergency veterinary medicine in the northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., metro area. Dr. Venit later served as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and worked for the U.S. State Department. She is a diplomate of the ACVPM.