Vet Med History

2019

• After nearly a half-century of research, Professor Emeritus Dr. Niels Pedersen discovered an effective treatment for Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP), one of the deadliest diseases in cats and caused by a feline coronavirus variant. Dr. Pedersen and his clinical trial team’s investigation of the drug GS-441524 was the first attempt in veterinary medicine to attack a fatal systemic viral disease using modern anti-viral drug technology. They discovered that the drug demonstrated the possibility of a cure for FIP and offered hope for cat lovers across the world. At the start of COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019, GS-441524 was identified as a possible treatment for humans infected by the novel mutated coronavirus, and a modified version of the drug was tested as an oral treatment for humans with COVID-19.
• The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine passes accreditation from the American Veterinary Medical Association.
• The school continues to be ranked #1 by US News & World Report in its every-four-year rankings and #2 world-wide in the annual QS World Rankings.
• The school achieves another milestone in clinical equine imaging with the first successful use of positron emission tomography (PET) on a standing horse. Equine PET, pioneered at UC Davis with the first horse imaged in April 2015, previously required patients to be under general anesthesia.
• Dean Lairmore is appointed president of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC).
• The School of Veterinary Medicine and Graduate School of Management jointly launch a new Foundations of Veterinary Business program to provide a cost-effective and time efficient opportunity for students to develop solid business foundations and practical skills required to manage and lead successful veterinary practices.
• The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) releases the 2019 Economic State of the Veterinary Profession. The data regarding student debt and post-graduation salaries, combined with its rankings, prove UC Davis to be the best value in veterinary education.
• The U.S. Agency for International Development awards up to $85 million over the next five years to the University of California, Davis One Health Institute and consortium partners to implement the One Health Workforce—Next Generation project.
• A $50,000 anonymous donation secures a PRISMAX hemodialysis machine, the next generation of acute care technology in hemodialysis and blood purification. The acquisition makes UC Davis the only veterinary school in the nation with this high-tech piece of equipment.
• Dr. Jamie Peyton named an ‘Innovator of the Year’ by the UC Davis Chancellor’s Innovation Awards for her successful and groundbreaking use of tilapia fish skin to treat animals with burn wounds.
• An investigation of an epidemic of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in Mexico led by Dr. Janet Foley has implications for the spread of this tick-borne disease to the U.S. This type of scientific collaboration across borders allows impact of critical research discoveries worldwide.

2018

• The school is recognized with the top spot in veterinary science in the 2018 QS World University Rankings for the fourth consecutive year.
• The school’s $85 million high-impact transdisciplinary research budget funds a research enterprise larger than any other veterinary schools by more than $30 million.
• UC Davis veterinary hospital starts imaging patients on a new volumetric PET/CT scanner known as the Mini Explorer II. This advanced imaging system, the first of its kind in the world, is designed to provide veterinarians with both anatomic and physiologic information.
• Following the initial detection of virulent Newcastle disease (vND) through a routine submission to the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratories (CAHFS), which was confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), CAHFS continues working with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), USDA and poultry owners to contain and eradicate this foreign animal disease.
• Center for Animal Disease Modeling and Surveillance (CADMS) led by Dr. Beatriz Martínez López is formally recognized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations as an FAO Reference Center for Veterinary Epidemiology.
• Dr. Gregory Ferraro is honored for his lasting impact on equine health and research with the announcement of a new endowed directorship in his name. Dean Michael Lairmore appoints Dr. Carrie Finno as the inaugural holder.
• Dr. John Madigan receives a special Congressional certificate for his help in saving animals in the aftermath of fires in Napa and Sonoma counties.
• The Global Virome Project, a 10-year effort to identify most viruses with potential to cause disease in humans, is launched.
• Pandemic risk is reduced globally through PREDICT training of more than 4,000 professionals world-wide, building a global early warning system for emerging diseases that move between wildlife and people.
• The Planetary Health Center of Expertise is established through the UC Global Health Institute, with Dr. Woutrina Smith serving as co-director

2017

• The school is once again recognized with the top spot in veterinary science in the latest QS World University Rankings. UC Davis is renowned for applying a “One Health” approach to addressing critical health concerns on a local and global scale.
• Dr. Amy Kapatkin and the Orthopedic Surgery Service implement the use of a bone growth stimulator to repair bone injuries in dogs’ legs. The technique is successful in 11 dogs, with nine returning to full function and two with acceptable function. All 11 cases involve dogs with nonunion fractures in their limbs where the bone had failed to re-unite despite previous surgical attempts.
• Drs. Boaz Arzi and Frank Verstraete of the Dentistry and Oral Surgery Service, along with researcher Dr. Dori Borjesson, continue to have success with a novel stem cell approach to treating feline chronic gingivostomatitis (FCGS). Successful implementation of the stem cell therapy has resulted in complete remission of the disease in many cats in the study, and holds hope for humans suffering a similar oral disease.
• On October 13, 2017, Chancellor Gary May and Dean Michael Lairmore announce plans to raise $115 million in philanthropic support to update and improve three critical areas of the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Center: the Livestock and Field Service Center, the Equine Performance Center and the All-Species Imaging Center. This the first phase of a $500 million campaign titled  “Leading the Way.” It marks the first phase in a long-term plan to transform the UC Davis hospital into the Veterinary Medical Center.
• UC Davis celebrates the one-year anniversary of positron emission tomography (PET) at the school. Images of PET scans digitally fused with CT scans detect lesions not visible on CT scans alone, and are leading to treatment plans for horses with lameness injuries that were previously undetectable or impossible to pinpoint.
• Dr. Michael Kent, Director of the Center for Companion Animal Health, collaborates with radiation oncologists at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center on a unique strategy to advance a novel cancer treatment for animals and humans. One immune therapy that the two groups test successfully shrinks the metastatic lung cancer in Kent’s dog patients and will enter clinical trials in people at the UC Davis School of Medicine.
• Equine specialists utilize new overground videoendoscopy to help diagnose upper airway respiratory disorders in horses. This new technology allows veterinarians to exercise the horse in its normal environment, such as a track or an arena rather than on a treadmill, and obtain live video of laryngeal function.
• Dr. Josh Stern of the Cardiology Service, working with a team of researchers and physicians, discovers a new drug to treat hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). HCM affects both animals and humans and is the most common heart disease in cats. The drug, MYK-461, is shown to eliminate left ventricular obstruction in five cats with HCM.
• Dr. Larry Cowgill, with the Blood Purification and Hemodialysis Unit, continues to advance the use of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) as a state-of-the-art blood purification procedure.
• Dr. Michele Steffey of the Soft Tissue Surgery Service uses transnare cryoablation to treat nasal adenocarcinoma in dogs, an approach that attracts clients from across the country. Her innovative use of intraoperative near-infrared imaging may become the optimal protocol for care.
• A pair of English bulldog puppies born with spina bifida are the first patients to be successfully treated with a unique therapy—a combination of surgery and stem cells—developed at UC Davis by a team of veterinary (Drs. Dori Borjesson and Bev Sturges) and human medicine researchers and clinicians (Drs. Diana Farmer and Aijun Wang).
• Faculty members Drs. Frank Verstraete and Boaz Arzi and resident Dr. Colleen Geisbush of the Dentistry and Oral Surgery Service utilize a new 3D printed face mask they developed with biomedical engineering students to successfully treat a dog with a fractured cheekbone and jawbone. The Exo-K9 Exoskeleton mask, designed to be used as a cast for a fractured skull while it heals, is the result of a long-standing collaboration between the oral surgeons and the UC Davis College of Engineering.
• Researchers led by Dr. Danika Bannasch, a veterinary geneticist, discover a genetic mutation across dog breeds that is responsible for chondrodystrophy (the skeletal disorder leading to shorter legs and abnormal intervertebral discs).
• Beginning in January 2017, licensure is now required for veterinarians who participate in patient care within universities in California. Previously veterinarians were exempt in recognition of the level of advanced training needed to maintain the quality of our clinical programs worldwide, and the need to be able to recruit internationally for this expertise. Administrators from UC Davis and Western University of Health Sciences work with the California Veterinary Medical Board (CVMB) to develop a University Veterinary License exam which is taken by more than 80 faculty and residents.
• More than 100 alumni and faculty gather to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Masters in Preventive Veterinary Medicine (MPVM) program. The MPVM program, established in 1967, has graduated more than 1,000 trained veterinary professionals who support global health in 87 countries. MPVM grads are trained to investigate and evaluate disease and production problems in animal populations and to design and implement disease control programs.
• The UC Veterinary Medical Center – San Diego (UCVMC-SD) opens a second cardiology service location in San Marcos. Board-certified cardiologists Tim Hodge and Joao Orvalho offer a wide array of medical and interventional cardiology procedures and consultative services.
• Studies coordinated by the school show that the Southern California mountain lions’ genetic connectivity is dangerously low due to inbreeding as a result of the puma’s isolation. The puma population is constrained by the surrounding urbanization from Los Angeles and San Diego and puma movements in and out of the Santa Ana Mountains requires them to cross Interstate 15, an 8-10 lane highway.
• The equine genetic and ophthalmology teams work together to develop a screening test for ocular squamous cell carcinoma (eye cancer) in Haflinger Horses. The test will help horse owners and veterinarians identify horses at the highest risk of developing this cancer.
• Nearly 1,100 shelters have participated in the Million Cat Challenge co-founded by Kate Hurley, Director of the Koret Shelter Medicine Program at the school. The five year challenge has saved more than 750,000 cats in just three years.
• The school’s leadership officially launches the 2018-23 strategic planning initiative to guide the school’s next five years. This initiative builds upon the very successful 2012-17 strategic plan and subsequent implementation effort.
• The Veterinary Medicine Student Services and Administration Center new facility opens. Housing 100 staff and school leaders, this facility completes the school’s move from Haring Hall to the Health Sciences District.
• For nearly a month the school helps with search and rescue and veterinary care of animals injured and/or displaced by the California wildfires that ravaged much of the Napa Valley area. In total, 29 veterinarians and students serve displaced animals in the fire zones. On campus, the veterinary hospital receives 77 animals over three weeks – one dog, one goose, one chicken, two llamas, 14 horses, 25 cats, and 33 koi fish.
• The Center for Equine Health hosts a One Health Initiative with the UC Davis School of Medicine and the Connected Horse, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of those affected by dementia. Seven couples participate in workshops capitalizing on the horse’s ability to read emotions and exercises to help the human patient and caregiver to get in touch with themselves and each other. Participants report decreased anxiety and depression, better sleep quality and a stronger sense of social support.
• The PREDICT project, led by the school’s One Health Institute has been working since 2009 to identify viruses in wildlife around the world with the potential for zoonotic outbreaks in an effort to allow governments to design policies that can better deal with pandemic outbreaks. This worldwide collaboration, including scientists, government personnel, physicians, veterinarians, biologists, laboratory technicians, students and members of the general public from across 35 countries in Asia and Africa.
• Forty-three students participated in the STAR (Students Training in Advanced Research) Program in 2017. Funding is offered on a competitive basis to veterinary students to experience veterinary and biomedical research during the summer months.
• The school’s Development Team worked with school leaders, faculty, donors, alumni and friends to raise a total of $55.5 million for academic year 2016-17 — the most philanthropic support ever raised in one year.
• To promote best practices as veterinary educators, faculty are engaged in both a Regional Teaching Academy (RTA) and a local UC Davis Teaching Academy. The local academy is an outgrowth of the RTA which was formed as an initiative of the Consortium of Western Regional Colleges of Veterinary Medicine. Faculty are learning new ways to foster engagement in the classroom, assist students with deep understanding and improved information retrieval, and promote life-long learning through these initiatives.

2016

• The school is again ranked number 1 in veterinary science by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, widely considered to be one of the most influential international university rankings providers based on scholarly metrics.
• Dr. Jonna Mazet heads up a global group, PREDICT, whose researchers and scientists have helped identify more than 800 viruses worldwide that have the potential to “spill over” from wildlife to humans — from Ebola to West Nile to Zika. The initial 5-year grant was funded at $75 million and renewed in 2014 for an additional 5 years at $100 million.
• The ground-breaking research on the use of mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of chronic stomatitis in cats results in one patent and two publications. Clinical trials are expanded to a two-center trial with Cornell University, and efforts are made to bring this therapy to a human clinical trial.
• The Clinical Cardiology Laboratory is established under the direction of Dr. Lance Visser. This new space provides additional equipment and resources to complete cutting-edge clinical trial research, an area in which the cardiology team is heavily involved. The addition of this laboratory makes UC Davis one of only a handful of locations with both a molecular and clinical cardiology research space that bring cutting-edge medical information to clinical patients before it is even published.
• Equine surgeons Jorge Nieto and Julie Dechant work with small animal surgeon Bill Culp to successfully implant the first urethral stent for the treatment of a urethral stricture in a stallion.
• The Million Cat Challenge, a partnership with the University of Florida Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program, passes the halfway milestone, marking 500,000 lives saved by the more than 1,000 shelters enrolled in the challenge. The program's goal is to save one million cat lives in 5 years by focusing on five key initiatives: Alternatives to Intake; Managed Admission; Capacity for Care; Removing Barriers to Adoption; and Return to Field.
• Dr. Jane Sykes is appointed as the Chief Veterinary Medical Officer of the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital and as Associate Dean of Veterinary Medical Center Operation. She has responsibility for the management and fiscal integrity of the veterinary hospital, ensuring the academic quality of the clinical learning environment for DVM students and house officers and provision of state-of-the-art clinical care.
• The Zoological Medicine Service provides state-of-the-art care to the animals at the Sacramento Zoo, including the first birth of a giraffe at the zoo in nearly 30 years.
• The Zoological Medicine Service, in collaboration with the Anatomic Pathology Service, discovers a new amdoparvovirus in red pandas.
• Dr. Chris Barker leads a team working to design computer models based on satellite observations provided by NASA in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the threat posed to the U.S. by mosquito-borne viruses like Zika, Chikungunya and dengue.
• Dr. Isaac Pessah, working with collaborators from the Institute for Neurosciences in Grenoble, France and the Pasteur Institute in Tunisia, has conducted research that shows that a particular family of toxins, the calcins, found in some scorpion venom, might also have a unique beneficial function. The toxic peptide is not supposed to get inside cells, but it does and then is phosphorylated, which not only neutralizes its toxicity, but also reprograms its activity to be beneficial. Ultimately this discovery could help to develop a novel strategy to control ryanodine receptor channels that leak calcium—known to contribute to a number of human and animal diseases.
• Dr. Pamela Hullinger is appointed Director of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System (CAHFS). She has the leadership responsibility to ensure the capability of providing complete and timely diagnostic services with state of the art technology to control transboundary animal disease and other diseases that threaten the viability of California livestock and poultry industries.
• The Mercer Vet Clinic for the Pets of the Homeless opens their new facility in Sacramento, the "Tom Kendall Teaching Clinic." This volunteer clinic, started in 1992 by UC Davis students, addresses a critical societal need, provides students with a real-world learning experience and honors a longtime colleague for his commitment to both the clinic and teaching students.
• The school is once again leading the nation's veterinary schools in total extramural contracts and grant funding at $75,747,241, well ahead of the second-highest-funded school.
• The Alex A. Ardans Tulare Branch Laboratory of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System is officially dedicated October 28th, honoring the outstanding contributions of former director and long-time faculty member Alex Ardans, an expert in the field of veterinary diagnostics. Ardans oversaw the operational transition of the laboratory system from the state to the school, and led the subsequent successful partnership between the school and CDFA for more than two decades.
• Gorilla Doctors, part of the school’s One Health Institute, is the subject of a featured story on the CBS show “60 Minutes” on October 9th. There are only about 950 mountain gorillas left on Earth. Habitat loss, poaching, and disease have made them one of the most endangered animals alive. But their numbers are rising, thanks in large part to Gorilla Doctors. The team has 16 doctors who operate all across the gorilla’s territory, a vast rainforest that spans three countries — Rwanda, Uganda and  the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• The veterinary hospital acquires a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, becoming the first veterinary facility in the world to utilize the imaging technology for research and clinical studies on lameness diagnosis in horses.
• Dr.  Robert Brosnan develops patent-pending technology in hopes of discovering safer, and more cost-effective, general anesthetics for animals and people. General anesthetics have been used in surgery for 170 years, but anesthetics haven’t changed markedly since before the U.S. Civil War. He’s now working with a biomedical startup company that has raised more than $1 million toward revolutionizing anesthesia.
• The J.D. Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory team has discovered that the majority of catastrophic racing and training bone fractures and joint injuries have pre-existing bone remodeling or stress fractures at the site of their fatal injury, meaning that catastrophic injuries are preventable.
• After more than 50 years of research, the tick-borne bacterium responsible for “foothill abortion disease,” one of the most devastating cattle diseases in the Western United States, is named and genetically characterized by school researchers as “Pajaroellobacter abortibovis.”

2015

• The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine is ranked #1 in veterinary science by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, widely considered to be one of the most influential international university rankings providers based on scholarly metrics. This is the first year that veterinary science has been included in these rankings.
• The UC Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine is ranked #1 by U.S. News and World Report.
• The Livestock Herd Health and Reproduction Service worked with a client in Nevada to bring Gascon cattle, a French breed used primarily for beef production, to the U.S. for the first time.
• The Ophthalmology team performed a lip commissure to eyelid transposition for the first time. The surgery created new eyelids from cheek/lip tissue for cats with eyelid agenesis.
• The California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System protects animal health through early detection of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in a commercial poultry operation in Kings County, CA. Early identification allows for containment before a widespread state-wide outbreak could occur.
• The Cardiology Service establishes a relationship with the UC Davis Medical Center Pediatric Cardiology Service and works together to repair rare congenital heart defects in a cat and a dog. The cat’s story (Vanilla Bean) is covered by more than 200 media outlets nationwide, including The New York Times and ABC News.
• Dr. John Madigan’s “squeeze technique” to treat neonatal maladjustment syndrome, which may have a connection to autism, is featured in hundreds of publications throughout the world and the YouTube video of the story is viewed more than 250,000 times. Drs. Madigan and Monica Aleman noticed that the hormones that keep the foal asleep in utero are significantly elevated in these foals suggesting that they need to “wake up.” By applying a simple squeeze technique to simulate the 20-30 minutes of getting squeezed in the birth canal, they’ve had remarkable success. The technique would later be tested in other mammals who have similar signs at birth.
• The Cardiology Service expands imaging capabilities with the addition of a high frequency transesophageal echocardiography probe, which allows the use of ultrasound guidance during cardiac procedures to repair congenital heart defects.
• Using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), reproduction specialists are successful in assisting with the first foal ever born at UC Davis by in-vitro fertilization.
• Clues about veterinary medicine—filmed at UC Davis—appear on three episodes of nationally televised game show “Jeopardy.”
• Drs. Claudia Sonder and John Madigan lead the school's team to help support the animals and their owners displaced by the Valley Fire crisis. In concert with county animal control, OES emergency response and CVMA disaster response leaders, the school's Veterinary Emergency Response Team (VERT) team is activated to help locate animals for transport to temporary animal shelters, to provide food and water to stranded livestock and assist with animal health needs. On September 14, the veterinary hospital receives the first of what would become dozens of animals from the Valley and Butte Fires over the following three weeks. In total, the hospital treats 56 animals – 40 cats, 5 chickens, 4 horses, 2 pigs, 2 goats, 2 dogs, and 1 rabbit. The hospital team, already at 90 percent capacity with client patients, works long hours (volunteering nights and weekends) in order to accommodate the sudden influx of critical patients.
• A new, state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging laboratory (Comparative Ophthalmic Imaging Lab), is established which will be used both for clinical patients and clinical trials.
• The Anatomic Pathology Service develops digital pathology, which will enhance the hospital’s ability to interact remotely, and more accurately assess morphometrics of tissues.
• The Veterinary Medical Teaching and Research Center (VMTRC) in Tulare launches a new internship focused on dairy nutrition and feeding systems. In partnership with the California Dairy Research Foundation, this new program will train future leaders in feed manufacturing, dairy feeding systems, nutrient management and feed and food safety.
• In collaboration with the School of Medicine and College of Biological Sciences, the school opens the new Health Sciences District Advanced Imaging Facility which features a Leica 3d STED Super Optical Confocal Microscope – which can image structures below the limit of diffraction in 3D, a high speed resonance scanner that allows the use of live samples, and a Multiphoton Confocal with CLARITY which permits intravital live imaging and high resolution 3D images of whole tissues/samples.
• Veterinary, engineering and agricultural students collaborate to create the Pastured Poultry Farm. The students build the Eggmobile (a miniature 32-nest chicken barn on wheels) to shelter the 150 chickens and fertilize the grass as it travels around the pasture. The goal is to improve pasture-based poultry farms, integrate crop and poultry farms, and research chicken health, diseases, predators and workers’ occupational health hazards. Each week, 800 eggs are produced and donated to the Yolo County Food Bank for community support.

2014

• SeaDoc Society scientists and collaborators throughout the country publish a paper linking a densovirus to sea star wasting disease. The scientists demonstrate that the mysterious virus is involved in the deaths of millions of sea stars along the West Coast and has infected more than 20 species. The same virus has been found in museum specimens of sea stars collected decades ago, suggesting that a mutation in the virus may have prompted the outbreak, considered the largest marine disease outbreak in history.
• Dr. Lisa Miller proves that exposure to high levels of fine particle pollution affects lung function and development of the immune system in monkeys living outdoors at the California National Primate Research Center. When Northern California wildfires pushed smoke across the Sacramento Valley in 2008, Miller, head of the respiratory unit, measured levels of small particles at the UC Davis campus over a period of 10 days of peak air pollution. Levels rose to 50 to 60 micrograms per cubic meter. Some readings reached nearly 80 micrograms per cubic meter, well over the federal standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter. She tested lung function and took blood samples from monkeys that were two to three months old and noted particular issues in young animals and females.
• One of the first residencies in reproductive medicine of companion animals begins through the Small Animal Theriogenology Service at the veterinary hospital. With support from the American Kennel Club and the Theriogenology Foundation, the program provides specialty training in all aspects of reproductive medicine and surgery, obstetrics and neonatology.
• T-cells (lymphocytes) in humans and other mammals ignore normal biologic protocol and swing into high gear when attacked by certain fast-moving bacteria, reports immunologist Stephen McSorley, of the Center for Comparative Medicine. McSorley's team is the first to define the specific immune pathway, which provides critical information for designing future vaccines and medicines to prevent or treat deadly infections, particularly from Salmonella and Chlamydia.
• Reproductive physiologist Alan Conley characterizes the hormone dihydroprogesterone, DHP, which may lead to better hormone therapies for preventing pre-term labor in pregnant women. His work ends a 50-year mystery as to how horses sustain the last half of their pregnancies without detectable progesterone in their bloodstreams. Wildlife species may also benefit from Conley's findings.
• Geneticist Danika Bannasch identifies the genetic mutation responsible for a form of cleft palate in the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Insights from the discovery, based on the first dog model for the craniofacial defect, may lead to a better understanding of cleft palate in humans. Although cleft palate is one of the most common birth defects, affecting approximately one in 1,500 live human births in the US, it is not completely understood. Graduate student Zena T. Wolf and oral surgeon Boaz Arzi co-author the transdisciplinary study.
• The veterinary hospital launches the Integrative Medicine Service, expanding its offerings of acupuncture, physical rehabilitation, and chiropractic procedures, as well as exploring future offerings such as pallative care and alternative methods of pain management.
• Dr. Nicola Pusterla develops the first structured approach to investigate and control infectious disorders in horses using epidemiology, clinical understanding, diagnostics, prevention and treatment. His research focuses on equine herpesvirus-1 (he is a critical resource for horse owners during EHV-1 outbreaks of in 2011 and 2012), equine influenza, equine coronavirus, equine protozoal myeloencephalitis and other diseases. Pusterla’s review of 268 horses from eight outbreaks of equine coronavirus in six states outlines length of infectiousness, common clinical signs and the most effective testing method.
• Food animal veterinarian James S. Cullor, long-time director of the Dairy Food Safety Laboratory, shares practical, proven dairy management techniques with veterinarians, veterinary students and government officials in Rwanda as part of the UC Davis Global HealthShare Initiative. The team focuses on low milk yields caused frequently by mastitis, a bacterial infection of the udder that reduces milk production, causes milk to be unfit for sale and may result in cow death. The training program can help farmers increase milk production to feed their families and provide a safer product.
• A team led by veterinary cardiologist Joshua Stern identifies a gene mutation responsible for canine subvalvular aortic stenosis, the most common inherited heart disease in dogs. The potentially lethal congenital disease also affects children and other dog breeds. The new knowledge will help breeders make informed decisions about the health of their dogs.
• A study shows that the bluetongue virus, costing US cattle and sheep industries $125 million annually, survives the winter by reproducing in the biting midge that transmits it. The findings are particularly significant as global climate change brings more moderate winter temperatures around the world. Co-authors include Christie Ellen Mayo, virologist N. James MacLachlan, William K. Reisen, an entomologist, Cameron J. Osborne and Ian Gardner, an epidemiologist specializing in studies of food animal disease.
• Dr. Patricia Pesavento, working with members of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory, discovers a new virus associated with brain inflammation in cattle. After ruling out several possible causes of neurological disease, the scientists perform genetic analysis, made possible by the Human Genome Project, and pinpoint a new astrovirus, which they name BoAstV-NeuroS1. The ability to diagnose the problem may aid in finding new treatments and helps diagnosticians rule out reportable diseases such as rabies.
• When the Ebola crisis hits countries in West Africa, veterinary medicine researchers from the school head to the frontline. They serve a critical role by conducting laboratory testing to identify cases so that rapid tracing of patient-contacts could begin, thereby reducing the transmission of the disease. These researchers, graduates of the Veterinary Scientist Training Program, have the joint skillset of a DVM and PhD—making them invaluable in situations like this Ebola outbreak where emerging and zoonotic diseases can have such a devastating impact.
• UC Davis leads the nation’s veterinary schools with $74 million in research funding for the fiscal year 2013-2014. Many research findings can be translated from veterinary medicine to human medicine.
• The school successfully achieved an ambitious goal of raising $160 million in philanthropic gifts as part of The Campaign for UC Davis, an 8-year comprehensive fundraising effort. More than half of this total— over $80 million—was directed to research and program support, and nearly $32 million went to help students.
• Shelter medicine was recognized as a veterinary specialty by the American Veterinary Medical Association board, thanks in large part to the dedicated efforts of Kate Hurley, associate director of the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program.
• The school’s One Health approach is highlighted by the PREDICT program—a project of the One Health Institute that received a $100 million grant from USAID to continue the work of preventing pandemics.
• UC Davis researchers presented a study representing the largest genetic sampling of mountain lions in Southern California, which supported concerns regarding loss of genetic diversity due to animal populations being cut off from each other by freeways and human development.
• Veterinary students won the inaugural Veterinary Innovation Challenge with a clever idea for owners to better care for their pets using smart phone technology.
• In a follow-up to a previous study of the effects of neutering, it was discovered that neutering poses more health risks for Golden Retrievers than Labrador Retrievers.
• Researchers solved a century-old mystery when they determined the survival mechanism for bluetongue virus, a serious disease that annually costs U.S. cattle and sheep industries an estimated $125 million.
• Veterinary oral surgeons increased the scope of their novel jawbone regrowth surgeries by successfully performing a nearly complete lower jaw reconstruction in a dog that lost part of her jaw to cancer.
• Thanks to surgical techniques developed in a veterinary clinical trial, a veterinary ophthalmologist was able to successfully treat cornea disease in a dog and hopes to discover the gene causing the disease.
• UC Davis’ Western Institute for Food Safety and Security provides guidance for California dairy farmers and ranchers with information on ongoing drought through workshops, assistance application sessions and on-line resources. The California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory system publishes a special report on drought-related feed toxicity to build public awareness of this health risk.
• The California Raptor Center releases a young, female golden eagle after more than eight months of treatment and rehabilitation for a novel mite infestation, first identified by UC Davis veterinary epidemiologists.
• The Dentistry and Oral Surgery Service collaborates with the Biomedical Engineering Department on the use of 3D printing of skulls for the treatment planning of challenging maxillofacial cases. This is now an integral part of the service.
• UC Davis leads all veterinary schools in research funding at $65 million.
• Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) Director Mike Ziccardi is called to Bangladesh to help with an oil spill. A cargo ship rammed a tanker in Bangladesh’s Sela River in December of 2014, spilling 92,000 gallons of oil into the worlds’ largest mangrove forest. Dr. Ziccardi spent 2 weeks helping during the spill’s aftermath.
• The Dentistry and Oral Surgery Service begins the use of cone-beam computed tomography as a routine procedure for advanced diagnostic imaging of dental, maxillofacial and temporomandibular joint disorders in dogs, cats and rabbits.
• Dr. Patricia Conrad is appointed as the first Associate Dean for Global Programs. She is responsible for developing a vision, mission, and strategic plan to foster global programs in education, research, service, outreach and engagement; creating databases to track faculty and student projects globally; building extra-mural resources for global programs and identifying potential partnerships with investigators seeking support through sponsored research related to the school’s mission.
• Equine researchers unveil ramifications to human health in their research into equine injuries. Peta L. Hitchens, Ashley E. Hill and Susan M. Stover, collaborating at the JD Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory, analyze data from a six-year period during which 707 Thoroughbred and Quarter horses experienced race-related catastrophic injury or sudden death and find that jockeys are 171 times more likely to be injured when they ride a horse that dies in a race. Two studies describe in detail the types of equine injury associated with falls. The scientists conclude that "prevention of the most common catastrophic injuries and conditions of the racehorse, e.g., fetlock injuries, may be most effective at decreasing rates of falls and injuries to horseracing jockeys during racing."

2013

• Twenty-one years of genetic research into vectorborne diseases leads to the discovery that two key subgroups of malaria-causing mosquitoes, while genetically distinct, can and do exchange genes due to crossbreeding. Medical entomologists Gregory Lanzaro and Yoosook Lee explain that developing an accurate picture of gene flow through matings within and between these two mosquito groups could prove key to preventing malaria, which kills more than 660,000 people each year around the world, mostly in Africa. The researchers continue to investigate the role of insecticide resistance in different types of mosquitoes.
• To accelerate the identification and development of diagnostics and therapeutics nationwide for the benefit of veterinary and human patients, Dean Michael D. Lairmore initiates the launch of the Veterinary Center for Clinical Trials. More than 40 clinical trials are in progress at the outset.
• A new TrueBeam linear accelerator allows UC Davis radiation oncologists to deliver more powerful cancer treatments with pinpoint accuracy and precision. It uniquely integrates new imaging and motion management technologies within a sophisticated new architecture that makes it possible to deliver treatments more quickly while monitoring and compensating for tumor motion, opening the door to new possibilities for a wide range of treatment options. The matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer, made possible with support from the DMARLOU Foundation, is the most advanced diagnostic tool for rapid identification of bacterial and fungal organisms. The instrument significantly shortens the time required to initiate patient care/treatment.
• Postdoctoral fellow Chelsea Rochman of the Aquatic Health Program finds that when marine creatures ingest plastics in the ocean, they may receive not only the ill effects of the plastic, but also damage from pollutants those plastics absorb while floating in the open seas. She notes that the most commonly produced plastics also absorb the most chemicals, and for longer periods of time than previously thought.
• A national leader in veterinary research, the school celebrated the opening of Veterinary Medicine 3B—a leading-edge biomedical research facility dedicated to a variety of issues such as environmental pollution, food safety, public health, and infectious diseases, including those that can be passed between animals and humans.
• Dr. Leigh Griffiths, assistant professor of cardiology and cardiac surgeon at the school, teamed with three biomedical engineers from the campus to develop a new approach to heart valve replacement— potentially giving transplant patients longer, healthier lives. Their collaboration won the annual UC Davis Graduate School of Management’s Big Bang! Business Plan Competition.
• Studies from the newly dedicated Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center discovered the presence of brucellosis in harbor seals and the H1N1 flu strain in elephant seals, increasing the understanding of One Health issues among humans, animals and the environment. Years of research by the center also contributed to California’s ban on lead ammunition.
• The Western Institute for Food Safety and Security remains on the frontlines of protecting the nation’s food supply thanks to a $10.5 M grant renewal from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the next five years. The center is heavily focused on assisting the FDA with the national implementation of the proposed Produce Safety Rule and part of the Food Safety Modernization Act.
• Veterinary and human surgeons teamed up to perform the first canine laryngectomy to save the life of Bean, a shelter rescue.
• Danika Bannasch was appointed as the inaugural recipient of the Maxine Adler Endowed Chair in Genetics.
• The Koret Shelter Medicine Program developed the UC Davis Virtual Consultant, a free online self-evaluation tool for shelter staff, veterinarians, and volunteers world-wide to help improve the well-being of shelter animals.
• Staff member Harold Davis, manager of the Emergency & Critical Care Service, was selected as the 2013 Western Veterinary Conference Veterinary Technician Continuing Educator of the Year. Davis, who has worked at the VMTH for more than 30 years, is an outstanding example of the dedicated, professional team of staff supporting the clinical service, research and teaching missions of the school.
• Dr. Isaac Pessah is appointed Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education. He is responsible for leadership of the Research and Graduate Education Office, administrative oversight of contracts and grants, enhancing the school’s research portfolio by regular analysis of extramural funding opportunities, developing and implementing strategic approaches to increase competitiveness of individual faculty or faculty groups in research and providing administrative leadership to increase training grants, program projects, and center grants within the school.
• Dr. Sean Owens is appointed Associate Dean for Student Programs. He is responsible for leadership of the Student Programs Office; provision and coordination of support services for professional students; management of the DVM admissions process, pre-veterinary outreach activities including diversity and career advising, and student ceremonies.
• Dr. Claudia Sonder is appointed Director of the Center for Equine Health (CEH). She will provide leadership of the CEH, manage the U.S. Department of Agriculture certified Contagious Equine Metritis isolation facility and testing center, and act as a liaison between the school and the equine industry in California and nationally.
• Dr. Michael Kent is appointed as Director of the Center for Companion Animal Health (CCAH). He has responsibility for ensuring the CCAH promotes the health of small companion animals through enhanced support of teaching, research, and patient care programs, management of allied facilities and competitive grants programs, and promotion of the achievements of the center.

2012

• An international team led by Dr. Stephen J. McSorley of the Center for Comparative Medicine takes a vital step toward the development of an effective vaccine against Salmonella, a group of increasingly antibiotic-resistant foodborne bacteria that kills hundreds of thousands of people worldwide each year. McSorley describes common antibody responses in mice and humans, which could prove helpful in developing vaccines for particular Salmonella infections. Prevention is a global health priority as antibiotics prove less effective in fighting the pathogen.
• Veterinary oral surgeons Frank J.M. Verstraete and Boaz Arzi, working with biomedical engineers, prove that an experimental reconstructive procedure can regrow jawbones in dogs that have lost bone to injuries or removal of cancerous tumors. Early success with eight canine patients indicates that this data will translate into practical biomedical treatments in human and veterinary medicine.
• Faculty, staff and administrators implement a five-year strategic plan to integrate initiatives related to the school’s mission, curriculum, faculty recruitment, research, clinical service, finances and infrastructure.
• Dr. Pamela Lein organizes a $17 million research center dedicated to identifying medical countermeasures for chemicals that cause seizures in humans and animals. The goal of the CounterACT Center of Excellence, part of an NIH network, is to identify biomarkers of neurotoxicity and therapeutic strategies following developmental, occupational or acute exposures. The research is also expected to help improve medical treatment of seizure disorders in people.
• As part of a national, targeted surveillance program, personnel from the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory help identify the fourth case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to occur in the United States and determine that the animal had the “atypical” form of the disease. This form is not associated with previous BSE outbreaks in humans, and the cow, an older animal, does not enter the food supply.
• The school initiates an ambitious program of "molecular food safety," the interagency 100,000 Foodborne Pathogen Genome Project. The aim is to sequence the genomes of 100,000 infectious microorganisms and speed diagnosis of foodborne diseases using precision methods. The team, led by microbiologist Bart C. Weimer, develops a public database of Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, as well as common foodborne and waterborne viruses, that sicken people and animals.
• Dr. Kate Hopper, whose specialty is emergency and critical care medicine, treats a paralyzed border collie, placing the patient on a ventilator for 22 days until he can breathe and move again on his own. Knowledge gleaned from this rare case increases understanding of mechanical ventilation in veterinary practice.
• Food animal researchers join a $25 million USDA effort to prevent potentially fatal illnesses linked to Shiga toxin-producing E. coli bacteria. James Cullor, Dairy Food Safety Laboratory, conducts research aimed at reducing microbial counts on cattle hides during processing and tests radiofrequency technologies to inactivate E. coli on beef carcasses. Drs. Terry Lehenbauer and Sharif Aly, faculty of the Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center in Tulare, use data from preliminary studies to improve understanding of the epidemiology and ecology of the pathogen and develop the scientific protocols for animal-sampling projects.

2011

• In the 1990s, faculty characterized the bluetongue virus genome and virulence factors affecting international trade and developed improved diagnostics (an innovative ELISA, or enzyme immunoassay) and vaccines for the disease. Dr. N. James MacLachlan and colleagues now report drastic regional alterations in the global distribution of the infection since 1998, particularly in Europe. Multiple novel serotypes are detected in the Southeastern United States, and variants of the typical virus appear in the Middle East and Australia. The researchers suspect that global climate change influences these events as outbreaks occur with regular frequency, especially at the upper and lower limits of the virus’ global range where infection is highly seasonal.
• The Veterinary Genetics Laboratory Forensic Unit provides the first DNA analysis successfully used in animal cruelty prosecutions in New York City, with the lab's evidence resulting in two felony convictions.
• Faculty implement the first year of their student-centered curriculum, which radically changes course work, teaching methods and clinical training to best prepare veterinary graduates to enter practice. For the next several years, faculty successfully juggle quarter and semester schedules as they transition to the new curriculum. Students gain additional clinical experience (48 weeks total), with core rotations and electives based on specific interests. The added rotations prepare students to accomplish entry-level standards of clinical proficiency combined with some higher-level competencies.
• Equine veterinarians and diagnosticians provide critical care services and timely guidelines that help California halt a serious outbreak of the rare and highly contagious equine herpes virus-1.
• Endocrinologist Peter Havel and his team find that the hormone leptin actually lowers blood sugar levels in mice prone to type 2 diabetes. This knowledge may lead to better diabetes treatments in humans.
• Comparative cancer specialist Xinbin Chen announces that a protein, RNPC1, appears to play a key role in the formation of lymphoma. The protein inhibits the p53 gene, a tumor-suppressing gene of animals and people. Chen has focused on p53's tumor-suppression qualities and how they may be thwarted by mutation and other events. Lymphoma, a blood cancer associated with overproduction of white blood cells, occurs spontaneously in dogs, representing 6 percent of all canine cancers. The disease is remarkably similar to lymphoma in humans.
• Tilahun Yilma, the International Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Tropical Disease and an international team develop and successfully test two genetically modified Rift Valley fever vaccines that could be adapted for humans.
• The school receives a $2.6 million award from the US Department of Agriculture to carry out research aimed at reducing the incidence of bovine respiratory disease. The leading cause of death in beef and dairy calves, bovine respiratory disease results in the loss of more than one million animals and $692 million each year. Dr. Terry Lehenbauer, director of the Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center in Tulare, leads a project at a local calf ranch concerning the genetic components of disease resistance and other factors that influence risks in young Holstein calves prior to weaning. He also manages a case-control study to distinguish genetic differences in calves with and without symptoms caused by common viral and bacterial pathogens. Dr. Laurel Gershwin contributes expertise in immunology by working with seven different agents of bovine respiratory disease as part of the project. Efforts are redoubled in 2013 when Dr. Sharif Aly joins the project to advance risk assessment, welfare analysis and Extension education.
• Michael D. Lairmore becomes the 8th dean of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, immediately leading the first comprehensive strategic planning effort to build mission-focused programs that further promote outstanding education for society-ready veterinarians, innovative research to advance clinical veterinary medicine and public health, and state-of-the-art patient care.

2010

• The value of well-trained veterinary pathologists is evident in Linda Munson's lead authorship of "Elements of good training in anatomic pathology," a summary of the goals of professional pathologist training. A personal legacy, the Linda Munson Fellowship for Research in Wildlife Pathology supports advanced study of wildlife disease pathology. Munson's gift inspires colleagues, sponsors and training institutions to establish 29 new pathology training positions at 16 North American universities, supported by more than $6.8 million.
• Working with cancer specialists at the UC San Francisco medical school, veterinary neurologist Peter Dickinson conducts treatment trials in dogs with naturally occurring brain tumors. The strategy combines surgery, chemotherapy and a specialized pump to deliver drugs directly to tumor sites inside the brain. The evaluation provides valuable data on treatment safety and effectiveness in humans.
• The collaboration of large animal clinician Michael Lane with a practitioner on a large dairy farm addresses the health effects of inducing labor in cows past their due dates. Their findings indicate improved reproductive success after calving and impact recommendations for the standard of care of pregnant cows.
• Veterinarian Stan Marks and a UC Davis physician collaborator perform a novel, laser-assisted surgery and correct a near-fatal swallowing disorder in a young dachshund. In 2013, the same team breaks further ground when the surgeons perform the first canine laryngectomy to save the life of a dog rescued from a shelter.
• Dr. Susan M. Stover presents data indicating that synthetic racetrack surfaces have significant potential for reducing musculoskeletal injuries in Thoroughbred racehorses.
• Drs. Sandra Newbury and Kate Hurley contribute to the first publication of "Standards of Care in Animal Shelters." Both are affiliates of the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program.
• Gary Marty, a veterinary pathologist and research associate who has studied the health of pink salmon since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, reviews 20 years of fish production data, compares them with 60 years of population counts of adult pink salmon and concludes that the main suspect of decline in wild pink salmon populations, sea lice from fish farms, has no significant effect on the productivity of the wild salmon population.