Greetings —
It was great seeing many of you last weekend at our annual Celebration of Excellence ceremony — an outstanding event recognizing some of the exceptional people who work and study here at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM). Congratulations to all award recipients!
Last month, I was part of a group from the SVM that traveled to Washington, D.C., for AAVMC Advocacy Day.
|
|
Above, sharing a few thoughts during the Blue Coat ceremony for our third-year students on April 11.
|
|
|
|
We spoke with members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation about the importance of federal research funding, lifting caps on federal loans for professional degree students, expanding rural loan forgiveness programs, and waiving fees associated with H1-B visas for veterinarians coming to work in the United States. Our conversations were productive and I appreciated the opportunity to speak to policymakers about these important issues.
Back in Madison, the UW Vet Med community continues to grow. I’m pleased to share the news of three new faculty hires through RISE-THRIVE, a campus-wide initiative to improve human healthspan.
Kelly Makielski (DVM’10) is joining the Dept. of Medical Sciences in July as an assistant professor, coming from the University of Minnesota. She is a board-certified small animal internist and her research focuses on improving long-term health and quality of life for patients with cancer and immune-mediated diseases. Roman Thaler will join the Dept. of Comparative Biosciences in early 2027 as a tenure-track assistant professor. He is joining the SVM from the Mayo Clinic, and his research studies how diet and other factors affect bone health over a lifetime. Ines Sturmlechner will join the Dept. of Pathobiological Sciences early next year as a tenure-track assistant professor. She also comes to the school from the Mayo Clinic. Her research aims to uncover the causes of age-related immune dysfunction and chronic inflammation.
We are also bringing on two additional faculty members to support clinical learning efforts as part of our OnWard curriculum. Miranda Zwiefelhofer will join the Dept. of Comparative Biosciences on June 1 as a teaching assistant professor, bringing with her a unique combination of formal training in secondary science education and curricular design, experience as a middle school and high school teacher, and advanced expertise in large‑animal reproduction and veterinary anatomy instruction. Trina Westerman will join the Dept. of Pathobiological Sciences on June 14 as a teaching assistant professor. She is a board-certified large animal internist and PhD-trained research scientist whose work has focused on bacterial pathogens, animal health and food safety.
I’m also excited to share that UW Vet Med is creating the Office of Graduate Veterinary Medical Education (GVME). Led by Jessica Pritchard (Dept. of Medical Sciences), the office will support our incredible house officer training programs. GVME will bolster our current work and help us foster a healthy, structured, and high-achieving learning environment for trainees while reducing workload for their mentors. Inspired by human medical schools, the SVM will be the first veterinary medical school in the country to have such an office.
Finally, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the class of 2026. I’ve seen your passion for veterinary medicine since I first arrived at UW-Madison two years ago. You’re entering the veterinary medical field at a time of great possibility. From agriculture and rural medicine to small animal practice, specialty care, industry, public health, and academia, there are so many opportunities for veterinarians to leave their mark on the world. I know you have the tools to succeed, and I can’t wait to see what you accomplish. Please stay in touch — and congratulations!
Until next time...
On, Wisconsin!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Celebration of Excellence 2026
|
|
|
|
On Saturday, June 15, nearly 300 students, faculty, staff, and friends of the SVM gathered at Union South to celebrate the end of the academic year and recognize the efforts of some of the outstanding people who work and learn at the school. In total, sixty awards were given to well-deserving recipients. See a full list of this year’s awards recipients here.
|
|
|
|
- Jess Lipschultz (Bartholomay lab) and Dante James (Zamanian lab) were both recently awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. These prestigious fellowships provide support “for outstanding graduate students” to “help ensure the quality, vitality, and strength of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States.” Well done!
- A project led by David Brundage (Dept. of Surgical Sciences) has been selected for the NVIDIA Academic Grant Program. The project focuses on building signalment conditioned language models to improve the clinical safety of veterinary language models and an accompanying validation benchmark.
- A group of researchers led by Freya Mowat (Dept. of Surgical Sciences) and Starr Cameron (MS’21; Dept. of Medical Sciences) recently had a paper regarding dog hearing published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science. Well done!
|
|
|
|
- Keith Poulsen (’00 DVM’04 PhD’12; Department of Medical Sciences; Director, Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory) spoke on a panel during UW-Madison’s Global Health Symposium focused on the role of universities and alliances in establishing trust in emergency preparedness.
- Fei Zhao (Dept. of Comparative Biosciences) was recently promoted to associate professor with tenure. Sara Colopy and Adrianna Sage (both of the Dept. of Surgical Sciences) were both promoted to clinical associate professor. Sonja Tjostheim and Amy Nichelason (both of the Dept. of Medical Sciences) were promoted to clinical associate professor. Xuan Pan (Dept. of Medical Sciences) was promoted to full professor. Congratulations, all!
- Please join me in welcoming the following new team members to UW Veterinary Care:
- Wesley Schwager joined CS/OR as a veterinary nurse assistant
- Katherine Stringfield joined the large animal hospital as a veterinary nurse assistant
|
|
|
|
Supporting WisCARES with the Madison Mallards
|
|
|
|
On Friday, June 5, at 6:05 p.m., the Madison Mallards will host a group fundraiser to support WisCARES. For each ticket purchased using this link, $8 will be donated to WisCARES. Come out and support the clinic while rooting on your local team in Northwoods League action against the Wausau Woodchucks!
|
|
|
|
|
Gunderson (left) and Rippe (right).
|
|
Rippe (middle) and Suzuki (right).
|
|
|
|
- An exhibit put on by SVM faculty members Masatoshi Suzuki (Dept. of Comparative Biosciences), Jessica Rippe (DVM’18; Dept. of Comparative Biosciences), and McLean Gunderson (’97; Dept. of Comparative Biosciences) was recently featured in a recap from The Daily Cardinal of UW-Madison’s second-annual Weird Science Fair.
- Research led by Tony Goldberg (Dept. of Pathobiological Sciences) was cited in a recent Scientific American story examining the decline of America’s freshwater mussels.
- Freya Mowat (Dept. of Surgical Sciences) recently spoke with the UK’s TalkTV about her research digging into what dogs like to watch on TV.
|
|
|
|
|
