CVM News, Updates

Dean Paul Lunn (far left) Jane Lewis Seaks Distinguished Professor Bruce Keene, benefactor Terry G. Seaks, and Clarke Atkins who holds a portrait photograph of Jane Lewis Seaks. Photo by Wendy Savage.

Bruce Keene has been named the Jane Lewis Seaks Distinguished Professor for Companion Animal Medicine.

The Jane Lewis Seaks distinguished professorship was established in 2008 by Dr. Terry G. Seaks—a Professor Emeritus of Economics and member of the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Foundation Board of Directors—to honor Jane Lewis Seaks, his wife of 38 years, and in recognition of the care their family pets received at the North Carolina State Veterinary Hospital.

The $1 million endowed professorship is made possible through a financial arrangement in which a donation of appreciated securities by Terry and Jane Seaks is matched by an unrestricted gift from the R.B. Terry Charitable Foundation and the University of North Carolina General Administration through its Distinguished Professor Endowment Trust Fund.

Bruce Keene is the second recipient of this distinguished professorship, following colleague Clarke Atkins.

Natasha Olby (left) and veterinary technician Kim Williams work with a dog at the Veterinary Health and Wellness Gait Laboratory. Photo by Marc Hall.

A clinical trial conducted by Natasha Olby involving paraplegic dogs
and the drug 4-AP and a derivative of the drug called t-butyl suggests spinal cord injuries may respond best to customized treatments. Study findings may lead to better outcomes for canine and potentially human patients. NC State release. A related feature article appeared on the front page of the News and Observer and in the Charlotte Observer.

Dean Paul Lunn was featured in “Beasts of Burden: Targeting disease in Africa’s working donkeys and horses,” an innovative editorial treatment in The Horse magazine covering a multi-organizational, multi-national collaboration seeking to support the equine community in Africa.

Lindsey Kissell, Ronald Baynes, and Geof Smith had a paper, “Comparison of pharmacokinetics and milk elimination of flunixin in healthy cows and cows with mastitis,” published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Currently all drug withdrawals for food animal species are determined in healthy animals. This study questions if this is appropriate and is of great interest.

Gigi Davidson has been appointed to the 14-member U.S. Food and Drug Administration Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee, a group charged with implementing the compounding provisions of the Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013. Release. Article in Pain Medicine News.

Greg Lewbart and Craig Harms were referenced and credited with pioneering
a surgical procedure
for securing a prosthetic eye in a koi in a recent article about a rockfish surgery at the Seattle Aquarium. The Seattle Times article was syndicated and appeared in numerous newspapers nationwide.

Cold-stunned sea turtles treated by Craig Harms and the CVM staff at the Center of Marine Sciences & Technology since being rescued in November were released recently by the U.S. Coast Guard. Article in the Jacksonville Daily New.

Ed Breitschwerdt was the featured guest in an in-depth BBS Internet Radio program discussion on Bartonella and infectious diseases. Listen to the podcast.

Karen Munana is quoted in an article in JAVMA News about the possibility that collar-based activity trackers
might be helpful in studying
canine epilepsy and perhaps evaluating treatments for epileptic patients.

A release and web page posting by Morris Animal Foundation highlighted feline cardiology study by Teresa DeFrancesco.

Glen Almond served as an expert on the Animal Care Review Panel organized by the
Center for Food Integrity (CFI).
The CFI created the panel to enlist recognized animal care specialists in reviewing videos of possible production animal abuse and to provide expert perspectives for food retailers, the pork industry, and the media.

NC State CVM oncology is participating in a canine cancer research collaboration funded by Orvis and Morris Animal Foundation. Million Dollar Dogs Video.

Computer-assisted canine communication research involving Barbara Sherman and colleagues at the College of Engineering was featured in a PBS NewsHour report and in a feature article in the News & Observer.

Denis Marcellin participated in a video series “What You Don’t Know About Osteoarthritis” and “Top Three Myths about Osteoarthritis” developed by DVM 360.

CVM staff at the Center of Marine Sciences and Technology treated a Green Moray eel for a compressed vertebrae. The eel is an attraction at

Jennette’s Pier aquarium, operated by
the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island.

Lt. Col. Tony Alves, an Army veterinary pathologist and a member of CVM Class of 1998, managed
the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases case #
SPL14.068–aka
Bentley, a two-year-old male Cavalier King Charles Spaniel whose owner,
Dallas nurse Nina Pham,
contracted the Ebola virus from a patient. Alves was able to use the case to advance the military’s knowledge of Ebloa. Article on the U.S. Army home page.

Second year student Amanda Leah Neujahr is a recipient of the 2015 National Pork Industry Foundation veterinary internship stipend of $3,300 from the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) Foundation and the AASV Student Recruitment Committee.

Second-year student
Emily Mahan-Riggs has been selected by the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) Student Recruitment Committee as the incoming Alternate Student Delegate to the AASV Board of Directors.

Coming up….

January 22—Greg Lewbart will talk about the work of the CVM Turtle Rescue Team and give a presentation on North Carolina turtles at the Science Cafe hosted by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

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