Posted: January 11, 2012

Dana Allen is an OVC ‘76 graduate. He practised in Ottawa and Vancouver before returning to the OVC to complete a Masters degree and a residency in small animal internal medicine. He is a board certified small animal internist. Dana was a faculty member and former Chair of the Department of Clinical Studies. He retired in 2010 and was granted Professor Emeritus status at that time.

Posted: December 15, 2011

Amanda Rosborough, of Lakefield, Ontario, and the OVCAA Class of 2013 student rep, recently received the highly coveted International Stockmen’s Educational Foundation (ISEF) Travel Fellowship to the 2012 International Livestock Congress in Denver, Colorado, January 10.

The travel fellowship was awarded to 12 students representing 11 universities from 7 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Ethiopia, and the United States.

A multi-national selection committee selected the recipients. Fellowships include airfare, ground transportation, hotel and scheduled meals during the International Livestock Congress.  Scholastic achievement, leadership experiences and professional references are all part of the stringent qualifying requirements. This setting provides each student with the opportunity to interact with world industry leaders and contribute to the solutions that will shape the advancement of the livestock industry into the future.

The 2012 edition of the International Livestock Congress – USA (ILC-USA), to be held January 10 in Denver, Colorado, will bring producers, retailers, packers and others in the livestock and meat industry supply chain, a new focus from a long-respected international forum. The mission of the ISEF is to serve as a catalyst for exchange among present and future industry thought leaders by creating opportunities surrounding international livestock industry and meat supply chain perspectives and development of educational initiatives on critical issues impacting the industry.

Congratulations Amanda!

Posted: December 12, 2011

Dick graduated from OVC in 1952.  Following this he worked in mixed practice in southern Ontario and in Kenora-Dryden, a subsidized area, for five years. He went on to pursue a career in diagnostic pathology and ran the veterinary diagnostic labs in Kemptville, Brighton and Guelph for 20 years, specializing in poultry in the last few years. He held a teaching and research position as a poultry pathologist for 15 years at OVC.
Dick has also participated in two long-term aid projects in Nigeria (1964-65) and the Caribbean (1977-79) and many short term projects in several countries both before and after his retirement in 1994.

Posted: December 4, 2011

My name is Sarah Kramer and I’m a part of the OVC class of 2015. I’m originally from Thornhill, which is a suburb just North of Toronto. I did my undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph in Zoology. I am excited to be part of the OVCAA because I’d like to help build the connection between alumni and current DVM students.

Posted: October 19, 2011

Janet is the OVCAA President for 2011-2012.  A graduate of the OVC’07 class, she worked in small animal practice for 2 years before returning to the Department of Pathobiology to pursue a DVSc in Laboratory Animal Science.  She is currently researching a novel virus in rabbits.  She really enjoys working alongside prominent members of the veterinary community on the board, and looks forward to engaging more alumni.  Janet lives in Guelph with her husband, son, daughter and two cats.

Posted: October 19, 2011

Executive:

President: Janet Sunohara-Neilson (OVC’07)

Vice-President: Brad Hanna (OVC’89)

Past-President: Blanaid Donnelly (OVC’09)

Treasurer: Roger Thomson (OVC’75)

Junior Treasurer: (Vacant)

Secretary: Maureen Anderson (OVC’03)

Directors:

Dean Percy (OVC’57)

Lynn Helwig (OVC’54)

Dick Jullian (OVC’52)

Dana Allen (OVC’76)

Peter Conlon (OVC’80)

Jim Millington (OVC’69)

Student Representatives:

OVC 2012: (Vacant)

OVC 2013: Amanda Rosborough

OVC 2014: Monica Marshman

OVC 2015: Sarah Kramer

Graduate student rep: Michael Goldstein (DVSc-SAM)

Manager of Alumni Affairs (OVC):

Tara Collins (interim)

Posted: October 18, 2011

Brad was raised on a small farm south of Hamilton, Ontario.  Following graduation from the DVM program in 1989 he entered mixed practice in Kapuskasing, Ontario and later worked in a sled dog practice in Yellowknife, NWT. While registered in the PhD program in biophysics at Guelph, Brad conducted research at Johns Hopkins Medical School and the Toronto General Hospital in which he identified the functional sodium channel defect responsible for equine hyperkalemic periodic paralysis. He joined the Department of Biomedical Sciences in 2001 where he is now an associate professor, studying inherited neuromuscular diseases of animals. He teaches pharmacology and other subjects in all phases of the DVM program, and various BSc and graduate courses.

Brad plays and officiates hockey and “loves to build stuff.” Since 2008 he has been working on a new trophy for the OVC Challenge Cup hockey tournament, to be presented for the first time when OVC turns 150.

Posted: September 26, 2011

Following graduation in 1957, Dean joined a large animal practice in Forest, Ontario. Beginning in 1964, he began graduate studies in pathology at the OVC (MSc), Cornell (PhD), and Yale (ACVP). He returned to Canada, serving as a faculty member in Health Sciences at Western (1971-1981), then rejoined OVC, serving in various capacities in the Department of Pathology, including department chair. Now retired, he enjoys veterinary history & is responsible for several of the historical bios that have been included in the OVC Crest in celebration of the upcoming 150th anniversary of the founding of the OVC.

Dean has been an active member of the Fergus Pipe Band for the past 28 years, but has noted of late that, now older than the grandparents of some of the younger band members, it is probably time to retire!

Posted: August 26, 2011

Dr. Roger Thomson was raised on a farm in Bruce Co., Ontario. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science in 1970. He completed his degree in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Guelph in 1975.  Dr Thomson worked in a mixed practice in Uxbridge, Ontario for two years after graduation. In May of 1997, he moved to Kincardine, Ontario and purchased Kincardine Veterinary Services .  He was the owner of Kincardine Veterinary Services until August of 2004. From August 2004 until August 2005, he owned and operated a strictly large animal practice –Thomson Veterinary Services. In September of 2005, he joined Wyeth Animal Health as a technical service veterinarian where he was responsible for bovine and equine product support in Ontario and the Maritimes.

Roger is on the board of directors for OVCAA (Treasurer) and Veterinarians without Borders (VSF-VWB). Roger has also been involved with humanitarian work in the Rungwe Region of Tanzania since 1988 .

Posted: August 16, 2011

Maureen Anderson earned her DVM from OVC in 2003 (the blue cougars).  After spending a short time in mixed private practice treating everything from dogs and cats to horses, cows and alpacas, she returned to the college to complete a residency and DVSc in large animal internal medicine.  Her DVSc thesis focused on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in horses and equine personnel.  Since then she has been working in the field of veterinary infectious diseases and infectious disease control.  Her post-doctoral work involved helping to launch the popular Worms & Germs Blog (www.wormsandgermsblog.com) and the equine infectious disease blog, equIDblog (www.equidblog.com).  In September 2009 Maureen began her PhD program in the Department of Pathobiology, working with professor Scott Weese, which is scheduled to be completed in fall of 2012.  She also continues to keep in touch with clinical practice, doing emergency out-of-hours work in the large animal clinic at the OVC Health Sciences Centre (OVC-HSC).

Outside of her work, Maureen is an enthusiastic hockey player as a long-term member of the OVC women’s staff intramural team (the Old Maids), as well as an avid ultimate frisbee player.  She’s also a member of two local choirs.  Maureen has been on the OVCAA Board of Directors since 2004, and has been the Board Secretary since 2005.

Photo by Barry Gunn