The chief of the OVC Health Sciences Centre’s avian and exotic medicine service has joined the editorial review board of one of the leading journals in the field.

Dr. Hugues Beaufrère joins colleagues from across the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia on the editorial board of the Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine.

The journal features peer-reviewed research, review articles and case reports as well as news and practical advice aimed at practitioners who treat avian and exotic pets.

Several artifacts from the OVC archives will be on display this summer at a special exhibit presented by  the Canadian Agriculture and Food Museum at the Experimental Farm near Ottawa. The exhibit, titled “Canadian Veterinarians Caring for War Horses,” commemorates the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.

The exhibit will run for a year and feature the C.A.V. Barker Museum’s collection of items from the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps, a unit of the army that provided crucial veterinary care to the thousands of horses from mounted units as well as animals used to haul munitions and supplies. Not only did the Corps provide a critical service during the war, but it raised the profile of the Canadian veterinary profession at home and abroad through its professionally-trained veterinarians who conducted themselves with great skill and professionalism.

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Ryerson University will explore the Canadian roots of Winnie the Pooh in an exhibit this fall.

Remembering the Real Winnie: The World’s Most Famous Bear Turns 100 will run at Ryerson Oct. 25 to Nov. 15. It will explore the themes of veterinary practice during the First World War; military life at camp and at the front; as well as the genesis and popular legacy of Winnie-the-Pooh. The central feature of the exhibition will be OVC graduate Harry Colebourn’s never before displayed wartime diaries that tell the story from 1914 when Harry leaves for England to 1919 when he donates Winnie to the London Zoo. The exhibition will also feature items from the Colebourn family collection such as Harry’s veterinary tools and photographs.

For more, see the article in the Toronto Star.

Medals belonging to Dr. George Rose OVC 1915, as well as various veterinary instruments will be on display in Ottawa.

Tickets are selling quickly for the Conversat, a signature event of this year’s Alumni Weekend celebrations marking the University of Guelph’s 50^th anniversary.

A large number of OVC alumni have already purchased tickets and tables for this event – if you’d like to attend, don’t delay, order your tickets today at https://www.uoguelph.ca/alumni/cgi-bin/conversat.pl. The evening begins from 5:30 to 8 p.m. with a Gala Reception and Dinner ($125 + HST per person includes reception, dinner and evening of entertainment with midnight champagne buffet and fireworks.) You can buy individual tickets or book a table of 10.

'Conversazione' or 'Conversat' means, “meeting for conversation.”  Beginning in 1904, the Conversat was a key social event for faculty, staff, students and friends of the Guelph colleges.  The 2014 Conversat will involve all of the colleges and many units from across campus.

OVC will host the Café Nostalgiain the University Centre Atrium where guests cangroove to the music of Dylan and more at a beatnik coffee house reminiscent of the 1960s.  Local talent will entertain guests while they enjoy a warm mocha brew.

Guests may also enjoy: British Invasion with a musical tribute to the 1960s in Peter Clark Hall; Casablanca with music by the Royal City Big Band; Speakeasy with hot jazz in the Rozanski Concourse, Reunion at the ‘Ring with 70s and 80s dancing to the DJ; and A Space Odyssey with entertainment by the fusion funk bank God Made Me Funky in the Engineering Atrium.

The evening finishes up with a Champagne Buffet and fireworks at 12 a.m. at the marquee tent on Johnson Green.

For more informationm, see the U of G alumni website.

An OVC professor is quoted in an article about a new antibiotics policy adopted by the Chicken Farmers of Canada.

Canada’s 2,700 poultry farmers are voluntarily putting an end to the practice of injecting eggs with the antibiotic ceftiofur due to concerns about resistant strains of salmonella in both humans and chickens.

Calling it a textbook example of antibiotic-resistant pathogens moving from farm to fork, Dr. John Prescott, Pathobiology, says the government should have stopped the injections years ago.

For more, read the article in the Ottawa Citizen.

The OVC’s telephone services will be shut down temporarily on Saturday to allow for maintenance on the entire University of Guelph telephone network.

The telephones will be offline from 7 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on April 26. However, the OVC website will be unaffected and the OVC Health Sciences Centre (HSC) answering service will be available.

To contact the HSC — including the Companion Animal Hospital / Small Animal Clinic, Animal Cancer Centre, Smith Lane Animal Hospital, Large Animal Hospital or Ruminant Field Service — during the shutdown, please call 1-877-682-3637.

Hawmid Azzizi, Cristine Reitz, Ritesh Briah and Simone ten Kortenaar.

Four graduate students in the Department of Biomedical Sciences have been received CIHR Master’s Studentship awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

“The awards are a testament to the high quality of graduate students we are attracting to our program,” said Dr. Neil MacLusky, chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences.

The recipients are:

• Hawmid Azizi

Advisor: Dr. Bettina Kalisch. Hawmid is studying the molecular pathways involved in Alzheimer’s disease.

• Ritesh Briah

Advisor: Dr. Roger Moorehead. Ritesh is examining the role of Akt inhibitors in lung cancer tumour suppression.

• Cristine Reitz

Advisor: Dr. Tami Martino. Cristine is investigating how circadian rhythm influences  adaptive immune response to healing in heart attack patients.

• Simone ten Kortenaar

Advisor: Dr. Jim Petrik. Simone is assessing the effectiveness of a new drug developed to inhibit blood vessel growth and trigger tumour cell death in ovarian cancer.

An upcoming symposium will highlight the broad range of cancer research taking place at the University of Guelph.

The 2014 Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation (ICCI) Research Symposium will take place May 15 in the OVC Lifetime Learning Centre.

Dr. Deborah Knapp

Abstracts for short talks and poster presentations are invited from researchers involved in all aspects of cancer investigation. The deadline for abstracts is May 5.

The keynote speaker this year is Dr. Deborah Knapp, director of the comparative oncology program at Purdue University. Her talk, titled “Urinary bladder cancer: applying comparative oncology research to transform the outlook for humans and dogs,” will take place at 3:30 p.m. in Room 1714.

All interested members of the university committee are invited to attend. Registration is free. The deadline for pre-registration is May 12.

For more information, see the poster or visit the ICCI website.

The Canadian Kennel Club Foundation (CKCF) has issued a call for funding proposals of up to $30,000 for canine health research involving causes, diagnosis and treatment of canine diseases.

“I am very pleased that the CKCF is moving forward with this important work that will ultimately improve the quality of life for our canine companions who bring so much to our lives,” foundation president Marg Moran McQuinn said in a recent news release.

The deadline for proposals is July 1. Proposals will be peer reviewed with recommendations provided to the CKCF board of directors for final approval.  Successful applicants will be announced by Nov. 1. 

The CKCF is allocating funding for two streams of research in 2014: “health” and “community. ” The “health” research applications will be first out of the gate, followed by requests for “community” proposals later this year.

The community stream could conceivably fund projects in areas such as the training/equipping of service dogs, education on responsible dog ownership, creation of off-leash parks, and more.

For more information and to access the application forms, visit the CKCF website and mail the completed form to info@ckcf.ca. Or contact Dr. Rod Jouppi, the foundation board’s CVMA appointed veterinarian, at info@ckcf.ca.

The OVC Health Sciences Centre (HSC) is advising faculty and staff that Pinchin Environmental will be on-site for two days this week taking noise measurements. 

The work is highly contingent on the weather and they will be working either tomorrow, Thursday or Friday. 

If you have any questions please contact Greg Gilbert at Ext 56625.

Members of the OVC community are invited to a retirement luncheon celebrating the career of Dr. John Prescott.

The celebration will take place May 28 from noon to 2 p.m. in the Pines Room at the Springfield Golf and Country Club located at 2054 Gordon St. in Guelph.

Tickets are $30.00 each and can be purchased from Elizabeth Gilbertson at Ext. 54649 or egilbert@uoguelph.ca. You can also talk to Elizabeth about making a donation toward a gift.

Prescott, who officially retired May 1, has been bacteriologist at OVC since 1976 and served as chair of the Department of Pathobiology from 2003 to 2008. Prescott’s diverse research career has been focused on understanding and trying to control selected bacterial infections of animals, particularly Clostridium perfringens as a major cause of enteric disease in poultry and other species including pigs, cattle, horses and dogs. He is best known for his work on Rhodococcus equi, an important bacterial pathogen of foals.

International scholars examining some of the most critical issues facing the world today will gather at the University of Guelph next week to explore themes of global public health, food and water security, and community empowerment.

The 2014 Global Development Symposium: Critical Links Between Human and Animal Health takes place May 4-7. It kicks off with an opening reception Sunday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre that features the launch of a new book edited by Dr. Elizabeth Stone, OVC dean, and Dr. Cate Dewey, chair of the Department of Population Medicine.

The cover of Sick!

“Sick! Curious Tales of Pests & Parasites We Share With Animals” examines our relationships with animals and the diseases we share, and reminds us of our responsibilities and the affect that we humans have on global health. It features contributions from veterinarians, including several OVC alumni, who share their experiences with zoonoses around the world.

Members of the community are welcome to attend the book launch event without registering for the symposium. The book will be available for purchase online starting May 4 on amazon.ca.

The symposium program includes six keynote speakers as well as poster sessions, research presentations and “Pitches for Progress” in which participants will present their ideas for improving public health, providing food and water security, and empowering communities. Another highlight will be a panel discussion focusing on the theme “Without Borders” and featuring panelists from Veterinarians Without Borders, Doctors Without Borders and Engineers Without Borders.

For more information, visit the Guelph GDS website or the read the GuelphGDS blog. Online registrations are being accepted until May 1. After that, registration will be available onsite. Remember, you must register to attend the symposium or any of the sessions or keynote presentations.

The Department of Physical Resources reminds faculty, staff and students that the reconstruction of South Ring Road and parking lot P59 begins this week.

As such, P59 (located south of the Clinical Skills Building) and South Ring Road will be shut down from Grange Lane to the entrance to Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food building until mid-July. Alternate parking is available in P26 and P30 off McGilvray Road. Access through Grange Lane from McGilvray will be limited to local traffic only.

For more information, comments or concerns, contact Yen Nguyen, senior construction coordinator, at Ext. 53007.

Volunteers are needed to participate in the University of Guelph’s 2014 spring convocation ceremonies.

Faculty and Staff play a vital role throughout the university career of each graduate and their presence and participation at a convocation ceremony is important and meaningful. Thanks to all faculty and staff who help to make every convocation ceremony a truly special occasion.

If you are able to assist with convocation ceremonies, please complete the online registration form.

All ceremonies this June will take place in War Memorial Hall.  Click here for the full convocation schedule.  For each ceremony, six people are required to hand out name cards and hoods, five ushers are needed, and up to 45 people can be accommodated in the academic procession.  You will be advised by email if a ceremony in the role you have selected has filled before your registration is received and you will be sent a reminder about your commitment the week prior to the ceremony.

The managing director of Equine has been inducted into the Can-Am All Breeds Equine Expo Hall of Fame.

Gayle Ecker received a Builder Award at a ceremony held at the expo’s opening on March 28 at the Orangeville fairgrounds. The Can-Am Hall of Fame was launched in 2013 to honour and recognize world-class contributions to the equine industry.

Three awards were given out in 2014 including including Ecker, Jennifer Anstey, of the Horse Publications Group, under the media category, and the Carter Family of Carters Training Centre under the builder category.

Ecker has led Equine Guelph since its inception in 2003 and played an instrumental role in its birth. She has dedicated her energies to advancing the equine industry through education and communications.

For more, see the profile on the Can-Am website.

OVC researchers are invited to learn more about the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) at a community engagement session to be held May 14.

These visits are designed to provide researchers, students and other stakeholders with an opportunity to learn more about recent program and policy developments, and offer a platform for asking questions and seeking information from some of NSERC’s grants and scholarships experts.

Topics to be discussed include the evaluation of the Discovery Grants program, an update on the allocation of Discovery Grants budget among evaluation groups, the Common CV and new research portal, and an update on scholarships and fellowships programs, including the harmonization of the Canada Graduate Scholarships.

The event will take place May 14 from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in Room 103 of the University Centre.

Participants are asked to RSVP via the NSERC website by May 5.

Septimus Sisson was an early faculty member of the OVC and became a well-regarded and published anatomist. Sisson was born in England in 1865 and moved to the United States in 1882. He attended Kansas State College and went on to graduate from the OVC in 1891. Sisson practiced briefly in Kansas before he returned to the OVC, where he taught veterinary obstetrics and anatomy.

Sisson’s tenure at the OVC was short as he moved on to teach at Kansas State Agricultural College in 1899 and then in 1901 the Ohio State University veterinary college where he taught comparative anatomy. He returned to the OVC and earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1921. Sisson published key texts in veterinary anatomy, including Ligaments and Muscles of the Horse (1893) and The Anatomy of Domestic Animals (1910), a widely used text that has gone through several editions and translations.

Do you have a family member or member of your family tree who is/was an OVC grad?  Feel free to contact us with photos, stories, copies of business ledgers/practice records, diplomas, veterinary tools or other artifacts. We’d love to hear from you! Contact Lisa Cox at coxl@uoguelph.ca.

To learn more about the history of OVC order your copy of Milestones: 150 Years of the Ontario Veterinary College, available on amazon.ca.

Organizers of next week’s Multiple Mini-Interviews are looking for an old school bell or a cow bell to help keep the process running smoothly.

A key stage of the admissions process, this year’s Multiple Mini-Interviews take place May 12-16.

About 70 volunteers — about half of whom are OVC alumni — will help assess 200 candidates who must complete a series of eight short, structured interviews designed to test their ability to think on their feet, communicate ideas, critically evaluate information, a demonstrate understanding of issues facing the veterinary profession.

If you’ve got a bell to loan, or you know someone who does, contact Elizabeth Lowenger at Ext. 54430 or lowenger@uoguelph.ca.

Many future leaders in research, academia, government and industry will jumpstart their careers this week as the 2014 Summer Leadership and Research Program (SLRP) gets underway.

An orientation session for summer research students and advisors will take place Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in Room 1438.

Designed to nurture interest in research, academia and graduate studies programs, SLRP provides DVM and undergraduate students from across the University of Guelph with the opportunity to interact with scientists and veterinarians working in diverse fields.

Running May through August, it includes a Round Table series with invited guests working in intriguing areas, field trips, attendance at scientific conferences and professional development workshops, and more. The  program is intended to complement the primary research and educational activities of summer research students and their faculty advisors.

Visit the SLRP website to learn more about the program, or read about some of last year’s participants in At Guelph.

There is still time to register for the 2014 Institute for Comparative Cancer Investigation (ICCI) Research Symposium.

The annual showcase of cancer research taking place at the Univeristy of Guelph takes place May 15 in the OVC Lifetime Learning Centre.

The deadline for abstracts is May 5. All members of the university community are welcome to attend. Registration is free. The deadline for pre-registration is May 12.

This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Deborah Knapp, director of the comparative oncology program at Purdue University. Last year, Knapp was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Animal Cancer Foundation for her work designed to develop new drug therapy for a deadly form of bladder cancer. Read about it here.

Knapp’s talk, titled “Urinary bladder cancer: applying comparative oncology research to transform the outlook for humans and dogs,” will take place at 3:30 p.m. in Room 1714. During her visit, Knapp will also be available for individual meetings on May 16.

To arrange a meeting, contact highlight Dr. Tony Mutsaers at Ext. 54068 or mutsaers@uoguelph.ca.

For more information, see the poster or visit the ICCI website.

One of the world’s leading advocates for children provided a University of Guelph audience with her personal insights into how social entrepreneurship can help change the world.

Maya Ajmera, founder of The Global Fund for Children (GFC), delivered the opening keynote address this morning at the 2014 Global Development Symposium.

Maya Ajmera delivered the opening keynote address on Monday.

Ajmera shared her experiences in “venture philanthropy” — identifying groups that need and are ready for catalyst funding, and helping them access the business and organizational training needed to sustain their success.

The GFC has transformed the lives of millions by investing small amounts of capital in grassroots, innovative community groups. Since its formation in 1993, the GFC has invested more than $35 million in over 600 organizations focused on ‘invisible children’ such as slum-dwellers in India, child slaves in Ghana, disenfranchised immigrant children in London.

“There are a half-billion children living in extreme poverty around the world today,” said Ajmera. “That’s a conservative estimate.”

Ajmera said to be effective, organizations trying to solve “wicked problems” of poverty and injustice must avoid importing solutions , no matter how well-intended. Instead, they need to focus on identifying individuals and community groups at the grassroots level and helping these “social disruptors” to fulfill their visions for positive change.

For more on the symposium, visit gds2014.ca and follow it on Facebook and Twitter at #gdsuog.