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About K-State

2009 Veterinary Medicine Achievement

* K-State's Garrett Stewart, a third-year veterinary medicine student from Washington, is serving on the Executive Committee of the Student American Veterinary Medical Association as the 2009-2010 information technology officer-elect and will become the association's information technology officer in 2010-2011. The information technology officer is in charge of keeping all software programs used by the Student American Veterinary Medical Association up and running, as well as updating and modifying the association's Web section at the American Veterinary Medical Association's Web site. Dec. 2009

* Michael Cates, director of K-State's master of public health program, has been named secretary and treasurer of the One Health Commission, a national group established to spotlight the connections between human, animal and environmental health and the benefits of a collaborative approach to better health for all. The commission is made up of representatives from eight major organizations involved in health education, research and practice, and represents a call for greater cooperation across multiple disciplines at the local, national and global level. The goal is optimal health for people, domestic animals, wildlife and the environment. Cates, who is also K-State's James B. Nichols Professor of Veterinary Public Health, will represent the American Veterinary Medical Association as a member of the commission's board of directors. Sept. 2009

* K-State's student chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association had the highest documented student participation in its 2008 World Rabies Day events within the United States and it's territories, making K-State the site for the 2009 World Rabies Day National Symposium, Sept. 19. The symposium contest is hosted by the Alliance for Rabies Control, a nonprofit organization that developed the World Rabies Day campaign. The symposium sponsor is Merial, one of the world's leading animal health companies. Sept. 2009

* Noroviruses make most people sick to the stomach, but not K-State's Kyeong-Ok Chang. Instead, the study of noroviruses has become his career focus and has now resulted in a $5.1 million cooperative research grant, over a five-year period, from the National Institutes of Health for his project. Chang is the principle investigator of the norovirus research project at K-State. His co-principle investigators include Duy Hua, a university distinguished professor of chemistry at K-State, as well as a researchers from Wichita State and Ohio State universities. The project has already established a comprehensive plan aimed at developing anti-noroviral therapeutics in cooperation with medicinal chemists and virologists from various institutions. Researchers also have identified two classes of hit compounds that have significantly reduced virus replication with distinct mechanisms. Chang said the project aims to develop novel small molecule therapeutics against human noroviruses by advancing the hit compounds through the stage prior to filing an investigational new drug application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. April 2009

* Studies by veterinary researchers at K-State, with collaboration from Epitopix LLC, have resulted in the United States' first vaccine against E. coli O157 in beef cattle. "Controlling foodborne pathogen outbreaks, and specifically E. coli O157, has been a major research initiative of many government and private agencies for the last two decades," said Dan Thomson, the Jones Professor of Production Medicine and Epidemiology in the department of clinical sciences at K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine. "We're really excited about the potential of this vaccine to aid pre-harvest food safety in beef cattle." Thomson led both challenge studies and field studies to help the vaccine garner approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It was developed by researchers Daryll Emery, Darren Straub and Doug Burkhardt of Epitopix LLC in Willmar, Minn. Thomson collaborated with T.G. Nagaraja, university distinguished professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology at K-State, and Guy Loneragan of West Texas A&M University. March 2009

* By having the highest student participation for its 2008 World Rabies Day events, the K-State's Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association won first place in a national competition sponsored by the Alliance for Rabies Control and its Global World Rabies Day Campaign. The win means K-State will be the site of a full-day rabies symposium to feature international experts. The conference, set for Sept. 19 at the K-State Alumni Center, will be sponsored by Merial, one of the world's leading animal health companies. The events organized by the K-State student veterinary organization included a joint American Veterinary Medical Association/American Medical Association lecture, a 5K/10K run and special and a children's activity day. Student participation at K-State was the highest among the 14 veterinary schools sponsoring events to mark World Rabies Day. Events at K-State took place Sept. 26 and 28, 2008. Feb. 2009

 

College of Veterinary Medicine