Read the latest updates on the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) from members of the Executive Committee and VMBS dean Dr. John August. This blog is featured in the monthly News from Veterinary Way e-newsletter.
07/02/21
Dear Colleagues,
Recent events have served to remind us that we are all responsible for, and play an important role in, fostering an inclusive culture at our college. Promoting this culture is integral to our well-being, our academic success, and our future contributions to veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences.
As active members of this community, we want to share with you some thoughts regarding how we can move forward with compassion and professionalism.
First, we believe that our Aggie Core Values and the CVMBS Code of Professional Conduct provide us with a framework to achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion; these are critically important components to our college culture. We acknowledge that it is imperative that we not just talk about our values but strive to model and live them daily.
We also believe that diversity, in all of its dimensions, and the celebration and respect of our differences give our college strength. We recognize and welcome the reality that not all members of our college can share the same beliefs and perspectives.
We believe that the Aggie Core Value of RESPECT is key to allowing all of us to work, learn, and grow together. Because no one is exclusively defined by only race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious belief, or any other single attribute, expressing differing opinions allows us to flourish as individuals and as a community, as long as those expressions are shared respectfully; we must always be mindful of how we communicate our differences and the impact that our words and actions can have on others.
Finally, we believe that everyone in our community is deserving of dignity and respect.
We hope that you will join us in working to cultivate a sense of belonging and equality for every member of our community, as our collective strength comes from the celebration, not suppression, of our differences.
How we accept, embrace, and welcome others allows us to be the best versions of ourselves. The respect and kindness we show one another will move us forward and will have the greatest impact on our college.
Respectfully,
Dr. Karen Cornell
Dr. Mike Criscitiello
Dr. Stacy Eckman
Jennifer Gauntt
Belinda Hale
Dr. Jon Levine
Dr. Kenita Rogers
Dr. Larry Suva
Dr. Ramesh Vemulapalli
Dr. Emma Warry
04/06/2021
Updates from Mr. Kris Guye on the CVMBS Information Technology Services (ITS)
Howdy,
Lots of changes are happening within the Information Technology Services (ITS). Like everyone else, the pandemic really challenged the way we operate. I am proud of the way the team rose to the occasion and quickly found ways to support faculty and staff as everyone transitioned to working and teaching remotely. It wasn’t without its hiccups, but the team stayed patient and dedicated throughout and continues to do so today.
In the middle of 2020, we reorganized the department, creating two new units that allow staff to focus on their core work. We hired a new manager, Cameron Baker, to lead a new team called Client Services and created a team called Infrastructure Services under Jeff Skelton. These teams have been working together to establish and implement best practices for their respective areas.
ITS currently has 64 projects either in progress or in the queue in addition to the regular operational and support tasks. While some of these are short, one-to-two-week projects, it is impossible to properly manage this amount of work without a good tool to assist. We implemented a project management solution to help organize the dozens of projects we have going on in ITS including many that we are assisting with throughout the CVMBS. This solution, called Team Dynamix, will soon be rolled out to the entire CVMBS and will be used by our faculty and staff to submit project requests and ideas to ITS. Team Dynamix will help keep us organized and efficient, as well as improve communication between ITS, customers, and project stakeholders.
We are constantly looking at ways we can improve service to our customers. We have stationed a member of our Client Services team in the administrative area of the hospital to enable quicker response to issues that arise in the Small and Large Animal Hospitals. One of the projects we will be working on this year is an evaluation of all of the tools and applications we use in ITS to ensure they are the best and most efficient for the job. This has already begun with a new tool for managing Apple devices (iPads, iMacs, Macbooks, etc.). We are also working on an IT Newsletter that will help keep the CVMBS informed on news, project updates, and training resources. Transparency is important in IT, so at some point in 2021 we hope to launch a dashboard displaying key metrics that will help us track success and keep you informed of our progress.
I look forward to continuing to grow the relationship ITS has with our customers. Please feel free to reach out directly with any questions or ideas you have to help us better work together.
02/04/2021
Updates from Dr. Kenita Rogers on the Office for Diversity & Inclusion
A new, dynamic, college-wide committee began meeting in Fall 2020. The Committee for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accountability (C-IDEA) has broad representation and input from across the college and is charged to push boundaries, think outside the box, and guide us strategically toward an environment that is welcoming, equitable, and promotes diversity in its broadest definition. This is a huge charge, and the committee is already actively working in several subgroups to tackle important issues and topics where they believe progress can be made.
These overarching areas include:
- Recruitment, Retention, and Equity
- Communications
- Climate
- Professional Development
Members of C-IDEA, and the areas across the college that they represent, include:
- Ashley Navarrette – VSCS
- Abbie Satterfield – CAPS
- Lauren Russell – VLCS
- Jacob Menchaca – Undergraduate Student
- Yava Jones-Hall – VTPB
- Brianna Bazel – Undergraduate Student
- Yasha Hartberg – VIBS
- Emily Bencosme Cuevas – Graduate Student
- Larry Suva – VTPP
- Floris Dröes – Graduate Student
- Charity Cavazos – HECM (VTPP)
- Ashlea Tenorio – DVM Student
- Jennifer Gauntt – Staff
- Shannon Wan – DVM Student
- Jaci Christensen – Staff
- Noor Faisal – DVM Student
- Jessica Alvarado – Staff
- Asucena Ochoa – DVM Student
- Karen Cornell – PPO
- Ex-Officios from Office for Diversity and Inclusion: Kenita Rogers, Nicole Ellis, Nance Algert
I am especially appreciative of this group and their ideas, passion, and dedication to creating a great place to learn and work. Jennifer Gauntt and Larry Suva co-chair the committee, but I would argue that extraordinary leadership is being shown by all committee members.
It has been really fun and inspiring to hear their stories, watch their lively discussions, and understand their vision of the future. CVMBS is considered a national leader in diversity and inclusion as evidenced by four consecutive HEED awards. With this group guiding our college, the prospects for HEED #5 look promising.
To all members of this committee, and everyone else in the college who goes above and beyond to create an inclusive environment, embodies fairness and equity, and cares about social justice, THANK YOU!!
01/19/2021
Updates from Dr. Larry Suva on the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology (VTPP)
Happy New Year and welcome to a much improved and communal 2021.
VTPP has enjoyed a terrific 2020, despite the many complications! VTPP faculty published 68 peer-reviewed publications and submitted 65 new grant submissions (five were funded) and 12 VTPP “Science in Action” publications were highlighted throughout the year.
In addition, 2020 saw the continued expansion of the Aggie Research and Mentoring Programs and the invention of the DeBakey Executive Research Leadership Program as well as the launch of the DeBakey Leadership Program for CVMBS staff. The Biomedical Research Certificate (BRC) Program expanded with the addition of Dr. Marissa Cisneros and the inclusion of BRC programs in health disparities and bioinformatics.
VTPP also launched the inaugural CVMBS Aggie Achieve class with Animals in Society to great success. We delivered VTPP434 to an ever-expanding class of BIMS students and have VTPP427 ready for prime time!
Dr. Charity Cavazos is in place in McAllen and working hard to deliver Anatomy (and soon Physiology) classes to BIMS students.
VTPP610/612 is being remodeled for the Physiology & Developmental Biology graduate track and we are recruiting new faculty to deliver VTPP910/912 Physiology at VERO in Canyon. The Physiology & Developmental Biology graduate track is in the American Physiologic Society (APS) graduate catalog and the majority of faculty and VTPP graduate students are now active APS members.
VTPP launched both the Dr. James Herman endowed professorship and the VTPP Creativity Fund. The launch of the J.D. McCrady chair in Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology and the Glen A. Laine chair in Veterinary Creativity are ongoing aspirational efforts.
VTPP continues to focus on critical research enterprise investments with an ongoing faculty recruitment, biweekly Science Friday discussions, grant biopsies, grant and manuscript critiques, faculty mentoring and increased competitive grant submissions.
The future of VTPP is exceptionally bright thanks to the continued success and excellence of our faculty and staff.
12/15/20
Updates from Larry Walker on the CVMBS Office of Development, Alumni, & Client Relations
The CVMBS Development Team is grateful for the partnership of our staff, faculty, clinicians, and students in showing the impact of philanthropy in our college to friends and donors every day. I would like to give you a behind-the-scenes look at our work and share some donor insights that play a role in our fundraising endeavors.
How A Donor Thinks
Major gift philanthropy—including donors and donor psychology—is often shrouded in mystery. We appreciate the opportunity to give you a small window into our work to contribute to the overall CVMBS mission.
We thought we would start with the basics of donor psychology.
From Good to Great
Our faculty and clinician partners often talk to Development officers about fundraising for core purposes.
When thinking about this, we have to consider that fundraising is about the alignment of internal expectations with external realities. One such reality is a culturally entrenched, but often unstated, paradigm that is rooted in the psychology of philanthropists, which is the widely held belief that philanthropy is not about responding to emergencies or the underwriting of everyday purposes, but about providing the margin of excellence. It is about taking a college, or some part it, from good to great.
Philanthropy, in the minds of many who give and those who give the most, is not about the margin of survival or making recipients happy. It is about leveraging existing strength to create even greater strength.
Again, fundraising is about the alignment of internal expectations with external realities.
Charity vs. Philanthropy
In the nonprofit sector, there is philanthropy and there is charity. People always have and always will give to pressing social needs, natural disasters, and humanitarian efforts. Those are acts of charity.
But the simple truth is that people give far less in the name of charity than they do for philanthropic purposes. They will give less to “provide a man a fish” and far more to anything that “teaches him how to fish.”
Therefore, donors want to know that their gifts are building strength and improving delivery systems, not patching up flawed, outdated systems or perpetuating mediocre performance.
There are those who give to core purposes (and operating funds) of schools, colleges, and universities, but, in most cases, this support comes from long and/or deeply involved former students who give at modest levels. The more we feel inclined to give, the more we work to ensure we are not “throwing good money after bad.”
When contributing alumni of the top 100 institutions of higher learning in the U.S. were asked why they did not give more to their alma maters, the most common reasons, according to a philanthropic study, were:
- I feel that I have paid enough already for tuition.
- I don’t think the school really needs the money.
- I haven’t been given a good enough reason to give.
- I don’t feel a deep emotional connection to the school.
- They haven’t done enough to connect with me beyond asking for money.
- I feel like donations go into a “black hole.”
As you can see, making a strong case for private support entails anticipating and overcoming these concerns and objections. Conflating or failing to explain how our strengths can be leveraged by private support will weaken our ability to make a case for support, to build credibility with prospects, and to win the support of generous, but discerning, donors.
12/01/20
Updates from Dr. Jon Levine on the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences (VSCS)
I wanted to share some of the amazing achievements of our students, staff, and faculty that have occurred during this very challenging time. I have deep admiration for these collective efforts, and for the determination it takes to maintain outstanding patient care, education, and scholarly endeavors.
Our Hospital
During the entire COVID-19 pandemic, the Small Animal Hospital has remained open and focused on strong patient and client care, professional student education, and meaningful clinical trials and research. Currently, we continue to receive all of our patients curbside and have a full complement of services operating at near-normal capacity. Our students are learning on-site and in some cases at a distance as we continue to navigate best hygiene practices. We continue to deliver tertiary care-level medicine that spans stereotactic radiotherapy, minimally invasive surgery, cardiovascular procedures, and technology-assisted therapies involving 3D printed materials and infrared surgical navigation. Our clinical trials program continues to grow, including exciting projects focused on aging, brain cancer, spinal cord injuries, blood cancer, heart disease, and more! Our gastrointestinal laboratory has also continued to provide diagnostic services during the pandemic to the veterinary community across the U.S. and world.
The pandemic certainly has stretched our communication and teamwork skills. It has pushed us into new territory, and also will help the hospital become a more collaborative and inclusive place.
Research Highlights
Dr. Beth Boudreau, assistant professor of neurology/neurosurgery, leads our canine brain tumor collaboration with MD Anderson Cancer Center. She has been diligently enrolling patients with incurable cancer into a clinical trial investigating a new immunotherapy for these tumors that may help humans and dogs. Just this week, after years of safety and dose escalation work, she had some impressive results showing tumor shrinkage in one of our patients. This follows a recently published paper with Jackson Laboratories and MD Anderson, as well as veterinary scientists across the U.S., showing canine gliomas parallel pediatric gliomas in immune environment and genetic drivers.
Dr. Erin Scott, assistant professor of ophthalmology, also had promising results that were communicated in a recent manuscript published in Science Advances, showing that systemic administration of an anti-inflammatory agent found in turmeric blunted intraocular inflammation. This project was funded by the National Institutes of Health and is a collaboration between CVMBS and the College of Pharmacy.
Dr. Kate Creevy, associate professor of internal medicine, has continued to enroll thousands of dogs across the U.S. into the Dog Aging Project, a National Institute of Aging-funded multi-center collaboration. The project seeks to understand normal aging in dogs, and will broadly assess drivers of aging such as genetics and the environment and will include a clinical trial focused on the drug rapamycin.
Education
Our faculty are deeply involved in all facets of professional student education, and have made student success a high priority during the pandemic. They have continued to teach using a hybrid model in the classroom and laboratory setting. When students returned to the clinical environment in June 2020, they began deploying distance learning into the clinical experience. These distance experiences typically involve rich case dialogue, “zooming” into clinical experience, medical thought problems, and opportunities to think deeply about cases seen in the clinic. Our faculty also continue to be active in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Adaptive learning modules, primary care core curricula, and applications like Murmur Learner, which were all developed by the CVMBS, have spread across the U.S. as other institutions have sought alternative pathways to educate students.
11/17/20
Update: After the publication of this blog, the CVMBS announced that MMIs for the Class of 2025 would be canceled out of precautions for individual safety for applicants and staff, as well as equity for all applicants.
Updates from Dr. Karen Cornell, Associate Dean for Professional Programs
Veterinary School Admissions Program
We have a record high 925 applicants for the DVM program Class of 2025!
As many of you may know, after our selections committee does the initial scoring of applications, we invite the top candidates to participate in our multiple mini interview (MMI) process. This is similar to speed dating in that each applicant will interview at six different stations with two interviewers at each station. Each station has a unique scenario that is scored based on a predetermined rubric.
Because of the pandemic, MMIs will be conducted by Zoom this year. We are seeking Zoom-savvy individuals willing to participate in a one-and-a-half hour training program in December and then commit to a four-hour period of interviewing during the week of Jan. 4–8. We will be interviewing approximately 350 applicants for the 180 seats in the Class of 2025.
Interview trainings will be on the following dates and remember you only need to attend one session! Training session is required in advance.
- Dec. 1 at noon
- Dec. 1 at 6:30 p.m.
- Dec. 4 at 3:00 p.m.
- Dec. 7 at 6:30 p.m.
- Dec. 10 at 6:30 p.m.
- Dec. 16 at noon
- Dec. 18 at 8 a.m.
The link to sign up for interview training is here: https://doodle.com/poll/n9n8h4i7n7upbft3?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
The actual interviews will be held on the dates below.
- Monday, Jan. 4 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Tuesday, Jan. 5 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Wednesday, Jan. 6 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Thursday, Jan. 7 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Friday, Jan. 8 from 8 a.m. to noon
The link to sign up for the interviews is here: https://doodle.com/poll/aynqzuzb8ep3vkew?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
Please join us to help choose our future veterinary colleagues!
11/03/2020
Updates from Dr. Larry Suva on the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology (VTPP)
While there have been a lot of disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology (VTPP) has had a lot to celebrate this semester, and I wanted to share some of those with you.
Aggies Achieve
BIMS125 (Animals in Society) is a new class in the Aggie ACHIEVE program at Texas A&M University. Dr. James Herman, a clinical professor, created a great program, with amazing support from our VTPP Phys Lab staff Mandy Zachgo and Lisa Roberts-Helton.
This month, Dr. Kim Stewart, DVM, visited, presenting about search and rescue dogs. The class has also included demonstrations by K9 bomb detection dogs (Tyson and Jackie), with their handlers Officer Crenshaw and Officer Browning from Texas A&M police.
For more information regarding the Aggie ACHIEVE program, I encourage you to visit: https://aggieachieve.tamu.edu/
‘Innovative’ Teaching
VTPP 434 (Physiology for Bioengineers) is being presented this semester in the new Innovative Learning Classroom Building (ILCB). The class is required in the Texas A&M biomedical engineering program, and course director Dr. Jay Ramadoss, a VTPP associate professor, has been working hard to familiarize students with the principles of physiology.
Please enjoy the article at the link below for more information:
Groundbreaking Research
Dr. Cris Heaps, associate professor and associate department head, published in Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol a study that reveals that small arteries isolated from an ischemic area of the swine heart (an area not getting enough blood and oxygen) display enhanced contractile behavior that persisted after exercise training.
The data provide the first evidence to demonstrate that increased contractility is attributed to increased calcium sensitivity of the arterial smooth muscle. The findings also challenge much existing dogma; many have reported that it is increased dilation that promotes increased blood flow into the ischemic myocardium.
The article from the Heaps lab proposes that these parallel, although seemingly contradictory, dilatory and contractile adaptations to exercise training are necessary to maintain adequate basal coronary tone via vasoconstriction under resting conditions, as well as, stimulate marked vasodilation when cardiac metabolic demand is high.
Coming Together During COVID
As we navigate our way through our new dynamic, we must recognize now, more than ever, how important it is for all of us to work together and embrace our combined future. VTPP and the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS) remain fully committed to a climate where all faculty, students, staff, and administrators feel that they are treated respectfully, and are fully accepted and valued for who they are.
During this time, especially, I truly believe that we all must remain vigilant and recognize that our words and actions directly impact the sense of community and belonging that individuals feel within our department and college. Our words matter. Please continue to be mindful of them.
10/13/2020
College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences family,
My first few months here in the CVMBS have been wonderful. I have really enjoyed being engaged with the faculty, staff, and students in new and exciting ways, and I have learned so much about how accomplished our faculty, staff, and students are. I truly look forward to the time we will spend together as we work to build upon the progress the college has made in my six years away from the CVMBS and as we work to achieve all of the goals we’ve begun setting together.
I’ve expressed many times how much I value communication. Through activities like the monthly town hall meetings and the debut of the News from Veterinary Way e-newsletter, we’re not only working to increase our communication efforts but are also giving you a glimpse into what I see every day as dean of the college—that we are an active, motivated, energetic group of people who are contributing to Texas A&M, the scientific and medical communities, society, and the world in many ways.
Even more than that, News from Veterinary Way, which will be produced and sent to everyone at the CVMBS, is meant to highlight and celebrate the many, many wonderful accomplishments of our hardworking and dedicated CVMBS community; the outstanding achievements of our faculty, staff, and students are more than a single, monthly email can hold, so we plan to send this newsletter to you twice a month.
As you read about all that is going on in the college, I hope that you will celebrate our collective successes with your colleagues, peers, professors, students, and fellow Aggies and that you will feel the pride I feel when I think about how much we can accomplish when we work together.
We are really excited about this new e-newsletter and look forward to sharing even more wonderful news coming from Veterinary Way.
John August, CVMBS Dean
