Retired CVMBS Professor Awarded Bovine Practitioners Association’s Highest Honor
Story by Megan Myers, CVMBS Communications
Dr. Dee Griffin, a retired clinical professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS), has received the Amstutz-Williams Award, the highest honor bestowed by the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP).
The award recognizes Griffin’s outstanding service to the profession throughout his 45-year career in veterinary medicine. It was presented at the 54th annual AABP Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Oct. 9.
Griffin retired in July after a long career dedicated to veterinary education and bovine medicine.
Before his retirement, he served as director of the CVMBS’ Veterinary Education, Research, & Outreach (VERO) program, located on the West Texas A&M University campus in Canyon.
“Dr. Griffin’s commitment to students, animals, and sustainable agriculture is unsurpassed,” said Dr. Susan Eades, CVMBS professor and associate dean for administration at VERO. “He emphasizes veterinary skills, animal husbandry, production management, and teamwork. All team members are important to him. His passion is contagious to all around him, shaping the careers of many. His legacy will live on through the innumerable veterinary students, cattle producers, and veterinarians impacted by Dr. Griffin during his long and storied career.”
He continues to serve as an adviser for the VERO program after his retirement.
Griffin developed an interest in bovine veterinary medicine very early in life, having been raised on a cow-calf operation in Oklahoma. He earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree in 1976 from Oklahoma State University, followed by a master’s degree in pathology and ruminant nutrition from Purdue University.
He spent several years practicing beef cattle medicine before joining the University of Nebraska’s Great Plains Veterinary Education Center as a faculty member in 1991. In 2016, he moved to Texas and joined the CVMBS as director of the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Center, which later gave rise to the VERO program.
“I am a very lucky man and veterinarian to have Dr. Griffin in my life, and I was fortunate that I got to work with him for the past five years,” said Dr. Dan Posey, director of student recruitment and professional relationships and clinical professor at VERO. “When we arrived on the West Texas A&M University campus in 2016, there was a ton of work we needed to accomplish to start the VERO program and make it impactful and sustainable. Dr. Griffin’s vision for the program is now being fulfilled due to his ability to engage community and industry, guide our efforts, and share and spread the vision of the VERO program.
“This award signifies his impact on the beef cattle world and I can’t think of another veterinary educator who has had more impact than Dr. Griffin,” Posey said. “The depth of Dr. Griffin’s veterinary knowledge is legendary because he continued to be a great student. I am so very fortunate to call him my mentor, friend, colleague, and former boss.”
Griffin has also received the AABP’s national award for Excellence in Preventive Medicine in 1985 and Mentor of The Year award in 2017. He has received numerous other awards during his career, including being inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame in 2017.
The Amstutz-Williams Award honors the long and distinguished service of the late Dr. Harold E. Amstutz, the AABP’s secretary-treasurer and executive vice president until 1993, and Dr. Eric I. Williams, the editor of the Bovine Practitioner and Proceedings Book from 1969 to 1998. The award has only been given to 11 individuals since it was established in 1986.
AABP is a membership-based, not-for-profit organization serving cattle veterinary medicine professionals across the United States, Canada, and other countries.
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Contact Information: Jennifer Gauntt, Director of VMBS Communications, Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, jgauntt@cvm.tamu.edu, 979-862-4216
