Dr. Alex Fox-Alvarez

Alex Fox-Alvarez, D.V.M. (’12), who recently completed his third year of residency in small animal surgery at UF, was honored in April by the American Association of Veterinary Clinicians with its annual Resident’s Award for his achievements in the clinical, educational and scholarly arenas.

After finishing veterinary school at UF, Fox-Alvarez completed an internship in small, exotic, and zoo animal medicine at Valley Animal Hospital in Tucson, Arizona. He returned to UF for a surgical internship in 2013, then began a combined surgical residency and master’s degree in veterinary medical science, which he completed in 2017.

His thesis research focused on the development of a new technique for continuous gastric decompression in dogs with gastric dilatation and volvulus syndrome, a condition known commonly as bloat. In addition to his graduate work, Fox-Alvarez has published four other first-author papers, and contributed to three other large multi-institutional studies.

His achievements include several awards and initiatives. In 2017, Fox-Alvarez received the Excellence in Clinical Science Research Graduate Student Award, along with first place in the Phil Zeta Veterinary Honor Society Research Poster competition and second place in the campuswide graduate student research competition.

In 2016, he received first place in the American College of Veterinary Surgeons’ public outreach video competition. That same year, he received second place in the Small Animal Clinical Sciences’ “Best in Show” research competition. He was also elected to serve as chief resident of the UF Veterinary Hospitals by his resident peers.