Dr. Dana Zimmel

Greetings,

As we approach the end of spring semester, I’m excited to share some very positive updates about life at UF CVM. Our senior D.V.M. students are wrapping up the final stretch of their education, while our other classes have continued to pursue their education through externships (our third-year students) and didactic learning through the hybrid learning model consistent with UF’s health and safety guidelines.

Although these events will not look as they did pre-pandemic, the sophomore professional coating ceremony for the Class of 2023 and commencement for the Class of 2021 will be held in-person at the UF Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and the UF O’Connell Center respectively this year. After last year’s virtual ceremonies, we are happy that our students can again experience the gratification of being acknowledged in the presence of their classmates, faculty members and (limited) guests for their achievements. We look forward to the time when more of our college and UF Veterinary Hospital events can resume fully in person but are ever mindful that the safety of our faculty, staff and students must come first.

We remain very busy in our hospitals as we continue to provide the leading edge care our clients expect and our animal patients deserve. I am ever appreciative of the hard work our clinicians and staff are doing to ensure that the quality of care we provide is nothing less than we have always provided, in keeping with our philosophy of patient/client-centric care. In an exciting development, the college has received a $3 million gift from the Gauntt Foundation to purchase a new Edge linear accelerator that will allow us to better treat small animal patients with tumors inside areas of the chest and abdomen through the highly targeted delivery of radiation. The acquisition of this equipment will position UF as only the second veterinary college in the country to own this powerful technology, representing a level of care that is seen in top human health care centers. Read more about this generous gift and the motivation behind it in this issue.

Our cover story focuses on the intriguing work being conducted by Dr. Leah Reznikov relating to the effects of existing antihistamine drugs against COVID-19 virus in cell testing. This story is a reminder of the progress that is possible as a result of the synergy we have with our colleagues and collaborators at UF Health and elsewhere in the greater scientific community.

After incorporating extensive feedback received from faculty and staff through a survey distributed last fall, the college has finalized a strategic plan for 2021-22. This two-year plan provides a blueprint for keeping the college grounded and financially sound as we focus on collegewide priorities and operational strategies we have identified for achieving those goals. Various college leaders will drive oversight of progress in each area prioritized and we will be sharing progress reports on a regular basis among ourselves and with our key stakeholders. As we delve further into implementation of these strategies, we will be adding more information to our website.

Last fall, Dr. David Pascual, a professor of infectious diseases at the college, was chosen as the  associate dean for research and graduate studies. Dr. Pascual did an excellent job serving this role on an interim basis for two years and I am looking forward to further advances in our research efforts under his leadership. Additionally, a national search is currently underway to fill the position of associate dean for academic and student affairs, which Dr. Amanda House has held in an interim appointment since last summer.

We have much to accomplish in the coming year. The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic continue at our college and elsewhere, but we remain focused on maintaining the foundation of excellence on which our reputation was built as we strive to continuously improve.

Whether you are an alumnus making us proud, a donor whose gifts have helped us better serve our students, our animal patients or the greater community, or your role is altogether different — please know that your connection to the college matters greatly to us. I thank you all for your consistent and steadfast contributions to life at UFCVM.

Go Gators!

-Dana

Dana N. Zimmel, D.V.M.
Professor and Interim Dean