Students, Faculty and Staff Recognized During MU-CVM Honors and Awards Reception

By Tracey Berry-MU-CVM • Photos by Karen Clifford

The MU College of Veterinary Medicine awarded more than $420,000 for scholastic achievement, clinical proficiency, community service and leadership during the 2023 Honors and Awards Reception held May 9. The reception featured the presentation of more than 70 awards to veterinary medical students, faculty members, house officers and a veterinary technician. Additional awards and honors were announced in the program books for the evening. A total of nearly 250 recipients were honored. The Dadd Award honors excellence in veterinary medicine teaching. George Dadd was a veterinarian and physician born and trained in England. He promoted the earliest formal veterinary medical education in the United States. Dadd equated veterinary medicine to human medicine, sought the best students for veterinary medicine, and pioneered the clinical use of anesthesia in animals. The recipient is chosen by their peers. CVM Dean Carolyn J. Henry presented this year’s Dadd Award to Tamara Hancock, DVM, PhD, DACVP, an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology.

Henry also presented the Zoetis Distinguished Award. Students vote for an outstanding teacher whose ability, dedication, character, and leadership contributes to the advancement of the profession. Justin Nash, DVM, MS, who teaches small and large animal gross anatomy, was the 2023 honoree. The Zoetis Award was one of three teaching honors Nash received during the evening. He was the recipient of the Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA) Teaching Award for Basic Sciences. Firstand second-year students select a faculty member who has made immense contributions to their education and progression through the veterinary curriculum. First-year students also voted for Nash to receive their Golden Aesculapius Teaching Award.

Dr. John Groves Receives AABP

Practitioner of the Year Award

MVMA-member, John Groves, DVM, received the 2022 American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) Practitioner of the Year Award on September 22, 2022 during the association’s 55th annual conference held in Long Beach, CA.

Dr. Groves (Missouri ’92) owns Livestock Veterinary Service in Eldon, Mo., working exclusively with stocker and cow-calf operations. He is past-chairman of the MVMA’s Missouri Stocker-Feeder Quality Assurance Program.

A graduate of the Beef Cattle Production Management Series from the University of Nebraska, he is a founding member of Veterinary Advancement of Systems Thinking, a group of veterinarians interested in how the systems approach can be applied to animal health and production strategies. This year’s award was sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim.

In Memory

Dana K. Gillig, DVM

Sedalia, Mo.

Passed Away: April 13, 2023

Survived by her parents, Ron and Jean; brother Jarrod and his wife Jami and their children, Dakota and Kinsley

Claude Ray “C.R.” Hammons, DVM

Neosho, Mo.

Passed Away: January 13, 2023

Survived by his wife, Dianne.