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[AUDIO LOGO] [MUSIC PLAYING]
LORIN WARNICK: Welcome to the College of Veterinary Medicine DVM Hooding Ceremony. And please be seated. I hope we have a chair for everyone.
[LAUGHTER]
My name is Lorin Warnick and it's my honor to serve as Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine here at Cornell University. I welcome the Class of 2023. Congratulations to all of you.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
I also want to welcome our finishing interns and residents also seated on the stand. It's great to have you with us. And it's wonderful to have so many family members and friends here in-person or are watching online. I want to recognize our college faculty and staff who are here with us. In fact, could I could ask you to please stand and be recognized for all the outstanding work you do on behalf of our students and in service to the community? Please stand.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Welcome also to Dr. A'ndrea Van Schoick, Cornell University Board of Trustees member. If you want to wave, A'ndrea.
[APPLAUSE]
She's a 1996 graduate of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences here at Cornell and has a DVM degree in 2000 from the University of Illinois. It's very nice to have you with us. Also, our speaker for the White Coat Ceremony that we held just recently for the Class of 2024.
On the program with me today are Dr. Jai Sweet, Assistant Dean for Student Services and Admissions; Dr. Meg Thompson, Associate Dean and Director of the Cornell University Hospital for Animals; Associate Dean for Education Jodi Korich; and Dr. Paul Amerling, President of the New York State Veterinary Medical Society; and my close friend and colleague, Dr. Mary Smith, Recipient of the Alexander de Lahunta Teaching Award. Thanks to all of you for being here.
[APPLAUSE]
I also want to welcome and thank my wife, Jill Warnick, who's here in front. A--
[APPLAUSE]
--steadfast Cornell volunteer who has attended many hooding ceremonies over the years, including mine 35 years ago from Colorado State University.
[APPLAUSE]
So this is one of three such events for students in our college this weekend. Tomorrow, we will hold a Master of Public Health graduation in the morning, and our PhD candidates will participate in the Graduate School Hooding in the evening.
Commencement will be tomorrow afternoon in Schokhoff Stadium. I hope you can all be there. The weather forecast is looking tricky-- or looking great.
[LAUGHTER]
But this is-- Freudian slip. This is Ithica, so we never count on that ahead of time. To the graduates, as you complete your DVM education, you'll join the ranks of approximately 125,000 veterinarians in the United States. That may seem like a large number, but compared with critical veterinary roles in animal health, food production, public health, government, and military service, wildlife conservation, and much more, we're actually a relatively small profession.
With growing demand for veterinary services during the last few years, there is more need than ever for new graduates, and your skills and energy will be welcomed.
During the hooding ceremony, we'll hear about the near-term career plans of the members of Class of 2023, and their interests, as you'll hear, mirror the diverse opportunities available for veterinarians ranging from working with camelids in Peru to serving in the military as a veterinarian for working dogs.
About 38% will go on to do internships, residencies, or other advanced training, 82% will plan on small animal work, and the remaining 18% evenly divided between large and other careers.
While nearly two-thirds will remain in the Northeast, including few in Ithaca, which I was glad to hear, graduates will be heading for distance locations-- distant locations as far away as Australia.
This is the 123rd veterinary class to graduate from Cornell, the first being in 1900. When you visit the College, you can walk down one of our entrance hallways and see the pictures of all those classes over the years. And there were also 17 veterinary graduates before the College was formally organized beginning with Daniel Salmon in 1876 who was the first DVM degree recipient in the United States.
As new graduates, you follow in the footsteps of veterinary pioneers who were instrumental in establishing the profession in the United States. We appreciate this rich legacy and seek to continue their success and impact.
Each class over the years had its own unique educational experience. One of the notable example was the accelerated education program during World War II where they had two graduations per year, in 1943 and 1945, and no official class of 1948.
Memories of your time in the College will always be closely intertwined with our recollection of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. And as all of you know, midway through spring semester 2020, along with other universities in the region, we pivoted to remote learning for the remainder of the semester.
And at that time, if you think back, there was no vaccine available, hospital wards were overflowing, and there was a great deal of concern about bringing tens of thousands of students back to Ithaca that fall semester, both for the safety of students, faculty, and staff, but also for the surrounding community where the students represent such a large portion of the population.
The university recognizes that a robust testing program would be needed to open safely. Veterinarians and laboratory staff in our college, led by Dr. Diego Diel in the Animal Health Diagnostic Center, rose to the challenge. And along with Cayuga Medical Systems, which is our local health care provider, in record time, they set up the COVID-19 Testing Laboratory, and initially, the laboratory was in our college just up the road, further up on Tower Road.
And this laboratory went on to test over 2 million samples from Cornell students, faculty, and staff, including many from surrounding counties and communities. So I really appreciated how readily members of our college participated in the testing and other control programs.
We weren't spared from the serious effects of the disease, but as I watched the results over the course of the pandemic, I know this program and our college's participation in the public health response had a significant impact on controlling spread of infection, keeping the campus safe as possible, and preventing spread to vulnerable populations in the community. And I'm confident this program saved lives.
So I thank members of the Class of 2023 for your personal efforts and flexibility as we all worked together to respond to the challenges of the pandemic. Many effects of COVID-19 continue, but I'm grateful for the public investment in biomedical research which led to widespread availability of vaccines that blunted the most serious effects of infection. And I'm glad to have our programs largely back to normal and that we're able to meet in-person for this and other significant events.
During the pandemic, we became practiced at Zoom meetings, and now we have another tool we'll carry forward for collaboration, telehealth, and other purposes. And besides my memories of participating in the testing program, my other strong memory of the pandemic will be hours of Zoom meetings and often seeing a cat stroll leisurely across the keyboard and table on screen, and then the very practiced motion everybody developed to move the cat off the table.
As the Class of 2023 joins the profession, I thought I would just reinforce a few messages you've heard along the way and offer a couple of tips, and I've got lots of these, but I'll just pick a couple. First, you're finishing your DVM degree, but obviously your education will continue. Medical knowledge is advancing rapidly and you'll need to keep pace through continuing education, journal articles, collaboration with colleagues.
Scientific discovery and rigorous peer-reviewed research should form the foundation of your lifelong education. And a good place to start are the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Journal of Veterinary Research, which are newly transformed scientific journals under the leadership of Dr. Lisa Fortier, who's the AVMA Editor-in-Chief and a member of our faculty here today. Thanks for joining us, Lisa.
[APPLAUSE]
Dr. De Lahunta, for whom we named our Teaching Award selected by the fourth-year class, exemplified the spirit of discovery as a clinician, researcher, and educator. Early in my clinical career, on occasion, I would talk to him about cases I had seen on ambulatory service or bring him videos-- this was in the days of camcorders or pictures.
And he approached each case as an opportunity to learn something new, even conditions that I knew he had seen countless times before, and he just had an infectious enthusiasm for learning.
He was also famous for his unusual working hours-- 2:00 or 3:00 AM clinical rounds, for example. The last time he spoke at the College and gave a talk to a packed room, he told me a story about in the wee hours of the morning, his office-- those of you who know the College, it was just down the hall from the Anatomy Labs.
And he came out and there was a Holstein cow standing in the hallway. And she had gotten out of the pen and the large animal clinic, found her way through multiple doors, hallways, and was serenely looking in through the double glass doors of the library.
[LAUGHTER]
So the second point, we're feeling the effects of remarkably fast changes in impact of technology in our work and daily life. And you've all seen in the news this last few months articles about chat bots, ChatGPT, Bard, Bing, and others. And also, artificial intelligence is starting to play a role in biomedical research and image analysis and much more.
So you'll benefit from these tools in numerous ways, but I hope you can keep the personal touch that so much a part of the veterinary profession. And keep those personal interactions at the core of your work.
Veterinary medicine serves animals, but in the end, it's a people profession. And taking just a few minutes to really focus on other people, to listen carefully, to show empathy, to express gratitude will have an enormous positive impact on those you work with and on your own well-being.
So then just a couple of thoughts about life in clinical practice. Arguments and patients have two sides. In each case, remember, to examine both of them. And as you've learned, your animal patients have organs and anatomic structures that come in pairs, and that allows comparison to help you recognize abnormalities.
One tip I liked from one of my professors at Colorado State University-- of course, we all use in clinical practice a stethoscope for auscultation, it's a key tool. And he pointed out that the time you have the stethoscope in your ears is also a good uninterrupted thinking moment when you're trying to puzzle out what's going on with a hard case.
So I've also-- I don't want to leave family and friends out, I've got just a couple tips for you as well. Because you'll-- some of you-- for some of you, this will be a new experience having a veterinary doctor in the family or in your circle of friends, and that comes with some things you should be aware of.
After this weekend, they might insist that you call them doctor. Don't worry, that usually wears off in a few weeks, at least for mom and dad. Be prepared, if you watch a veterinary show on television-- in our family, we enjoy All Creatures Great and Small on PBS, you will likely get a running commentary on what our writers got wrong and how your new doctor would have done things differently and better.
And brace yourself for mealtime. You might hear way more than you ever wanted to know about notable lesions or diseases they've seen recently, and often using a food-based example to vividly describe what they've seen. And you might also hear a lot of specifics about foodborne pathogens, however rare they are.
So I feel like-- I probably haven't given you quite enough to navigate this transition in your lives, but I'm confident you'll find your way through it. It's such a pleasure to have all of you with us today to celebrate together. And again, congratulations to the Class of 2023, and thank you to your many supporters in the College community and at home who have helped you reach this significant achievement. Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
So it's now my pleasure to invite Dr. Paul Amerling to come forward and administer the Veterinarian's Oath to the class.
PAUL AMERLING: Good morning, everybody. It is my honor and my pleasure to be here and represent all the veterinarians in the great State of New York and welcoming the Class of 2023 to this wonderful profession. I ask you all to rise and raise your right hand so we can do the Veterinarian's Oath. We'll read responsibly.
Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine.
AUDIENCE: Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine.
PAUL AMERLING: I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge.
AUDIENCE: I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge.
PAUL AMERLING: And skills for the benefit of society.
AUDIENCE: And skills for the benefit of society.
PAUL AMERLING: The protection of animal health and welfare.
AUDIENCE: The protection of animal health and welfare.
PAUL AMERLING: The prevention and relief of animal suffering.
AUDIENCE: The prevention and relief of animal suffering.
PAUL AMERLING: The conservation of animal resources.
AUDIENCE: The conservation of animal resources.
PAUL AMERLING: The promotion of public health and the advancement of medical knowledge.
AUDIENCE: The promotion of public health and the advancement of medical knowledge.
PAUL AMERLING: I will practice my profession conscientiously.
AUDIENCE: I will practice my profession conscientiously.
PAUL AMERLING: With dignity and in keeping with the principles of veterinarian medical ethics.
AUDIENCE: With dignity and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics.
PAUL AMERLING: I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement.
AUDIENCE: I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement.
PAUL AMERLING: Of my professional knowledge and competence.
AUDIENCE: Of my professional knowledge and competence.
PAUL AMERLING: Congratulations.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
LORIN WARNICK: OK, we'll now proceed with hooding, and I'll invite Dr. Jai Sweet to present the class, so thank you.
JAI SWEET: Thank you, Dean Warnick. Everyone may sit except for the first row. First row of graduates, can you please remain standing? Thank you.
[? Alberassen ?] [? Narada ?] [? Via. ?]
[APPLAUSE]
Belen will be joining a small animal practice in Hoboken, New Jersey.
[APPLAUSE]
Alexandra Keiko Attanasio.
[APPLAUSE]
Alexandra will be joining a large animal ambulatory practice in Northern Vermont.
[APPLAUSE]
Xavier Eduoard Benjamin.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Xavier will be joining a small animal practice in Washington, DC.
[APPLAUSE]
Allison Cole [? Bejarano. ?]
[APPLAUSE]
Allison will be completing a small animal rotating internship at Garden State Veterinary Specialists in Tinton Falls, New Jersey.
[APPLAUSE]
Sophie Amelia Bracken with Distinction.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Sophie will be practicing small animal emergency medicine and rotating through the specialties at Pinnacle Veterinary Specialists outside of Philadelphia.
[APPLAUSE]
[? Faimi ?] [? Kai. ?]
[APPLAUSE]
[? Faimi ?] will be working at a small animal practice in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
[? Ami ?] Chan.
[APPLAUSE]
[? Ami ?] will be doing a small animal rotating internship at the ASPCA in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
Tiffany Chan.
[APPLAUSE]
Tiffany will be joining Veterinary Emergency Group's Paramus, New Jersey location for their Emergency Mentorship Program.
[APPLAUSE]
Mindy Chan.
[APPLAUSE]
Mindy will be joining a small animal practice in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
Jacqueline Chevalier.
[APPLAUSE]
Jacqueline will be completing an equine internship at Littleton Equine in Colorado.
[APPLAUSE]
Chelsea Felicia Churchill.
[APPLAUSE]
Chelsea will be joining a small animal general and emergency practice in Buffalo, New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Emma [? Chicka. ?]
[APPLAUSE]
Emma will be working at an ambulatory practice in Vermont working on dairy cattle and small ruminants.
[APPLAUSE]
Marissa Cobuzio.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Marissa will be heading to Fort Bragg, North Carolina where she will serve as a veterinarian for the United States Army.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Hannah Rose Coffin.
[APPLAUSE]
Hannah will be starting her residency in anatomic pathology at Cornell.
[APPLAUSE]
Peyton Alexandra Cole.
[APPLAUSE]
Peyton will be participating in a small animal rotating internship at the University of Georgia.
[APPLAUSE]
Ken Davidson.
[APPLAUSE]
Ken will be practicing small animal medicine at VCA North Country in Watertown, New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Pamela Day.
[APPLAUSE]
Pam will be joining a small animal practice in Washington State.
[APPLAUSE]
Abigail Elizabeth DeJohn.
[APPLAUSE]
Abigail will be staying in Ithaca next year to complete a small animal rotating internship at Cornell University.
[APPLAUSE]
Aliyah Diamond.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Aliyah will be practicing small animal emergency medicine at the Veterinary Emergency Group in New York City.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Kara Marie Doherty.
[APPLAUSE]
Kara will be completing a small animal rotating internship at Friendship Animal Hospital in Washington, DC.
[APPLAUSE]
William Downs.
[APPLAUSE]
William will be completing a small animal rotating internship at Angell Animal Medical Center Boston, Massachusetts.
[APPLAUSE]
[? Caitlyn ?] Michelle [? Dulay. ?]
[APPLAUSE]
Caitlyn will be completing an equine internship in New Jersey.
[APPLAUSE]
Sarah Dutra.
[APPLAUSE]
Sarah will be working at Northgate Pet Clinic, a small animal practice in Illinois.
[APPLAUSE]
Asia [? Feranda. ?]
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Asia will be working at a small animal and exotics practice in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[APPLAUSE]
Paige Farrar.
[APPLAUSE]
Paige will be practicing in the General Medicine Department at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston.
[APPLAUSE]
Diana Christine Fasanello.
[APPLAUSE]
Diana will be completing a small animal rotating internship at Garden State Veterinary Specialists in New Jersey.
[APPLAUSE]
Can the first row please be seated.
[APPLAUSE]
Kelly Fish with Distinction.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Kelly will be doing a small animal rotating internship in Northern Virginia.
[APPLAUSE]
Grace Gallentine.
[APPLAUSE]
Grace will be starting a small animal rotating internship in Nashville, Tennessee.
[APPLAUSE]
Maria Camila Garcia Estrella.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Camilla-- Camilla will be exploring opportunities in international veterinary medicine starting with working with camelids in Peru.
[APPLAUSE]
Isabel Cavizo Goldsmith.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Isabel will be joining a small animal practice in Washington, DC.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Darrien Gordon.
[APPLAUSE]
Darrien will be staying at Cornell for an anatomic pathology residency.
[APPLAUSE]
Julie Elaine Granger.
[APPLAUSE]
Julie will be doing a small animal rotating internship in Arizona.
[APPLAUSE]
William Walker Green.
[APPLAUSE]
William will be pursuing a private practice internship with the Genesee Valley Equine Clinic in Scottsville, New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Michelle Rose Greenfield.
[APPLAUSE]
Michelle will be completing a small animal rotating internship at Oradell Animal Hospital in New Jersey and continuing her pursuit of aquatic and zoological medicine.
[APPLAUSE]
Anna Griffin.
[APPLAUSE]
Anna will serve as a veterinary officer for the United States Army.
[APPLAUSE]
Claudia Guinansaca-Aguilar.
[APPLAUSE]
Claudia will be starting a small animal rotating internship in the Seattle area.
[APPLAUSE]
Katie Harrs.
[APPLAUSE]
Katie will be joining a small animal general practice in New Jersey.
[APPLAUSE]
Alexandra Hart.
[APPLAUSE]
Ali will be practicing small animal medicine at a general practice in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
Kelly Hyder.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Kelly will be practicing at a small animal general practice in Buffalo, New York.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Dijon Alicia Holness.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Dionne-- Dionne will-- Dionne will be working with Veterinary Emergency Group in Washington, DC.
[APPLAUSE]
Marlena [? Meta ?] Holter.
[APPLAUSE]
Marlena will be starting a lab animal residency at Yale University.
[APPLAUSE]
[INAUDIBLE]
[APPLAUSE]
[INAUDIBLE] will be joining a small animal practice in New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Helenrose Iannitti.
[APPLAUSE]
Helen-Rose will be doing an equine sports medicine mentorship with Early Winter Equine.
[APPLAUSE]
Joyce Jin with Distinction.
[APPLAUSE]
Joyce will be starting a small animal rotating internship at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital in Colorado.
[APPLAUSE]
Jennifer-- Jennifer Anne Jovinelly.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Jen will be joining a small animal and exotics emergency and specialty practice in New Jersey for an ER-focused internship.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Elsbeth Louise Kane.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Elsbeth will be focusing on small animal practice in Northern California.
[APPLAUSE]
Aileen Kang.
[APPLAUSE]
Aileen will be pursuing a small animal rotating internship at the Animal Medical Center in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
Alexander Kaplan.
[APPLAUSE]
Alexander will be practicing small animal medicine at Island veterinary Group in Huntington, New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Natalie Rose Katz.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Natalie-- Natalie will be starting her career with the United States Army at Fort Benning, Georgia.
[APPLAUSE]
Tiffany Grace Kei.
[APPLAUSE]
Tiffany will be completing a small animal rotating internship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.
[APPLAUSE]
Christina Kennedy.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Christina will be returning to her childhood veterinary office to work as a small animal veterinarian in West Chester, New York.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Emma Lynn Klein.
[APPLAUSE]
Emma will be joining a small animal practice in Grand Junction, Colorado.
[APPLAUSE]
Katherine Jun Koebel.
[APPLAUSE]
Katherine will be pursuing her PhD in dairy cattle, population medicine, and epidemiology here at Cornell.
[APPLAUSE]
Sarah Caroline Kopa.
[APPLAUSE]
Sarah will be joining Rotterdam Veterinary Hospital, a small animal practice, near Albany, New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Tommy Landes [? Gieagle. ?]
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Tommy will be heading down to the nation's capital, Washington, DC, to begin working at a small animal clinic. He plans to find additional experience working with exotics as well.
[APPLAUSE]
Leah [? Latourette. ?]
[APPLAUSE]
Second row, please sit. Third row, please rise. Leah will be working as an animal science professor in Cobleskill-- SUNY Cobleskill.
[APPLAUSE]
Cheyenne Rose [? Laubscher. ?]
[APPLAUSE]
Cheyenne will be moving to New Hampshire to work at a small animal emergency clinic.
[APPLAUSE]
Samantha Stephanie Lee.
[APPLAUSE]
Samantha will be a small animal rotating intern at the Animal Medical Center in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
[INAUDIBLE] Lee.
[APPLAUSE]
[INAUDIBLE] will be joining a small animal practice in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
Hannah Ruth Lindsley.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Hannah will be joining a small animal emergency practice in New Jersey.
[APPLAUSE]
Lydia Min Lu.
[APPLAUSE]
Lydia will be heading to a small animal rotating internship in Virginia.
[APPLAUSE]
Angela Lu with Distinction.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Angela will be completing a small animal rotating internship in Boston.
[APPLAUSE]
Caitlin Kelly Malone.
[APPLAUSE]
Caitlin will be going into small animal emergency and general practice in New Jersey.
[APPLAUSE]
Stephanie McEvoy.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Stephanie will be joining a mixed animal practice in Denver, Colorado where she will be working with mostly large and some small animals.
[APPLAUSE]
Kelsey McCarthy.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Kelsey will be starting her rotating internship at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in New Jersey this summer.
[APPLAUSE]
Erin McNally.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Erin will be working at a small animal general practice in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
Jenna Victoria Menard with Distinction.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Jenna will be doing a small animal rotating internship at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
[APPLAUSE]
Jason Scott Michael.
[APPLAUSE]
Jason will be practicing emergency medicine in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
Lauren Elizabeth Miller.
[APPLAUSE]
Lauren will be practicing small animal emergency medicine in Chicago.
[APPLAUSE]
Ali Manoli.
[APPLAUSE]
Ali is thrilled to be joining a small animal exotics practice in Westchester, New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Kristen Moore.
[APPLAUSE]
Kristen will be joining a small animal practice in Denver, Colorado as a general practitioner.
[APPLAUSE]
Timmothy Peterson Moore.
[APPLAUSE]
Timothy will be joining Empire Equine as an ambulatory equine veterinarian in the central New York area.
[APPLAUSE]
Kira Moran.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Kira will be teaching wildlife medicine over the summer in Australia, followed by a long overdue maternity leave, and then joining an urgent care practice in Miami, Florida.
[APPLAUSE]
Martina Morris.
[APPLAUSE]
Martina will be joining a small animal practice in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
Tory Page Malbec.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Tory will be joining a small animal general practice in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
Jessica Danielle Navarro.
[APPLAUSE]
Jessica will be joining a small animal hospital in Santa Rosa, California.
[APPLAUSE]
Sarah Ann Nugen.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Sarah will be returning to the West Coast to complete a small animal rotating internship at VCA West Los Angeles.
[APPLAUSE]
Donovan Odelugo.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Donovan will be joining a small animal practice back in his home state of New Jersey.
[APPLAUSE]
Maria Pauley.
[APPLAUSE]
Maria will be practicing small animal and exotic medicine at a primary care and emergency clinic in Connecticut.
[APPLAUSE]
Brittany Ann Papa.
[APPLAUSE]
Brittany will be pursuing an equine internship at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital Saratoga Springs, New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Amanda Paul.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Amanda and her dog Cora will be joining a small animal practice in Connecticut.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Lauren Elizabeth Peacock.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Lauren will be heading to Fort Bragg in North Carolina to serve as a veterinarian for the military working dogs.
[APPLAUSE]
Brooke Anne Pietrafesa.
[APPLAUSE]
Brooke will be joining Burnt Hills Veterinary Hospital, a small animal general practice, near Saratoga Springs, New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Adele Petrous.
[APPLAUSE]
Adele will be pursuing a PhD at the University of Florida with a focus on conservation genetics and black-footed ferrets.
[APPLAUSE]
[INAUDIBLE]
[APPLAUSE]
[INAUDIBLE] plans to explore the world.
[APPLAUSE]
Leah Natalie Ramsaran.
[APPLAUSE]
Leah will be completing a small animal rotating internship at Friendship Hospital for Animals in Washington, DC.
[APPLAUSE]
Mabel Nareida Redondo de la Paz Chang.
[APPLAUSE]
Mabel will be joining a feline practice in Connecticut.
[APPLAUSE]
Elsbeth Marie [? Regucci. ?]
[APPLAUSE]
Elsbeth will be joining a large animal practice with a focus on dairy cattle in the Central Valley of California.
[APPLAUSE]
Lizzie Fisher Riley.
[APPLAUSE]
Lizzie will be completing a small animal rotating internship at the University of Pennsylvania Vet School.
[APPLAUSE]
Oliver Riopelle.
[APPLAUSE]
Oliver will be working in a small animal urgent care and general practice.
[APPLAUSE]
Adam Edward Rodriguez.
[APPLAUSE]
Adam will be working in small animal emergency medicine in Southern New Jersey.
[APPLAUSE]
Jenna Laine Rudolfsky.
[APPLAUSE]
Jenna will be joining VCA Brookline, a small animal general practice. She will, however, be practicing as Dr. [? Augnesty ?] as she gets married next weekend online on Long Island.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Sarah Nicole Schlee.
[APPLAUSE]
Sarah will be practicing small animal emergency medicine at Orchard Park Veterinary Medical Center in Buffalo, New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Lauren Elizabeth Shrank.
[APPLAUSE]
Lauren will be joining a small animal practice near Saratoga, New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Brooke Schultz.
[APPLAUSE]
Brooke will be joining a race track practice in South Florida.
[APPLAUSE]
Mei Aoki Schultz.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
May will be starting a small animal rotating internship at Friendship Hospital for Animals in Washington, DC.
[APPLAUSE]
Sarah [? Spocozza. ?]
[APPLAUSE]
Sarah be working in a small animal general practice in upstate New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Megan Francine Shaw.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Megan will be starting a small animal rotating internship at Tufts University.
[APPLAUSE]
Dani [? Haley ?] Shecter.
[APPLAUSE]
Dani will be joining a small animal general practice in Boston, Massachusetts.
[APPLAUSE]
Vivian Shum.
[APPLAUSE]
Vivian will be working as small animal general practitioner in Toronto, Canada.
[APPLAUSE]
Megan Rose Smith with Distinction.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Megan will be completing a small animal rotating internship at the University of Pennsylvania.
[APPLAUSE]
Katie Sondericker is not here, unfortunately, she could not attend, but she will be practicing mixed animal in Western New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Megan Steinhilber.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Megan will be doing a small animal rotating internship at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
[APPLAUSE]
Kaitlyn Marie Goforth Trail.
[APPLAUSE]
Katie will be completing a small animal rotating internship at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in New Jersey.
[APPLAUSE]
Bailey Barrett Veilleux.
[APPLAUSE]
Bailey will be joining a mixed animal practice in Connecticut.
[APPLAUSE]
Makayla Watros.
[APPLAUSE]
Mikala will be pursuing a internship at the University of Wisconsin Madison and then continuing to work in shelter medicine.
[APPLAUSE]
Katherine B. Wexler.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Katie will be joining a small animal practice in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
Christina Elizabeth Winslow.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Christina will be returning to Southern California for a small animal rotating internship with VCA West Los Angeles.
[APPLAUSE]
Jacqueline Wong.
[APPLAUSE]
Jacqueline will be joining a small animal general practice in the New York-New Jersey area.
[APPLAUSE]
Kira Masako Wong.
[APPLAUSE]
Kira will be joining a small animal general practice in Seattle, Washington.
[APPLAUSE]
Kyle Woodley.
[APPLAUSE]
Kyle will be joining a small animal general practice outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
[APPLAUSE]
Ashley Yao.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Ashley will be a small animal rotating intern at Piper Olsen Veterinary Hospital in Connecticut.
[APPLAUSE]
Simone Yen.
[APPLAUSE]
Simone will be joining a small animal practice in Seattle.
[APPLAUSE]
Anna Harley Young.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Anna will be completing a internship at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine.
[APPLAUSE]
Natalie Margaret Zatz.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Natalie will be joining a small animal practice in Tampa, Florida.
Shoshana Sarah Zenilman.
[APPLAUSE]
Shoshana will be completing a lab animal residency at NYU Regeneron in New York City.
[APPLAUSE]
Marissa Zurkowski.
[APPLAUSE]
Marissa will be joining a small animal general practice and urgent care in Waynesville, North Carolina.
[APPLAUSE]
Katherine Jo Rubinstein.
[APPLAUSE]
Katherine will be practicing small animal and exotic animal medicine in Syracuse, New York.
[APPLAUSE]
Jared Zion.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Jared will be moving to Boston, Massachusetts for a small animal rotating internship at VCA South Shore.
[APPLAUSE]
Please join me in congratulating the Class of 2023.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
OK, it's my it's my pleasure to invite Dr. Mary C. Smith, DVM Class of 1972, Professor in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences and Winner of the 2023 Alexander de Lahunta Teaching Award, to the podium.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Dr. Smith-- Dr. Smith was selected by a vote of the fourth-year class to receive this award, which recognizes her as a dedicated and inspirational teacher to deliver the charge to the class. Congratulations, professor.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
MARY SMITH: Thank you. It's a great honor to receive this award and a great pleasure to have the entire class here in-person and on time, so thank you.
I've got three general categories of things to talk to you about. One is about Dr. De Lahunta, something about teaching, and a few things that we hope you will have learned while in vet school. But first, I want to say a few words about myself because there are friends and family in the audience who don't know me at all.
I was born in Ithaca. I attended the Ag School and the Veterinary College at Cornell. And I graduated from the Vet School in 1972 debt-free.
[APPLAUSE]
Things have changed my father was on the faculty in the Poultry Department, and that carried me through seven years of college. I joined the ambulatory clinic for one year for an internship while my husband finished the postdoc in physics that he had to start because he finished his PhD before I graduated. Neither one of us ever got out of here. I don't think that you'll be able to predict your future any better than I was able to predict mine.
Now for Dr. De Lahunta. He was known to his colleagues as Sandy, and to the students, as Dr. D. He graduated in 1958, and after two years in practice, he came back to Cornell and did a PhD. Then in 1963, he was hired as an assistant professor in the Anatomy Department.
He taught anatomy of the dog, neurology, embryology, all sorts of things related to the nervous system and anatomy in general. His textbook on veterinary neuroanatomy and clinical neurology was published in 1977. I really think I wrote that book out longhand by pen light because he turned out all the lights in the class and I wanted to get notes of it.
He gave neuro rounds every Friday. We would not be here in Bailey, we would be up at the Vet School watching him demonstrate neurologic signs in some interesting patients from the week. He had many videos which you can still see online.
You also heard that he had strange hours. He left that office in the corner down the hall from the Registrar's Office by 5:00 every day to keep peace in the family, but he came in at 2:00 in the morning. And he did all his neurology clinical examinations when the hospital was quiet.
Most years, there were a student or two who came along at 2:00 in the morning and learned all of Dr. D's expertise in neurology. You, too, will get farther ahead in your career if you're able to put more than 39 hours a week into working at it.
He was very, very patient with slow learners. When I couldn't figure out a sheep with a very strange gait in its front legs-- did it have a root signature? What was going on with these different legs? He loaned me his video camera. I came back with the video quite proud.
He said, sorry, this is musculoskeletal. This isn't neurologic. I went to the back to the farm actually several more times before I figured out that that sheep had osteoarthritis in both elbows and it wasn't at all neurologic. It's a condition I've seen many times since.
However, he did have his limitations. He did not like a species he was not familiar and comfortable with. One day, I brought him a chicken, a live chicken in a shoebox. It had curled toe paralysis, so it's lying on its side like this. And that was a B vitamin deficiency, vitamin B2, from eating too much corn.
We found him in the Necropsy Room taking out horse brains for his anatomy classes, and the student said, hey, Dr. D, we brought you a chicken! He looked up, saw me, and said, she must be kidding, and he would not look in the shoebox.
Dr. Morris, he remembers his chicken because I took it to pathology rounds live, passed it around the bleachers, it went back to my office, recovered with B vitamins, and went home.
He studied the photos of the incoming class in advance. He knew every student on the first day of class. It's hard to hide when your professors know you that way. And one of the important things to learn from Dr. D is that your first impression that somebody gets of you may not be the full story.
In the days when Dr. De Lahunta came to Vet School, Cornell gave admissions interviews. Dr. De Lahunta joined the Class of 1958 in September off the waiting list. We made a big mistake there and we're very lucky to have gotten him in the end.
And also, there was a time when Dr. D was CHAIR of the Department of Clinical Sciences, a time when I was in that department. And every year, he had to meet with every faculty member, and he told me that if I could write one good paper a year, that was enough to get me tenure at Cornell. That's another thing that has changed, but it has allowed me to put my emphasis on teaching and on clinical studies rather than having to devote 35 or 50 or 60% of my time to research.
OK. The best thing to do to learn something is to teach it to someone else. Now your professors have given those same talks every year, often for many years. They do update them a little bit, but they dust them off the night before your lecture, and most of those things they can remember because they've said them so many times.
They've watched you struggle in clinics. How to get blood out of a sheep in full fleece. How to spay a cat. They know all the things that can go wrong and they know how to help you through learning those things. If you go on and teach your skills to your clients, that will solidify your knowledge. You'll know how to do the FAMACHA scoring, how to trim feet, how to analyze data off dairy comp, whatever.
You're going to learn by listening, by looking, by asking questions, and of course, by doing. If a client has discovered a neat way of doing something, you can share that with the next client. And by sharing it, you'll remember it yourself and can build it into the knowledge you've accumulated.
When you drive down the road, you're just-- you're watching for more than deer, and more than the second deer after the first deer, and drunk motorists, you're watching for plants.
When I asked Jai Sweet what I was supposed to talk about, she said, anything you want. You can give them a lecture on poisonous plants if you want. OK. This is a Spathiphyllum. It's poisonous. Do not let your cats chew on that houseplant.
| we all need small successes in our life every day. And if you can look out and say, that's a mayapple, that's a red maple, that's an elderberry bush, and it's going to have fruit soon and I can turn it into jam or wine as the conditions vary. It'll boost your morale to recognize those plants because you're in charge and you're correct.
And if you have trouble identifying those plants, you all have cell phones, you all have cell phones with an app. You point it at the plant and that will say Spathiphyllum. So it's great you can learn those things.
Now, try things you never did before. You're going to have to do this if you care about your patients because some of your clients will not be able to refer to Cornell or another specialty hospital. And they'll say, hey, doc, can you fix the obstruction in this pet goat? And you'll say, I never even saw one in the hospital. But with a YouTube video and a little guts, yes, you can do it.
[LAUGHTER]
Now, remember to get the history, and to get it several times, and from everyone who's seen the animal, because the history changes in very interesting ways. Also, let the owner tell you his or her-- have trouble saying their because was taught grammar in a different fashion, but to tell you-- yeah. Let them tell you everything they had to say and don't interrupt them too many times.
I have a client with goats and he teaches Montessori. And the first time I met him, I tried to ask him a question before he was done. And he said, no, it's my turn to talk. I've tried to remember that lesson, though I do forget it.
Keep your eyes open, . Notice things you can't explain, that you've never seen before. Look them up, ask your friends, treat them with flash photography, email the photos to your colleagues, to your professors, and you'll find many answers come to you. I still email the retired people from this vet school because when I've got a neurology problem, I want Dr. Divers' opinion on the case.
Now you undoubtedly have heard that everything you needed to learn you learned in kindergarten. If that were true, you would have wasted the last eight years of your life and a lot of money getting to this stage. But you do need to understand that not everybody out there passed kindergarten. They don't know what they need to know.
I remember this every time I drive across campus. There are undergrads crossing against the light with the earphones on and their heads and their cell phone, and I know what their parents told them about looking both ways and watching the lights.
So your clients will make unbelievable, dumb mistakes. They will leave the dog in the back seat of the car. They will feed the raisins and the chocolate and the illicit drugs because the dog might like it. Again, you've got to ask the same history questions multiple times to get the right answer from that person.
But, you need to also understand that you yourself are not perfect. You will make mistakes, you will make some mistakes by forgetting to do something or not knowing to do. Sometimes you'll have done the wrong thing. Some of those mistakes will be fatal.
Now one reason I prefer medicine to surgery is that when you do medicine, you know that the patient is responsible for a lot of the recovery. It's a physiology of that dog or cat or cow that's going to fix the body. You give it a little tweak. When you do surgery and something goes wrong, it was clearly the surgeon's fault, and I don't like being in that position.
Now Dr. Braun was a faculty member and ambulatory when I started. And he liked to say that the first three patients you touch after graduation should die, so you get used to it. So it doesn't come as a surprise and wipe you out several months later. You will learn more from your mistakes than you do from your successes, but when you've learned the lesson, put it out of your mind and move on because you have many other animals to care for. You need resilience in this profession.
Always double-check the things that are really important, such as the doses of drugs for anesthesia, the tetanus status of the horse. If something doesn't fit the picture, look harder. When a student tells me that this horse has very painful eyes, has a heart rate of 42, I say, A, how long did you count? It should have been a multiple of 15. And B, did you hear both hearts out? Because that horse is in pain and it's really 84. So when things don't fit, do double-check.
Just a couple of weeks ago, one of the ambulatory clinicians saw a weak, down goat kid, a couple of months old, with brick-red mucous membranes. What in the world is going on? It turned out, it had a spear hole in its heart and it had polycythemia from trying to get enough red blood cells to get enough oxygen around to its body. And the fact that that very sick animal was very red just didn't click. So when things don't fit, keep looking further.
Be sure you're working on the right patient. You all know the stories of the surgeon taking off the wrong leg. Dr. Braun told us a story from his own career in ambulatory. He went to castrate a colt. The owner wasn't home. Those were the days before cell phones. He castrated the colt, he drove down the driveway, he put his bill in the mailbox, and realized it was the wrong driveway. He was lucky that client also wanted the colt castrated.
[LAUGHTER]
And didn't mind at all the free price. Also, look at the other animals on the farm, not just the one you were called for. Are the others fat or are they also all skinny? Are they well grown or are they stunted? Do they have pinkeye? Are they lame with footrot? Prevention of the problem in the rest of the herd is the best thing you can usually do on a large animal call.
And even in the small animal cases if there's another dog at home and it just ate half of the corncob, then you can have the long lecture, which you-- they already gave them some influence on about not feeding corncobs to dogs.
When you graduate, you're going to discover that the multiple guess questions have all disappeared. Every question you need to answer now about diagnosis or treatment or prevention. You have to come up from your own mind with the choices, and that's harder, and it's not machine-graded.
But when you're really stumped for a diagnosis, go to the Cornell Consultant Program, put in the clinical signs, and if it's something other than a camelid, it will tell you all the possible reasons for that animal to have diarrhea or pruritus or whatever the signs were.
Now, you need to have other hobbies and interests and throw yourself into them also. Playing a musical instrument-- I play French horn. Not very well because that takes hours a day and I don't have hours a day. Cross-country skiing, couldn't do it this winter because it didn't snow in Ithaca.
Running. I don't do that. My joints say no. But I do like orienteering and I like photography and I cook on weekends so my husband stays with me. So there are many things you can do outside of veterinary medicine and you need to do them to keep sane.
For special things, just a few of them, I hope you will remember. Sheep and goats can be seen and treated by a large animal vet or a small animal vet. They can come into your waiting room or you can see them in the back of the car. A yellow sheep has copper toxicosis until proven otherwise. Lambs and kids with monkey butt have coccidiosis until proven otherwise.
Look at the plants on the farm. If you know the people well enough to know where they live, look at the plants in their yard. Tell them about rhododendrons and Japanese yews and how toxic they are. If you have small animal clients and Easter is coming, tell them not to buy an Easter lily because your price for treating that cat is going to exceed their checkbook.
And finally, friends don't let friends get male small ruminants as pets. Because you and I don't really understand why they get urinary obstructions, we're not good at preventing it, treatment's very expensive, and maybe one of you will go forward and solve this problem that I don't know how to get around other than telling you, don't let them get the animals as pets. So thank you very much, and have a good career.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
LORIN WARNICK: Thank you. Outstanding advice, and congratulations, Dr. Smith, for receiving the Inaugural De Lahunta Teaching Award.
[APPLAUSE]
I spent quite a few years working with Dr. Smith on-- excuse me-- on ambulatory. And every once in a while, she would ask me a question about some clinical thing. And I would look back at her kind of dumbfounded, not knowing the answer, and I tried to get across that everything I know clinically is a subset of what you know.
[LAUGHTER]
And so I wasn't usually in a position to help, but what a wonderful experience that was working together those years. So next up, we're very pleased to invite Associate Dean Korich to the podium to present student awards. And after her presentation, Associate Dean Thompson, Director of Hospital Operations will come forward to recognize our interns and residents. Dr. Korich.
Good afternoon. Our first Prize is the Horace K. White Prize. An endowment for this prize was originally given by Mr. Horace K. White and later his sons of Syracuse, New York. For the student with the highest academic record during their veterinary training, this award, originally called the President's Prize, dates back to 1873 and is probably the longest-standing prize at Cornell. The original donor was a brother to Andrew Dickson White, the first President of the University. The prize goes to Megan Rose Smith.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
The Malcolm E. Miller Award. In 1965, Ms. Mary Wells Miller Ewing established this award in memory of her husband, Dr. Malcolm E. Miller, Class of '34, a former Professor of Anatomy and the head of that department from 1947 to 1960. The recipient is to be a fourth-year student who, in judgment of the Dean, has demonstrated perseverance, scholastic diligence, and other personal characteristics that will bring credit and contradistinction to the veterinary profession. The award goes to Pamela Jill Day.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
The Leonard Pearson Veterinary Prize. This award, endowed in 1993, is the fourth-year student who most successfully demonstrates the potential for personal and/or professional academic leadership in veterinary medicine. The prize goes to Elsbeth Louise Kane.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
MEG THOMPSON: So hello, everyone. I've been sitting up here and, like, looking at shoes the whole time. It's quite the fun thing to do. And then I remembered that I looked at my feet, and I was like, oh, I have black socks and blue shoes. And then I remembered that Mary, like, she always has everything. She has the best socks. If you look, Mary, they don't match. That's like the key to all of you of Mary Smith.
So then I was like, OK, it's OK, my shoes and my socks don't match. So I'm a Dr. Meg Thompson. I'm here to congratulate our interns and residents. For those of you who don't know, the hospital has almost as many interns and residents now as it does veterinary students.
We have 10 of them here with us today that I'm going to congratulate and give their certificates to. So we can start with Dr. Brad Beck.
[APPLAUSE]
Brad is our theriogenology resident for those of you who don't know. That's reproductive medicine. He's a graduate of the Atlantic Veterinary College at PEI in Canada. And he's going to actually be staying with us, so yay.
[APPLAUSE]
Next is Dr. Christian Folk and I'm hopefully not going to say things like traditional pronunciation because that's what it says on my script. Dr. Folk is a small animal surgery resident and he graduated from LSU. He's not here, so I'm going to skip him and I'm going to say [? Murcasine ?] is next.
So I'm looking up. Michael [? Murcasine ?] is one of our small animal internal residents. He's graduated from Cornell like many of our residents have in 2018, and he's actually staying in town with us, so we're super excited that he's going--
[APPLAUSE]
Next is Shotaro Nakagun. He's in our anatomic pathology resident finishing this year. Graduated from a Japanese veterinary school in 2016. And he's going to the San Diego Zoo, which is like, for all of you who know, the greatest zoo.
[APPLAUSE]
Next is Dr. Sophie Nielsen, another one of our anatomic pathology residents. She graduated cum laude from Liege in Belgium. And she's staying at Cornell to do a PhD, so we're super excited.
[APPLAUSE]
Brenna actually warned me as we were walking in, I was going to say her name wrong. So [INAUDIBLE]. And the reason Brenna is our large animal surgery resident, she graduated from Tufts like I did. And she's going to do a PhD at North Carolina State.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Dr. Santos Vaughn, I'm going to-- I know I got your name right, I practiced and I messed it up, but I practiced. He's our cardiology resident. He's from Colorado State. And he's going back to Colorado to work at a specialty practice in Colorado.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Next is Dr. Amy Todd-Donato. She's a radiologist like I am. I am so excited. She's double-boarded in radiology and equine diagnostic imaging, one of only about 13 in the country. She's a 2006 Cornell grad and we're super excited she's staying with us.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
Next is Dr. Sydney Warshaw. She's a dentistry and oral surgery resident. She graduated from Penn even though it won't give her-- that's OK. But she's moving to New York City to work at Prism Veterinary Dentistry with a past Cornell grad.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
And last, we have a lot of Z's this year, Dr. Brittany Zumbo. She's been here for a long time as a intern and as a resident. She is our medical oncology resident from Michigan State, and she's staying with us, I think.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
So please thank all of them. They've contributed a lot to the vet students' education.
[APPLAUSE]
LORIN WARNICK: Thank you. And I want to add my thanks to the interns and residents who bring so much to our program in clinical education, serving the public through clinical service, and performing really groundbreaking research. So thanks to all of you and congratulations.
So before we close our ceremony, I always think it's nice to take a minute to reflect on all the people who support students through their academic career. And I'd just invite the class to perhaps stand up and give round of applause to all of your family and friends who are here as supporters.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
OK. And I think you can stay standing for a minute. Next, we'll invite the faculty to come forward, joining us on stage, and we're going to sing together the Alma Mater. After this ceremony, there will be a reception up at the College, which is just up at the end of Tower Road. So if you go out of Bailey Hall, turn left on Tower Road, you'll see us at the edge of campus there.
And I want to close by saying thanks to all of you for joining us. It's just such a pleasure to have you here. Congratulations again to this wonderful class. And now please join us in singing the Alma Mater. Here we go.
[ARCHIBALD CROSWELL WEEKS AND WILMOT MOSES SMITH, "FAR ABOVE CAYUGA'S WATERS"]
(SINGING) Far above Cayuga's waters, with its waves of blue stands our noble Alma Mater, glorious to view.
Lift the chorus, speed it onward, loud her praises tell; hail to thee, our Alma Mater, hail, all hail, Cornell. Far above the busy humming of the bustling town, reared against the arch of heaven, looks she probably down.
Lift the chorus, speed it onward, loud her praises tell; hail to thee, our Alma Mater, hail, all hail, Cornell.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
