This year redefined unforgettable. It also reinforced how the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine community thrives during even the most challenging times. In 2020, the CVM chose resiliency over fear and collaboration over division. Even with necessary restrictions to protect the health of employees and the general public, the NC State Veterinary Hospital never closed its doors.
Researchers continued their groundbreaking work. Students adapted admirably to a revamped approach to curriculum. This year, we were in this together. We still are. Here are 10 unforgettable NC State CVM stories of 2020.
~ Jordan Bartel/NC State Veterinary Medicine
Unwavering Commitment
On March 19, anesthesiology professor Lysa Posner sent out an email asking CVM colleagues if there was any interest in sewing cloth masks for essential hospital workers. On the first day, 40 people said they wanted to help. A month later, volunteers had made over 400 cotton cloth face masks.
The creation of the Face Mask Brigade is emblematic of the CVM’s response to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic this year: asking what we can do rather than wallowing in what we couldn’t. Pet owners and hospital workers coped with restrictions at the hospital, but lives were still saved and its doors were open. Amid the uncertainty, the hospital donated much needed supplies, including ventilators, to human hospitals.
Educators remained dedicated to training the next generation of veterinarians. In the spring, class content moved online, and during the fall semester the material covered was largely the same as it is every semester.
The spirit of the CVM community shined through the quieter moments. We checked in with each other a little more. We listened to each other more carefully. We were there for each other. And that often made the most difference.
Gifts That Keep Giving
We always say it: We couldn’t do what we do every day without the generous support of donors.
That was never more true this year. Donors stepped up in a big way to help support everything from scholarships for students, such as the Linda J. Kuhn Class of 1989 Graduate Award Endowment and the Annable Scholarship, to Gallop of Honor recognitions for beloved horses and the doctors who treat them.
Overall, large and small donations totaled more than $33 million this year. Among the highlights: more than $5 million in endowed scholarships and eight Coat of Excellence awards for doctors, residents, faculty and technicians in the veterinary hospital.
“It means a lot to know that there are good people out there who want to help,” said the class of 2022’s Tahj Boston, an Annable Scholar. “Now we have to pay it forward.”
Donations helped us renovate and expand equine isolation units and purchase cutting-edge hospital equipment for services including cardiology, oncology, neurology and emergency care.
And for the second year in the row, the CVM led all other NC State colleges in total dollars raised during the Day of Giving in September. Another is planned for March.
When Tracy Hanner became the CVM’s first Black graduate in 1986, he also became one of the few Black veterinarians in the United States. Nearly 35 years later, not enough has been done to change that. Underrepresented minority representation in veterinary medicine is still staggering low — about 10 percent overall.
At the CVM, minority representation in DVM classes has increased steadily to an average of 25 percent in the past seven years. In June, it took just a week for donors to help reach the $50,000 goal for a new endowment in Hanner’s name to support underrepresented students at the college. In the fall, the college launched its inaugural Fall Program on Race and Representation, which included a speaker series and a diversity, inclusion and wellness symposium. Space spaces were created on campus for Black, indigenous and people of color to regularly meet and support each other.
“We need a path to a better society and to a stronger profession that welcomes and supports every person equally,” said CVM Dean Paul Lunn.
It’s a challenging path, but a vital way forward.
World Impact
The role of veterinarians expanded immeasurably over the decades, exemplified perfectly by the CVM’s innovative and comprehensive global health program.
This year, the program grew even more. The CVM was designated a World Health Organization collaborating center to combat antimicrobial resistance worldwide — just one of 18 worldwide focused on AMR. In a project that’s the first of its kind, the CVM is collaborating with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to establish human and animal health laboratories in Malawi capable of systematic AMR surveillance.
A slew of global health research seed grants were given this year to projects tackling major global health challenges, including infectious disease and food security.
“We are going to get a good picture of what is going on across the world,” said Sid Thakur director of global health at the CVM and NC State. “And then we will come up with solutions.”
An Invaluable Mentor
For 35 years, class after class of CVM students became great surgeons because of Lizette Hardie. Her lessons, her tough love, her skill — it stays with them.
“I can truly say that I hear her voice in my head while scrubbing for every surgery,” said 2018 CVM graduate Meg Walker. “Her intelligence, drive and honest guidance was integral to my journey from student to veterinarian.”
This summer, Hardie, who joined the CVM in 1985, stepped down as head of the Department of Clinical Sciences after 12 years in the role, with Anthony Blikslager, professor of equine surgery and gastroenterology, taking the lead.
Thankfully, Hardie will continue on at the CVM as professor of general surgery. She will still teach students, help guide curriculum and offer the surgical lessons that have made her legendary.
“If you’re really going to be good at something, you’re going to have to work really hard at it,” said Hardie. I say, “‘OK, we can do this.’”
When student Samantha Lin died in a traffic accident in 2019, a year before her CVM graduation, the college lost a beloved member of the family. The world lost a veterinarian who was as kind and generous as she was intelligent.
In April, the college announced the endowment of the Samantha Lin Memorial Scholarship, with funding received from all sectors of the CVM community: alumni, faculty and staff, students, friends of the college and North Carolina Veterinary Medical Foundation board members.
The scholarship supports fourth-year students interested in surgery, research and teaching, all of which interested Sam. During May’s virtual graduation for the class of 2020, Sam’s classmates wore a ribbon with her initials in her memory, and Sam received a posthumous DVM.
The first recipient of the scholarship, Erin Wilkins, an aspiring surgeon in the class of 2021, remembered how Sam helped tutor students from other classes. Wilkins always sought out Sam’s study sessions.
“She was always willing to help,” Wilkins said. “She wanted all of us to succeed.”
Eureka!
This year, CVM researchers showed that platelet microparticles can deliver therapeutic drugs to a heart following a heart attack.
They discovered a new species of Rickettsia bacteria that may harm canine and human health, dove deep into a study on the gut microbiome that may guide epilepsy treatment of dogs and developed a new checklist to identify cats likely to have degenerative joint disease pain.
It was a banner year for CVM research across the board, with the college receiving nearly 250 grants totaling $20 million. Funding from high-profile federal organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health have sharply risen. In 2013, federal grants totaled $3.7 million. In 2020, they totaled $14 million.
The groundbreaking work continues into the new year. Ongoing projects include fighting biofilm-associated infections, determining if certain dog breeds feel pain more sensitively than others and evaluating a new radiation-enhancing drug to treat osteosarcoma.
Life-changing discoveries — as always — are right around the corner.
Founding Father
As the year came to a close, we lost our patriarch.
Terry Curtin, the CVM’s founding dean, died Dec. 15. He was 94.
Curtin served as the college’s dean from 1981 to early 1992, but his work for NC State began much earlier.
Before breaking ground on what would become the CVM, Curtin pushed tirelessly for North Carolina to be the home of a center of veterinary excellence. He recruited top-notch faculty from the beginning, helped develop curriculum and laid the overall foundation for the world-leading school the CVM would become.
He was diplomatic and dogged, whether working with university administration, offering clinicians advice or listening to students. With sterling vision, he set a forward-thinking tone, encouraging interdisciplinary cooperation united by shared purpose.
The college itself will forever be Curtin’s legacy.
A Very Happy Ending
When a 3-month-old rescue puppy arrived at the hospital this year, her mouth injury was so extensive she needed surgery to remove some of her teeth as well as part of her lower left jaw. Exposed tissue and bone had started to decay.
The surgery included bringing together the mucous membranes lining the interior of the mouth and cheek pouch to close the gap and cover what remained.
Her rescuer named her Coco, but she was about to receive a new name — and a forever home. After two weeks of post-surgery recovery, which included tube feeding and a special wound-care mouthwash, Coco joined the Brittain family in Durham.
The Brittains named her Yoshi. The injury made her tongue curve to the left as it healed; it began sticking out of her mouth where the jaw was removed. The look remained Brad Brittain, a medical support technician at the veterinary hospital, of the Nintendo dinosaur character Yoshi, who uses his tongue to grab objects in video games.
Now Yoshi is happy at home with the Brittains and their other dog, Knuckles, a pit mix who looks like a very large Yoshi.
“Yoshi and Knuckles are doing wonderfully together," Brittain said. “The first night I brought her home they immediately began wrestling in the backyard, and she hasn’t left his side since."
All in the Family
When Alex Barnett entered the CVM class of 2022, it showed her father, Craig Barnett, what was still possible.
Craig Barnett had studied marine biology at Florida State University, but after graduation he became a police officer and stayed one for nearly 30 years — until he decided to apply to the CVM class of 2024. His daughter is now his classmate and biggest cheerleader.
“He has worked so hard for this,” said Alex Barnett. “It took a lot of dedication and an extraordinary amount of effort. I am so happy for him.”
Alex Barnett’s parents have always supported her evolving aspirations and interests, right up to when she decided to go all-in with veterinary medicine. Now, she’s doing the same for her father.
“I don’t know if I would have been here today, really and truly, without Alex,” Craig Barnett said. “Seeing her make the decision to go to vet school showed me that I could.
“I can’t say I would have been brave enough to venture into vet school, without her encouragement.”