ACVS honors 3 diplomates with career, medical and service awards

Germantown, Md.

-- The American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS) announced recipients of three of its top annual awards -- one for career achievement, one for developing a time-tested procedure or test and one for service to the organization.

George E. Eyster, VMD, MS, Dipl. ACVS, professor and chair of the Department of Medical Sciences and Associate Dean for Advancement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, received the ACVS Foundation Legends Award, which recognizes diplomates who have developed a surgical or diagnostic procedure of significant value, proven by becoming the treatment or test of choice over time for a given condition.

A pioneer in veterinary cardiac surgery, Eyster performed the first open-heart surgery on a dog using a heart-lung machine, first to use an open-heart procedure to close a ventricular septal defect, to close an atrial septal defect and to successfully implant a prosthetic mitral valve in a patient, along with other procedural "firsts."

Eyster founded the cardiology discipline at the University of Michigan's College of Veterinary Medicine 40-plus years ago and has published more than 50 scientific articles, book chapters and papers.

Donald L. Piermattei, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, recently retired from teaching at Colorado State University and his referral surgical practice in Denver, received the ACVS Founders' Award for Career Achievement, which recognizes outstanding contributions to veterinary surgery.

Author of two books in his field that have become educational resources, Piermattei's research has included the use of various antibiotics in experimentally induced cystitis in cats, heart transplantation in a miniature swine model, biomechanical analysis of cerclage wires on immature bone and the reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament using a fascia lata reconstruction.

Alan J. Lipowitz, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, executive secretary of the ACVS Foundation Board of Trustees since 2006 and executive secretary of the ACVS Board of Regents since 1992 until his retirement this year, received the Al & Carolyn Schiller Distinguished Service Award for his service to the ACVS. Lipowitz has been the author of 78 articles and book chapters and authored, with others, three textbooks on veterinary surgery. The award is named after the ACVS' first executive secretary, Al Schiller, and his wife Carolyn.

All three awards were presented at the ACVS' recent annual symposium in Washington, D.C.