Illinois veterinary college and alumni association announce awards

Urbana, IL - 9/13/06 - Three veterinarians have been selected by the University of Illinois (UI) College of Veterinary Medicine and its Veterinary Medical Alumni Association to be honored on September 14. Illinois graduates Dr. Gary Stamp, executive director for the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society, and Dr. Janis Audin, editor-in-chief at the American Veterinary Medical Association, will receive Dr. Erwin Small Distinguished Alumni Awards. The Special Service Award will be given to Dr. Roger Mahr, who took office in July as the president of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

The presentations will be made by Bill Hollis (DVM IL '96), president of the veterinary college's alumni association, during the school's Annual Fall Conference for Veterinarians.

Dr. Erwin Small Distinguished Alumni Awards recognize distinguished Illinois graduates who have made significant contributions to the profession or college.

Since retiring in 2001 as Commander of the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps, a position that culminated his 31-year military career, Dr. Gary Stamp (DVM IL '70, MS CSU '76) has served as executive director for the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society, a 3,000-plus-member organization which he helped to found. He also helped start the International Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Symposium and was a charter diplomate and first president of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care.

After practicing as an associate veterinarian in Calumet City, Ill., for four years, Dr. Janis Audin (DVM IL '79, MS IL '75), joined the editorial staff of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 1985, eventually taking the helm as editor-in-chief of both the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Journal of Veterinary Research in 1995. Dr. Audin was noted for being “dedicated to our profession with a quiet fervor that enables her to make things happen.”

Following graduation, Dr. Roger Mahr (DVM Iowa State '71) was employed as an associate veterinarian in the Chicago suburbs of Morton Grove and Evanston for three years. Dr. Mahr established, owned, and directed the Meadow View Veterinary Clinic in Geneva, Ill., from 1974 through 2004. He was unanimously elected last year as the 2005-2006 president-elect of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). Dr. Mahr will focus his presidency on improving human and animal health and increasing the number of veterinarians entering the areas of food safety, biomedical research, academia, regulatory medicine and emergency health preparedness.