Penn Vet names leadership and student award winners

Philadelphia—Dr. Mo Salman, professor of animal population health at Colorado State University, has been named the 2010 recipient of the Penn Vet World Leadership Award. The award is given annually by the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine to a veterinarian who has made a significant difference in the profession. He was awarded $100,000 in unrestricted funding, reportedly the largest monetary award in veterinary medicine, which is underwritten by the Vernon and Shirley Hill Foundation.

The veterinary school also honored Nikkita Patel and Brittany Gross, who are recipients of the annual Penn Vet Student Inspiration Awards. These awards are presented to two Penn Vet students who show how they aim to push the frontiers of veterinary medicine and expand the profession’s impact on the well-being of animals and society. Each veterinary student receives $100,000 in unrestricted funding from the Hill Foundation toward their proposed projects.

The awards were presented Sept. 28. Salman's lecture at the ceremony was titled “Impact of Infectious Disease: Is It a Disaster or an Opportunity?” The student winners presented slide shows of their projects.

Salman, who has spent 37 years in veterinary medicine, has worked internationally for the Institute of Medicine. He has also served as chairperson of the examination committee and continuing organization committee of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine. Other positions of his include work with the U.S. Animal Health Association and the Animal Health and Animal Welfare Panel of European Food Safety Authority.

Patel is a fourth-year Penn Vet student whose award-winning proposal, “Veterinary Public Outreach 2.0,” will use the Internet to inform the public and policy makers about wildlife trade and other veterinary issues. Gross is a second-year Penn Vet student whose award-winning proposal involves constructing an educationally focused dairy farm in rural northeast Thailand.