Student authors win federal health award

WASHINGTON - 06/10/05 - A veterinary-dentistry team wins first place in the interdisciplinary category of the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary's Award for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.

Mitch Potter, a third-year veterinary student at Auburn University (AU), and Megan Morgan, a third-year dentistry student at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, will share a $7,500 prize for their health promotion proposal, "Straight from the Horse's Mouth," according to an Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges news release.

The national writing competition featured more than 120 papers representing all health professions. "Straight from the Horse's Mouth" is a community education program designed to promote horse riding safety and dental health among youth, AAVMC says.

"This is the first veterinary student paper to use horses in a public health promotion project," AU Professor Dr. Charles Hendrix says in a prepared statement. "The idea puts an innovative twist on hippotherapy."