in good hands · 2019-03-15 · ening disease illustrates the intersection of mul-tiple aspects of...

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veterinarym e d i c i n eT UF TS

P L U S : A N E W M O D E L F O R C O E X I S T E N C E ? n A G L O B A L H E A L T H P L A N

In Good HandsThe Foster Hospital for Small Animalsstands at the forefront of intensive care

In Good HandsThe Foster Hospital for Small Animalsstands at the forefront of intensive care

Dr. Rose Nolen-Walston, a staff veterinarian in large animal internal medicine at Tufts’ Hospital forLarge Animals, received an award for the best equine research presented by a resident at the 2005meeting of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Nolen-Walston completed her residency in large animal internal medicine at Cummings in June 2005.

A total of 80 residents competed in this award program. Nolen-Walston’s presentation, “Effectof Detomidine Sedation on Respiratory System Resistance,” showed that veterinarians can makeclinical lung function testing of equine athletes less stressful and more efficient by using a long-lasting sedative during the procedure.

According to Nolen-Walston, airway disease is the second most common cause of decreasedperformance in equine athletes. Inflammatory airway disease—a condition similar to asthma inhumans—is the most prevalent dysfunction of the lower respiratory tract. To diagnose this disease, Nolen-Walston and other veterinarians at the Tufts Lung Function Laboratory use a non-invasive test called forced oscillatory mechanics to measure the performance of small airwaysin the lung. Horses must be lightly sedated during the procedure for about 40 minutes. Since thesedative traditionally used lasts for half that time, many horses must undergo multiple intra-venous injections throughout the testing.

“My research project was designed to investigate whether detomidine—a longer acting seda-tive—affects the results of lung function testing,” Nolen-Walston explained. “Our data showedthere was no significant difference between the results of horses sedated with or without detomi-dine. This should allow us to improve the clinical lung function testing of equine athletes, makingthe procedure less stressful to the horse and more beneficial for the veterinarian.”

CO N T E N T SS P OT L I G H T

features6 In Good Hands

New advances are saving lives in the ICU.

12 How Close? How Personal?As human and wildlife habitats collide, expertsconsider new ways of living side by side.

17 Global Health Dream TeamVeterinarians take the lead in a team approach toworldwide health concerns.

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departments2 Letter from the Dean

4 In Brief

20 Advancement

PHOTO: ANDY CUNNINGHAM

Award–Winning Study Says TestMethod Benefits Equine Patients

Your backyard birdfeederis raising a controversy.See why on page 12.

On the cover: Patients treated atthe Foster Hospital’s ICU benefitfrom close attention and the latesttechnology and techniques.

COVER PHOTO: MELODY KO

s p r i n g 2 0 0 6 t u f t s v e t e r i n a r y m e d i c i n e 32 t u f t s v e t e r i n a r y m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 0 6

F R O M T H E D E A N

The Cummings Contribution

m. sawkat anwerinterim dean

Avian influenza has captured the concern andcuriosity of people throughout the world. At theCummings School, we see how this one threat-ening disease illustrates the intersection of mul-tiple aspects of veterinary medicine, inparticular, domestic poultry and poultry keep-ers, livestock disease monitoring, wildlife healthsurveillance, companion animal medicine, andpublic health. Avian influenza has had a devas-tating impact on poultry farmers and allied

industries; it is now clear that the disease is moving along the migratory routes of certain wild birds;a domestic cat contracted the disease in Europe; zoo cats died from eating infected poultry in Asia,and more than 100 people who have contracted the virus from direct contact with infected birdshave died worldwide.

What are we doing?n Our wildlife health veterinarians are working with state, regional, and national agencies, taking

advantage of programs we’ve built through years of wildlife health surveillance, to establishsystems for tracking avian influenza and for ensuring coordination between organizations.

n Augmenting our longstanding federally funded research efforts on preventing and controllingthe agents of food and waterborne infectious diseases, we are adding faculty and building afacility devoted to the study of the important diseases that are transmitted from animals topeople.

n We have faculty members, funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of theUnited Nations, and soon will have students on the ground in Indonesia, a hotbed of avianinfluenza in poultry and humans. They are using epidemiological tools and our experience incontrolling similar viral diseases to assess this critical situation and recommend science-basedand culturally sensitive policies to control the disease.

n We have boosted our commitment to educating our students in principles of public health,adding a faculty member dedicated to the discipline. See the story on our global health cur-riculum in this issue.

n We are spreading the word about the importance of encouraging more veterinarians tochoose careers in public service and biomedical research, improving and protecting publichealth. Dr. George Saperstein’s editorial opinion piece on the following page, reprinted fromthe Worcester Telegram & Gazette, is an example of this effort.

The value of our innovative, comprehensive Cummings School curriculum, which includesfocused programs in areas such as international veterinary medicine, conservation medicine, andwildlife medicine not found at most other veterinary colleges, is apparent in the face of a challengelike avian influenza.

Veterinarians play a vital role in maintaining public health B Y D R . G E O R G E S A P E R S T E I N

More than 75 percent of all infectiousdiseases emerging in the last 50 years havebeen zoonotic diseases, those that movefrom animals to people. Besides avian flu,these diseases include AIDS, Lyme disease,mad cow disease and SARS.

Most people are not familiar with theveterinarian as public health practitioner.But when avian flu reaches America, it willbe a public health veterinarian who firstdetects it in a migratory or domesticatedbird. These are veterinarians who under-stand the biology and behaviors of animals,the agents that infect them, the systemsthat house them, the environments inwhich they live, and the risks to people whocare for them.

This little-known breed of veterinarianis a member of the same profession that lov-ingly takes care of your cat, dog or hamster.But the ultimate patient is also humankind.

Overall, there is a lack of awareness ofhow veterinary medicine is tied into publichealth, a dearth of positions for veterinari-ans in public health, and insufficient fundsfor research in this field. Of the approxi-mately 80,000 veterinarians in the UnitedStates, only about 4 percent are working infederal, state or local government or in theuniformed services. These few publichealth veterinarians and researchers aremarshaling meager resources to createnational and international surveillance sys-tems for avian influenza in both wildlifeand domestic animals.

Let me repeat: The key to preventing apandemic of avian influenza in people is a

swift response to an outbreak in animalpopulations—before the flu mutates.

It seems obvious, but it still needs to besaid: America needs more students trainedfor careers in public practice and veterinary

research, strengthening our nation’s abilityto develop critical emergency response plansto protect people, animals and the environ-ment against outbreaks of zoonotic diseases.

These veterinarians safeguard our pets,livestock and wildlife, the quality and safe-ty of the food we consume, and … our ownhealth.

Veterinary education in the UnitedStates is superb, but it is not free. Becauseof declining government support, thenation’s professional veterinary capacity hasnot changed significantly in 20 years, and ithas been nearly 30 years since the federalgovernment has provided general fundingfor veterinary schools. Veterinarians trainedthree or four decades ago are now retiring,and the Association of AmericanVeterinary Medical Colleges has reportedthat the U.S. needs approximately 350additional veterinary students annually to

meet the nation’s public health needs.The proposed Veterinary Workforce

Expansion Act (S.914, H.R.2206) wouldhelp protect the United States against acci-dental or intentional disease outbreaks thatendanger public health or threaten ournation’s food supply. This act would provide$1.5 billion over 10 years to expand the sizeof veterinary schools and increase the num-ber of veterinarians working in publichealth practice and biomedical research.

Kudos to Sen. Wayne A. Allard, R-Colo.—a retired veterinarian—and Rep.Charles W. Pickering Jr., R-Miss., forintroducing this bill, as well as to Sen.Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and the 14other members of Congress, Democratsand Republicans alike, who have joinedthem as cosponsors. Increasing the numberof veterinarians who apply their skills topublic health practice and biomedicalresearch will provide assurance that moreveterinarians are on the public health teamwhen we need them.

George Saperstein, DVM, is assistant deanfor research at the Cummings School ofVeterinary Medicine at Tufts University.

Reprinted with permission from the WorcesterTelegram & Gazette, March 13, 2006.

T U F T S V E T E R I N A R Y

M E D I C I N E

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Executive EditorM. Sawkat Anwer, Interim Dean

Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine

Editorial AdvisorShelley Rodman, Director

Veterinary Development and Alumni Relations

EditorGail Bambrick, Director

Tufts University Publications

WriterLeslie Limon

Art DirectorMargot Grisar

Tufts University Publications

Graphic DesignerKelly McMurray

2communique

PhotographersAndrew Cunningham

Melody Ko

Tufts Veterinary Medicine is funded in part by the Edward Hyde Cox Fund forPublications. It is published three times a year and distributed to key university

personnel, veterinary students,veterinarians, alumni, friends, and others.

We welcome your letters, story ideas, and suggestions. Send correspondence to:

Editor, Tufts Veterinary MedicineTufts University

Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine200 Westboro Road

North Grafton, MA 01536Telephone: 508-839-7907

Website: www.tufts.edu/vetEmail: [email protected]

preventing a bird flu pandemic by developing a vaccine forhumans is like trying to stop a volcano by sprinkling water on thelava flow. Our first step must be to control outbreaks in animal pop-ulations—before the flu mutates.

I N T H E N E W S

America needs more students trained for careers in public practice and veterinary research, strengthening ournation’s ability to develop critical emergency response plansto protect people, animals and the environment againstoutbreaks of zoonotic diseases.


I N B R I E F

CONFERENCE SET FOR JULY 30–31Veterinarians and their technicians should regis-ter now for this summer’s Northeast VeterinaryConference (NEVC), to be held July 30-31 at theFour Points by Sheraton Resort in Hyannis, Mass.Developed by and for the veterinary communi-ty, this annual conference features nationallyrenowned clinicians presenting the latestadvances in veterinary medicine. Conferenceattendees will have ample time to hone theirskills, network with their peers, and expand theircorporate contacts. The NEVC is a collaborativeeffort between Tufts’ Cummings School ofVeterinary Medicine and the veterinary medicalcommunity of New England. It is a non-profitendeavor and all net proceeds are used to pro-vide scholarship support for students attendingCummings Veterinary School.

To register or for more information about theNEVC, contact the Office of Continuing Educa-tion at 508-887-4723; [email protected] visit this website: http://www.tufts.edu/vet/nevc.

dr. jim ross greets a new visitor as ifthey’re old friends, smiling broadly andbringing his face close as he offers a warmhandshake. This is his first day back fromvacation, which is obvious from the stacksof mail that have piled up.

Looking around at an office filled tocapacity, one sees the monumental task ofsorting through and packing up materialevidence of a 24-year stint. For Ross was notsimply the first chair of the Department of

Medicine at Cummings School ofVeterinary Medicine; he was a key figure inhelping to build the institution.

“Jim is one of the ‘founding fathers’ of theschool,” notes Dr. John Berg, who chairs theDepartment of Clinical Sciences. “He and[professor emeritus] Dr. Tony Schwartz, thefirst chairman of the Department ofSurgery, were largely responsible for buildingthe clinical side of the school, and developedprograms still in place today.”

AN ENTREPRENEURIAL NIGHT OWLRoss had earlier worked in laboratory ani-mal medicine with human artificial heartpioneers Michael De Bakey and DentonCooley at Baylor University, then at TheMedical College of Ohio. He came toTufts in 1981, wanting to be “in a veteri-nary school teaching veterinary students,not in a medical college teaching medicalstudents.” It was a daring venture, and notjust because the veterinary school was in itsinfancy. No other privately financed veteri-nary school had ever succeeded, thoughmany had tried. It was precisely this entre-preneurial quality that attracted him.

He seized the chance to build some-thing from scratch—hiring people hewanted to work with—without any “land-grant” strings attached. Interim Dean Dr.Sawkat Anwer, hired by Ross in 1983,recalls the way he built his department byhelping “clinicians and basic scientistswork together and learn from each other.Coming from a basic science background,I picked up so much from that.”

Associate Chair of Clinical SciencesDr. John Rush, hired by Ross in 1989,credits him with “working long hours witha remarkably small faculty to put togethera curriculum on a shoestring budget.”Since Ross is a night owl, that meanteveryone worked well into the night—peo-ple like Dr. Susan Cotter, professor of clin-ical sciences, and Dr. Linda Ross, associateprofessor of clinical sciences, who recalllate nights being swept up by Ross’s enthu-siasm as they planned curriculum overdrinks and dinner in restaurants. Rush stillremembers Ross taking him out to dinnerthe night before his full day of interviewsat the school. They stayed out until the weehours—only to find the car locked insidethe parking garage.

LIFE WITH A BULL Stories like these paint Ross’s entrepre-neurial side. But he sees himself first as aveterinarian—a profession he began toconsider when, as a kid growing up inOhio, he joined a farm veterinarian on hisrounds. His gift for getting along with ani-mals, however, surfaced as a toddler oftenvisiting a farm owned by family friends.

One day he crawled inside the double-fenced pen of a “particularly troublesomebull,” as he describes it. The horrified adultsdiscovered him standing nose-to-nose withhis new buddy, happily playing with thebeast’s nose ring.

Ross’s colleagues might consider thebull to be a perfect first best friend forsomeone who spent so much of his incum-bency pushing—whether on ideas or peo-ple. Always it was for good cause, as hekept pushing the agenda of what was bestfor the school, the students, and the pro-fession. He was also known for provokingdebate to elicit new perspectives and makepeople rethink decisions. He often pushedback on people simply to test the strengthof their convictions, not because he dis-agreed. And his trademark phrase, “Well,that depends,” often pushed people to gobeyond simple answers. Ross is also credit-ed with significant pushes within the fieldof veterinary medicine. He was instrumen-tal in the establishment of the AmericanCollege of Veterinary Emergency and

Critical Care (ACVECC) and the cardiol-ogy specialty group within the AmericanCollege of Veterinary Internal Medicine(ACVIM).

LEAVING—AND LOOKING AHEAD Among all his achievements at the school,“clearly my biggest joy—other than theschool’s success—has been hiring peopleand watching them mature as excellent cli-nicians, academicians, or researchers,” saysRoss. Many of them remain at the schooltoday, many in positions of high responsi-bility such as Anwer, who cites Ross’s men-toring as an important factor. “He alwaystook joy and obvious pride in our success-es,” he says. “It didn’t matter whether he didit or not. In my mind, that’s one of hisgreatest attributes.” Ross also found newways to collaborate with people in otherspheres, driving the acquisition of the Tuftsemergency clinic in Walpole, nowTuftsVETS, as a foundation for a com-bined veterinary residency program inemergency treatment services.

In retirement, Ross plans to work halftime indulging his joy in starting newthings, as he helps to launch a specialty vet-erinary hospital in Buzzards Bay. As presi-dent of the Massachusetts VeterinaryMedical Association, he’ll also stay activein the profession. And he expects to stayinvolved “peripherally” with CummingsSchool. In his absence, colleagues say it ishis excellent teaching that the school willmiss most. Every single Tufts veterinarystudent in the past 24 years has learned car-diovascular physical exam skills as onlyRoss can teach. Others cite the gap of nothaving Ross to ask the hard questions, aswell as losing some of the institutionalmemory: knowing the history of whatworked, what didn’t, and why. Says Anwer,“Some of us have asked, ‘Who’s going tokeep us on track? Who will go down thebasic checklist about what’s right for theschool, the students, and the profession,before coming to a decision?’”

If they were to ask Ross himself, he’dmost likely answer, “Well, that depends.”

Crossing the Owl with the BullDr. James N. Ross, Jr., distinguished professor of small animal medicine, retiresafter 24 years of service

Long hours and his love ofanimals made Dr. James

Ross a beloved teacherand a primary builder of

the Cummings School.

Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University will hold the school’s 24thcommencement at 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 21. The ceremony will be held rain or shine infront of Tufts’ Franklin M. Loew Center on Route 30, North Grafton, Mass.

COMMENCEMENT: SAVE THE DATE

PHOTO: ANDY CUNNINGHAMPHOTO: ANDY CUNNINGHAM

first-year resident dr. amy trow, v04, was on duty in internal medi-

cine in the Foster Hospital for Small Animals—one of her rare shifts outside

Emergency and Critical Care—when she got the page. She answered it matter-

of-factly, assuming it was just routine, but soon learned differently: it was her

own dog, Siler (“Si Si”) that had been seriously injured and was on his way to

the emergency room.

6 t u f t s v e t e r i n a r y m e d i c i n e s p r i n g 2 0 0 6

The Foster Hospital for Small Animals stands at the forefront

of battling infection and bringing other advances in the ICU

In Good Hands


Si Si, with two other dogs at the housewhere Trow and her housemates lived, hadbolted from the yard after a section of fencewas toppled by a stiff wind. His bad fortunewas to dash into the path of an oncomingcar. His good fortune was that members of

the Tufts community happened to comeonto the scene just moments after the acci-dent occurred. One of them, Dr. April Paul,a resident in emergency and critical care atTuftsVETS emergency clinic in Walpole,was walking her dog Savannah when shesaw Si Si lying in the road with the driver ofthe car cradling his head. She immediatelyrecognized the dog as Trow’s and startedexamining his injuries. Among other things,he was having a great deal of trouble breathing.

Paula McCarthy, a former veterinarynurse and the wife of Dr. Robert McCarthy,V83, clinical associate professor, was drivingby and stopped to help. Paul placed theinjured dog into McCarthy’s car. As theyheaded for the Foster Hospital ER, shecalled ahead to alert them that she wasbringing in Si Si and that he would need achest tube. So by the time they arrived, awhole battery of people—including Dr.Armelle de Laforcade, V97, assistant pro-fessor of clinical sciences, three residents,and several students—was ready for him.They quickly intubated him to relieve hisbreathing, inserted a urinary catheter,placed a central line in his neck to receiveblood (Savannah was a donor), took chestx-rays, and brought him into the intensivecare unit (ICU) to stabilize him.

“IT WAS SCARY”Among the residents on duty was Dr.Catherine Rogers, V04, a classmate ofTrow’s. She recalls, “When Siler first camein, it was scary since he was definitely hav-ing trouble breathing. But he was lucky thathe was found by people who knew him—and who let us know he was coming in—sothat things could happen so quickly.” Theyconfirmed that severe pulmonary contu-

sions, or bruised lungs, were causing thebreathing problem. He needed to be sedat-ed so he could be placed on a ventilator.

As distressed as she was about Si Si, amixed breed she’d rescued from a NorthCarolina animal shelter, Trow wisely

stepped back and let others treat him. “I wasincredibly upset that he had life-threateninginjuries, so because he’s my own personalpet I really had to distance myself fromwhat was happening,” she says. “I visitedhim in the ICU during his stay, but I made

a significant effort not to spend too muchtime there, since I also had to make sure totake good care of all of my own patients.”

She was confident that he was in the bestof hands. But her training in the ICU hadmade her acutely aware that Si Si and hiscaregivers would be battling more than hisinjuries: his severely weakened conditionput him at an increased risk for acquiring aninfection while in the ICU. She also knewthat every catheter, venous line, or breathingtube inserted—and Si Si had a wholeassortment of those—is a breach in thebody’s natural barriers to infection. And shewas aware that infections acquired in bothhuman and animal hospitals can be fatal,particularly in critical cases, because theyare so resistant to antibiotics.

A LEADERSHIP ROLEIt’s been the mission of Dr. Scott Shaw,V98, assistant professor of clinical sciences,to identify and manage risk factors for hos-pital-acquired infection (HAI), particularlyin emergency and critical care. Togetherwith Dr. Elizabeth Rozanski, assistant pro-fessor of Clinical Sciences, and Dr. Paul,Shaw conducted a 14-month study of 307dogs admitted to the ICU for a stay of 24hours or longer. His first task in embarkingon the study was to determine what hadalready been done. He found that othershad published studies on the incidence ofHAI in veterinary settings, but in very lim-ited contexts. So he looked to—and bor-rowed from—a data collection model devel-oped in 1970 by the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention for human HAI.As a result, the Tufts project was the first tostudy veterinary patients to the same extentas has been done for humans. Both thefindings, and new sanitizing proceduresinstituted as a result, have placed theCummings School in a leadership role inreducing the incidence of infection in theICU for patients like Si Si.

The data collected by Shaw and his teammade it possible to isolate several variablesthat could be identified as risk factors. Thedata became invaluable information fordeveloping effective strategies to manage therisk factors over which clinicians have somecontrol. “Probably the most significant out-come was a campaign to get people to washtheir hands more often,” says Shaw. Heexplains the factors that have always worked

Trow was confident that her dog was in the best of hands.

But her training in the ICU had made her acutely aware that Si Si

and his caregivers would be battling more than his injuries.

MRSA: OUT OF THE HOSPITAL AND INTO THE COMMUNITYThough both human and animal patients aresusceptible to infection, the bacteria causingthose infections are often different. Onenotable exception is Methacillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a humanpathogen that now crosses over to cats anddogs—and possibly back again. The past fiveto 10 years have seen a rise in MRSA infec-tions acquired by humans in the communityat large, outside of hospital settings. Does thismean an increase in the incidence of MRSAinfections in animals outside the veterinaryhospital? Dr. Scott Shaw, V98, assistant profes-sor of clinical sciences at the CummingsSchool, aims to find out. In a study of six dogsdiagnosed with MRSA, Shaw confirmed thatall were community-acquired infections—most likely transmitted to them from theirowners. “Among veterinary small animal hos-pitals, we’re at the forefront of looking at thisemerging problem, but we’re limited by theamount of research funding available,” saysShaw. He states that, since the crossover ofMRSA from animals to humans is not yet rec-ognized widely as a public health problem,only veterinary sources of funding are avail-able. “And that’s just not enough at thispoint,” he adds.


against hand-washing. “You’re supposed towash them immediately before you touchyour patient and immediately after. But that’sjust not the way people have been trained todo it,” he says. “Besides, washing your handsproperly with soap and water takes about aminute. If you really did that between everypatient contact, washing your hands would

take up about a third of your time.” And thatdoesn’t include making back-and-forth tripsbetween the cages and the sink, or waitingone’s turn at the sink, for that matter.

NEW TRICKS, NEW TEACHINGSolving the problem required both practi-cality and persistence. The practical partwas to install alcohol-based rinseless handsanitizer dispensers between cages to makehand-washing quick and easy—as well as toput them right in front of people’s eyes. Thepersistent part came, Shaw says, as helearned that “it’s a slow, steady process forpeople to unlearn a behavior and then learna new one. You can’t expect people by somemiracle to start washing their hands morethan they’ve been used to doing.” He admitswith a laugh that he has even had to retrainhimself. But what about students and resi-dents, whose habits aren’t as ingrained asthe faculty’s? One might think it would beeasier for them to learn the drill. Not so,

says Shaw. “People don’t learn from whatyou tell them to do, they learn from watch-ing you do. So it’s important for faculty tomodel the appropriate behavior.”

The initiative has meant educatingeveryone who works in the ICU, includingclinical faculty, as well as continuing toremind them with signs posted all over the

room. And the campaign seems to be pay-ing off. Rogers, who agrees that hand-washing is “in some ways such a smallthing to do, but such a difficult thing toimplement,” believes the positioning ofhand sanitizers between cages “has reallymade it easier for people to make it a habit.Just from observation, the techs and thedoctors seem to be much more conscien-tious about it.”

MANAGING THE CHALLENGES OF VENTILATION Sterile protocols become significantly moreimportant with patients who, like Si Si, needto be ventilated. The fact of just being on aventilator puts a patient—human or ani-mal—at high risk for developing pneumo-nia, a complication that can be catastrophic.Dr. Megan Whelan, V03, one of the resi-dents who helped stabilize Si Si and whoventilated him overnight in the ICU,explains, “When you’re on a ventilator, you

lose the function of all the normal mecha-nisms that help protect your airways andallow you to expel secretions, so they all justgo down the tube. We have to be very care-ful in monitoring for infection. When weextubate a patient, we take a sample and doa culture of any debris on the tube.”

Whelan sat with him overnight, manag-ing his blood pressure and vital signs, mak-ing sure the chest tube was working, andemptying it—always wearing sterile glovesand using sterile syringes—whenever smallamounts of blood appeared. By the timeRogers returned to the ICU the next morn-ing, Si Si was oxygenating well and was sta-ble. By 9:00 a.m., they had weaned him offthe ventilator. He continued to do remark-ably well, particularly considering the shapehe’d been in when he entered. Other thanthe injury to his thorax from the force of theimpact with the car, his wounds turned outto be relatively minimal, consisting mostly ofabrasions and cuts. To his relieved owner’sdelight, he remained free of complicationsand went home to recuperate after just threedays in the ICU.

Looking back, Trow says she feels“incredibly fortunate” that Si Si ended upat the Foster Hospital, and believes hewouldn’t have survived otherwise. Trow,who has spent time in other veterinaryteaching hospitals, notes, “At Tufts, thereseem to be a lot more notable policies andpractices in the ways patients are handledto prevent infection. I know there’s a levelof concern about it in other places, but it’snot as prominent, I think, because theydon’t have someone like Scott, who hasdedicated his research to it.” TVM

“People don’t learn from what you tell them to do,

they learn from watching you do. So it’s important

for faculty to model the appropriate behavior.”

The Cummings School newsletter Catnip won numerous awards at therecent Cat Writers Association’s national conference in San Mateo, Cali-fornia, including the prestigious CWA President’s Award as the topnational newsletter. This means the newsletter dominated more than269 entries in 36 categories.

Among the judge’s comments: “This national-circulation newsletter con-sistently gives its lay readers important information in an entertaining pack-age of well-thought-out, well-executed articles, columns, photos, and illus-trations. Its black-and-white design is attractive; its content organized andeasy-to-read. It obviously reflects the interests of its readers, while guidingthem gently into being more responsible and educated cat owners.”

The Cummings School companion newsletter Your Dog was also hon-ored at this year’s Dog Writers Association of America 2005 Writing Com-petition in the categories of special interest magazine and best feature ina newsletter.

Both newsletters provide a range of information about your pet’shealth, behavior, diet, and general well being.

If you would like to subscribe to either of these award-winningnewsletters, call 1/800-829-0926 for Catnip or 1/800-829-5116 for YourDog and ask for the special introductory rate of $20. (Or, send yourrequest and check to Subscription Services, P.O. Box 420234, Palm Coast,FL, 32142.) Ask for department 86DTVM.

CATNIP AND YOUR DOG WIN NATIONAL HONORS


the intersection of humans and wildlife

can be as delightful as watching the birds at our

feeders, as annoying as having a critter build its

home under ours, and as terrifying as learning

that yet another virus has spread to humans from

the animal world. “Scientists and people like us

can sit around and discuss these issues thought-

fully, but that doesn’t translate into policy,” states

Dr. Florina S. Tseng, assistant professor of envi-

ronmental and population health and assistant

director of the wildlife clinic at the Cummings

School. “How do you promote policy in an effec-

tive manner that’s actually heard?” she asks.

“How do you make that happen?”

CLOSE?

As human and animalhabitats collide,

scientists and ethicistsface the difficult task of

finding new ways forthese populations to

coexist. CummingsSchool faculty brought

these controversialissues to the table in a

debate that asked hard questions, looked at all

sides, and engagedstudents and experts inseeking new solutions.

HOWHOW

PERSONAL?


there’s an ethical obligation to do that, butin the personal opinion of someone whoworks with threatened and endangeredspecies, I think it’s justified,” she says,adding, “I don’t know how you form policywith that, because people who are gulladvocates will really object.”

Rutberg notes that tough calls like theseare often made “as a last-ditch conservationeffort.” One reason this happens, he says, isthat the mindset of some members ofwildlife boards “is framed entirely in termsof lethal management, so they attempt toresolve wildlife conflicts with lethal solu-tions in places where they’re not appropri-ate.” The solution? Diversify boards by fill-ing vacancies with people open to different

views about wildlife management.Those different views, says Lynn, might

include accepting the notion of animals asindividuals with a family history and socialorder, which “fundamentally changes howwe then think about a rational policy fordealing with a whole population of animals.”Basing policy on both perspectives may offera key to understanding and working withconstituencies on both sides of the “inter-changeable marbles” vs. individuals debate,letting them know that wildlife managementdoesn’t have to be an either-or proposition.

GETTING THE MESSAGE STRAIGHTWhat’s needed is a coherent educationaland ethical message from those who care

about wildlife, says Rutberg—especiallywith so many political agendas at play, aswith beaver. “State agencies and hunters areexpressing one set of values, the humanecommunity is expressing another, and thesevalues are often at cross purposes,” he notes.“The fact that both communities valuebeaver gets lost.”

The fact that people are hearing conflict-ing messages makes it that much harder toeducate them about the need to distancethemselves from wildlife, which is “part ofrespecting the wildness,” stresses Dizard.“Our obligation to the wild is to keep it atarm’s length. Go to where they are, don’tinvite them to come where you are—anddon’t make them into lawn ornaments.”

Jan Dizard, Ph.D., is Charles Hamilton HoustonProfessor in American Culture and Sociology atAmherst College, and adjunct faculty at theCFA. His research interests include changes inpeople’s perceptions of and attitudes towardnature, and their effects on environmental poli-cies. He is the author of Mortal Stakes: Huntersand Hunting in Contemporary America.

Jennifer Jackman, Ph.D., M.S., V05, teachescourses on American government at WestfieldState College and “Animal Protection as aSocial Movement” for Duquesne University andHumane Society University. She recently com-pleted a survey of attitudes towards coyotes inBarnstable County, MA. She serves on theSpencer Conservation Commission.

William S. Lynn, Ph.D., is assistant professorand assistant director for graduate educationat the CFA. He writes and speaks on animalwelfare, wildlife conservation, and the environ-ment, with interests in the ethics of wolf recov-ery, ecoterrorism, and the ethics of public poli-cy. His book, Practical Ethics: MoralUnderstanding in a More Than Human World, isforthcoming.

Allen Rutberg, Ph.D., is research assistant pro-fessor at the CFA and senior research scientistwith the Humane Society of the United States.He has advocated for the protection of wildhorses, endangered species, and urbanwildlife, especially white-tailed deer. Trained asa behavioral ecologist, he has focused his

research on immunocontraception in wildlifepopulation control.

Florina S. Tseng, DVM, is assistant professorof Environmental and Population Health andassistant director of the Wildlife Clinic. A clini-cian, she specializes in wildlife medicine andsurgery with an emphasis on sea bird biology,and works with Seabird Ecological AssessmentNetwork (SEANET), a collaborative effort toassess sea bird population health on the east-ern seaboard.

AROUND THE TABLEParticipants in the roundtable discussion held under the auspices of the Tufts Center For Animals and Public Policy (CFA):

Participants in a recent day of discus-sions sponsored by the Tufts Center ForAnimals and Public Policy (CFA) keptreturning to this question. The day startedwith a guest lecture in the Masters inAnimals and Public Policy program andended with a roundtable discussion amonga diverse group of researchers and clinicians[see sidebar]. The dialogue centered onhow humans think about other animals,how we react to human-animal conflict,and how we balance divergent interests andworld views.

LIKE MARBLES IN A BAGThose who set wildlife management policytypically align themselves with the huntingcommunity: people who think of wildlife asprey. And that’s as it should be, notes JanDizard, Ph.D., Charles Hamilton HoustonProfessor in American Culture andSociology at Amherst College. Dizard, anavid hunter, asserts, “For the past 13,000years, at least in North America, peoplehave been natural predators of animals. Toremove that is to remove part of the equa-tion.” Dizard explains to public policy stu-dents that the North American view ofgame is that “it belongs to the people andnot the elite, as in Europe—a deliberatepush by early colonists.” Hence bag limitsand off seasons to ensure democratic accessto species such as the once scarce but nowsupremely abundant white-tailed deer.

One pitfall of linking wildlife manage-ment to hunting, suggests Allen Rutberg,Ph.D., research assistant professor at theCFA, is that wildlife policy tends to reflecthunters’ view of animals as a populationwith interchangeable members, ignoringanimals’ individual traits and life histories.Rutberg, whose background is in animalbehavior, cites as an example the resistanceof wildlife managers to the reality thatfemale deer form social communities—standard mammalian social organization.They ignore this, he adds, because it inter-feres uncomfortably with the notion thatdeer are “like marbles in a bag, and eachyear you pull out so many.”

PET-LIKE? OR PEST?Most people, on the other hand, typically dosee animals as individuals, with personalityand purposeful behavior. What starts withour pets extends to the wildlife we observe in

our backyards: generally the same animals inthe same groupings. William S. Lynn, Ph.D.,assistant professor and assistant director forgraduate education at the CFA, notes thatscientists and ethicists increasingly recognizethe importance of animal personality, social-ity, and culture. In wolves, for example, indi-

vidual personality and social relations play alarge role in the survival of the pack. Dizardadmits to seeing individualities in his petdogs, yet maintains that “as a matter of prac-ticality, we have to think in species termsabout white-tailed deer.” This means makingtough calls about managing their ubiquity inback yards and suburban malls that, to hischagrin, encroach on wildlife and huntinghabitat. He acknowledges, however, that thepresence of deer in places not suitable forhunting has made lethal control less and lessuseful, which means that the divisionbetween hunters and animal protectionists isnot doing wildlife any favors.

Rifts also occur when people’s personalrelationships with wildlife lead to devotion inthe extreme. Some, for example, will risk jailin order to keep feeding deer. This leads toconflicts with people who are fed up withthem—some of whom are former devotees.Dizard deplores the fact that, where he lives,increasing numbers of people once thrilled tosee a beaver in a pond and hear the slap of itstail “are not thrilled anymore. They’re shoot-ing them without permits and throwingthem in the landfill with no regard for thebeaver or the ecological services it provides.”He envisions the same fate for the wolf,whereby, “instead of its being a resource filledwith wonder, it’s seen as a damn nuisance.”

TO KILL OR NOT TO KILL?Divisions over our views of animals spillover to debates about how to manage ourconflicts with them. In their discussion withDizard over lethal versus nonlethal (specifi-cally contraceptive) methods of wildlifemanagement, Rutberg and his public policy

students focused on effectiveness and natu-ralness. In terms of effectiveness, Dizardmaintains that contraception does nothingto reduce current population. Rutbergrefutes this by explaining how populationbiology works: over the course of a year,deer naturally die for one reason or another.

Controlling the birth rate to keep it underthe projected death rate reduces their num-bers, as Rutberg has measured in two sepa-rate experiments in two areas by comparingdeer counts from one year to the next.Destroying deer, on the other hand, mayresult in an immediate reduction in num-bers, but one of the consequences of reduc-ing deer density is a higher birth rate. Thenet effect is a flat or higher population.

Rachael Budowle, a student in the mas-ters program, comments, “I didn’t realizethat some hunters thought contraceptionwas such a large intervention,” acknowledg-ing that the discussion made her thinkabout the issue more deeply. She suggestssome hunters may object because theybelieve contraception unnaturally disruptsthe gene pool, but argues that hunting(which often targets specific animals, suchas bucks) does the same. Though she nowsees both methods as intervening, she stillconsiders contraception as “more ethical.”

WHO MAKES THE CALLS? How should those responsible for settingwildlife and public health policy respond tothe voices of constituents so sharply dividedon issues surrounding the intersection ofhumans and wildlife? Should the values ofany one group take precedence over anyother? Tseng, whose research interestsinclude wildlife medicine and surgery withan emphasis on sea bird biology, says it canbe a tough call. Wildlife agencies, for exam-ple, have succeeded in saving endangeredsea birds by destroying (and addling theeggs of ) gulls that prey on the endangeredspecies’ eggs and young. “I don’t know if

HOW SHOULD THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR SETTING WILDLIFE AND PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY RESPOND TO THE VOICES OF

CONSTITUENTS SO SHARPLY DIVIDED ON ISSUES SURROUNDINGTHE INTERSECTION OF HUMANS AND WILDLIFE? SHOULD THE

VALUES OF ANY ONE GROUP TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER ANY OTHER?

PHOTOS: ANDY CUNNINGHAM

Participants (left to right) William Lynn, Ph.D.,Florina Tseng, DVM, Jan Dizzard, Ph.D. andAllen Rutberg, Ph.D. debate the thorny issuesthat surround animal population control.

s p r i n g 2 0 0 6 t u f t s v e t e r i n a r y m e d i c i n e 17

AN NIH GRANT PROMISES TO STRENGTHEN UNIVERSITY-WIDE

COLLABORATION IN THE ARENA OF GLOBAL HEALTH—AND THE

CUMMINGS SCHOOL IS EXPECTED TO BE A MAJOR PLAYER

Also stop feeding wildlife and keep petsinside, adds Jennifer Jackman, Ph.D., M.S.,V05, whose research on public attitudesabout coyotes on Cape Cod revealed thatmost residents are at least aware of theirresponsibility to do just that. Certainly themajority of those polled support policies

that encourage residents to keep pets inside.And what about feeding birds? With sheep-ish grins, most people around the tableadmit they do, but know they shouldn’t.Tseng delivers a gentle lecture on, amongother things, the risk of salmonella withbird feeders, but admits “they’re wonderfulto watch.” Rutberg wonders if there’s away—through education—to harness thegood impulses of people who insist on feed-ing wild animals, and redirect them towardsthe greater good of wildlife.

A NEW MODEL OF COEXISTENCE?Lynn sees a critical role for wildlife manage-ment—not as managing wildlife, but asmanaging our relationships to wildlife as we

keep encroaching on their habitat. Hebelieves that educating people, and givingthem incentives to do the right thing, is abetter solution than controlling the animals.And he resists the idea of segregating wildlifefrom humans in reserves and parks. Havinggrown up in northern Ontario “where we

routinely live with very large mammals inabundance,” he advocates a model of “deepsustainability,” using both science and ethicsto teach humans to coexist with wildlifewithout adversely affecting it.

Tseng agrees, but wonders how thatmodel would sustain populations of small-er species with very specific habitat needs.Jackman and Rutberg are politely skepti-cal, believing that it places a lot of trust onboth animals and humans to behave prop-erly. Dizard is characteristically direct:“Deep penetration, Bill, I think is askingfor deep trouble. Deeply ingrained habitsand ways of life make living with certainkinds of wildlife species very difficult. It’snot just because people don’t like incon-

veniences. It brings into the fore sharplydiffering world views of the value of natureand the relationship between the humanspecies and others.”

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?Almost despite themselves, participantsbegin to shape a general direction as theydiscuss possibilities, consequences, andtrade-offs. Some level of coexistence seemsreasonable in a system that includes largereserves as well as areas accommodatinghumans and wild creatures alike. Both non-lethal and lethal measures to reduce con-flicts need to be considered. Though manydecisions will be tough—and unpopular—they must be individualized and situational,taking into account behavioral and ecologi-cal factors as well as matters of public safe-ty and health. And substantial public educa-tion, both science- and ethics-based, is vital.

As he wraps up, Rutberg returns toTseng’s question about translating academicdiscussions into policy. He calls out the factthat academics typically seek out differencesamong themselves so they can publishsomething distinctive. After the laughter ofrecognition dies down, he turns serious:“From a policy standpoint, we really have tobe looking for common ground so that peo-ple who agree that beaver and deer haveintrinsic worth, or even some worth, cansave what’s out there. TVM

When Corina Kotidis of Framingham, Mass., turned six years old thisDecember, she did not receive any toys or dolls or books. Instead, Kotidisasked friends and family who attended her birthday party to donatefunds to the Wildlife Clinic at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine atTufts University.

She then delighted Tufts veterinarians with a $430 donation.When asked why she chose to support Tufts, Kotidis said simply, “I

like animals.” Quite an understatement, considering that Kotidis and herfamily own 19 animals, including dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs, birds,chinchillas, fire bellies, gerbils, fish, and a rabbit.

“I just think it’s wonderful in today’s world when people are not justthinking about themselves, but are trying to help other people or ani-mals in need,” said Dr. Mark Pokras, V84, director of the Tufts Wildlife Clin-ic. “We can definitely use Corina’s donation to help animals in our clinic.”

Corina’s mother, Dr. Nina Balodimos, said she and her daughters haveattended the Cummings School annual open house in Grafton for manyyears. “We are impressed with all of the veterinary care Tufts is providing

to animals,” Balodimos said. “We also have brought injured wildlife—including a mallard duck and a woodchuck—to the Tufts Wildlife Clinic,”she added.

THE GIFT IS IN THE GIVING


RUTBERG WONDERS IF THERE’S A WAY—THROUGH EDUCATION—TO HARNESS THE GOOD IMPULSES OF PEOPLE WHO INSIST

ON FEEDING WILD ANIMALS, AND REDIRECT THEM TOWARDS THE GREATER GOOD OF WILDLIFE.

In the true spirit of giving, Corina Kotidis shares her birthday gifts tobenefit animals in need, while her sister Miranda looks on.

PHOTO: KAREN DONAHUE/TUFTS UNIVERSITY

• • • •

GLOBALHEALTHDREAM TEAMAN INVITATION TO JOIN THE TABLE

• • • •


veterinary school received a major grant forwhat would become the Niger IntegratedLivestock Program, a joint project with theFletcher School of Law and Diplomacythat “put us on the map,” says Saperstein.

POPULATION HEALTH AS CONSENSUS One of the first Tufts veterinary students towork on the Niger project was Dr. JoannLindenmayer, V85, associate professor ofenvironmental and population health. Afterspending three years in the Peace Corps inSabah on northern Borneo, she entered theveterinary school knowing she wanted tocare for animals in developing countries. Inher first year, she helped write the Nigerproposal. “When we got the grant, I said,that’s it, I’m going there in my fourth year.I did that by collapsing all my externshipsinto a three-month period.” There she sawthe degree to which the health of animalsdetermines the health of human popula-tions. The experience convinced Linden-mayer that a masters degree in public healthwould give her the additional skills sheneeded to make an impact on improvingwhat she terms “population health, or theintersection of animal and human healththat maximizes the health of both popula-tions. That involves some level of risk and acertain amount of consensus.”

A self-described “public health veterinar-ian,” Lindenmayer serves as a liaison to theDVM/MPH program and is director of apublic health core course in the veterinarycurriculum. She sees the course as a way toencourage veterinary students to “becomeinvested in the major role we play, and act onthat conviction.” She also numbers amongthose who would encourage the university asa whole to build on the Cummings School’sachievements in global health. To that end,she sees Griffiths’ proposal to create a centralrepository of Tufts faculty involved in globalhealth issues as “wonderful. It’s simple andit’s elegant. I can’t think of anything else thatcould unite the university in a better way.”

Griffiths is gratified to see that hisefforts have catalyzed a new interestthroughout the university in pullingresources together, not just for research butalso for teaching. “If we can come up with aroster of global studies courses, more stu-dents will take advantage of them, evencrossing over into other schools. I see thisgrant as greasing the wheel.” TVM

Ask someone to craft a global health“dream team,” and they’ll bring to the tableprofessionals in medicine, public health,nutrition, biomedical sciences, epidemiolo-gy, and international and public policy.Until recently, a doctor of veterinary medi-cine would have been excluded from thatassemblage—or perhaps invited as an after-thought. But that’s rapidly beginning tochange, given that three-quarters of allemerging human diseases are zoonotic, ortransmitted to humans from animals.

CROSSING THE BOUNDARIES“Veterinarians absolutely play a crucial role,”explains Jonathan Epstein, DVM/MPH02.Epstein is a research scientist with theConsortium for Conservation Medicine(CCM), which consists of the CummingsSchool, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Schoolof Public Health, and the U.S. GeologicalService’s National Wildlife Health Centerand Wildlife Trust. “Veterinarians can get agrip on how these diseases work in their nat-ural reservoirs,” he says, “and understandhow the interaction between humans andanimals leads to the transmission of thesepathogens into humans.” He reports that theCenters for Disease Control are developingan animal health section and have begun tohire veterinarians to lead initiatives.Multidisciplinary collaborations in globalhealth, he notes, are being driven by theNational Institutes of Health (NIH) andother funding bodies, bringing to the sametable researchers who traditionally haveworked separately on the same problem.

Doing so is precisely the aim of the$375,000 grant awarded by NIH to Dr.Jeffrey K. Griffiths, director of global healthand associate professor of public health andfamily medicine at Tufts University School ofMedicine. The umbrella mission of the grantis to establish a global health curriculumacross the university. One new initiative hasbeen a pilot course in global health at TheGerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of

Nutrition Science and Policy, adapted fromone offered in the DVM/MPH curriculum.Griffiths also intends to use a portion of theNIH grant to identify faculty throughout theuniversity engaged in work that relates toglobal health activities, and help them findeach other. “I hope to get people talking toeach other so that they can collaborate oninterdisciplinary activities,” he says. “Since theveterinary school is already prominent inthese activities, it can provide bridges to otherpeople in other schools.”

THE INTERNATIONAL VETERINARYPERSPECTIVEEpstein knows well about building suchbridges. As one of only two veterinary stu-dents in his public health program, he wasalways seizing opportunities to offer per-spectives his classmates hadn’t considered.And because he was also fulfilling therequirements for a certificate in inter-national veterinary medicine (he was thefirst veterinary graduate to do so), hisinsights carried a global slant. SinceEpstein, eleven other graduates havereceived the certificate, and more than 150students have worked on research projectsin over 25 countries since the InternationalVeterinary Medicine Program was launchedin 1981. The program’s primary objective isto promote sustainable livelihoods andhealthy environments in international com-munities, and to provide an internationaleducation to veterinary students. The origi-nal impetus for the program came early inthe school’s history from veterinary facultywho arrived at the school anxious to doresearch that would raise the human stan-dard of living through animal health. Dr.George Saperstein, assistant dean forresearch in environmental and populationhealth, explains, “Many came with a strongbackground in development, and recog-nized that especially in agrarian societies,the standard of living depends on agricul-tural and livestock production.” In 1981 the

THE PROGRAM’S PRIMARY OBJECTIVE IS TO PROMOTESUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS IN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES, AND TO PROVIDE AN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION TOVETERINARY STUDENTS.

In Malaysia in 1999, pig farm workers con-tracted an encephalitic disease, fatal in 40% ofreported cases, caused by the Nipah virus. Thehost is several species of the wild fruit batbelonging to a genus whose range extendsfrom Madagascar eastwards through Southand Southeast Asia to the South Pacificislands.

If public health and wildlife managementofficials had responded by killing a large pop-ulation of fruit bats, they would have unwit-tingly set into motion an ecological imbalancelikely to create new problems. The Consortiumfor Conservation Medicine (CCM), of which theCummings School is a member, instead wentbeyond the human angle. As team members

took into account domestic animal, wildlife,and conservation viewpoints, they consideredthe ways animals behave in their normal habi-tat and how disease spreads among them,piecing together an interlocking chain. Farm-ers had planted fruit orchards so closely to apig farm that branches hung over the pen.Fruit bats carrying Nipah virus fed on the fruit.As they ate, chewed-up pieces holding batsaliva fell into the pens. The pigs ate the fruitand most likely bits and pieces of other thingscontaining infected bat urine or feces. Thou-sands picked up the virus, developed a lethalrespiratory infection, and began to cough,spewing virus-infected droplets into the air.Pig farm workers breathed in the droplets andcontracted the disease.

By pinpointing the true source of the prob-lem, CCM’s animal-based multidisciplinaryapproach allowed them to see their way to an

intervention that wouldn’t involve exterminat-ing an ecologically important population ofbats. “Nine out of ten times it’s human activitiesthat promote the transmission of pathogensfrom natural reservoirs into humans,” explainsJonathan Epstein, DVM\MPH02, a veterinaryepidemiologist with CCM. “Whether it’s wildlifetrade that brings animals from all over into amarket setting, or global trade and agriculturalexpansion—all of that brings us closer towildlife in a way that these diseases can thenspill over to us.” For him, this means that thebest interventions are those in which wehumans look at our own behavior, get smarterabout how we interact with wildlife, and curbour culprit activities the best we can. InMalaysia, the intervention turned out to besimple: eliminate the infected pigs and cutdown the fruit trees. The result? No more out-breaks since 1999.

DANGEROUS INTERSECTION

PHOTO: COURTESY THE CONSORTIUM FOR CONSERVATION MEDICINE

As a research scientist at the Consortium forConservation Medicine (CCM), Dr. JonathanEpstein, DVM/MPH02, was a member of the

international team that identified the horse-shoe bat as the reservoir of the deadly SARS

virus that struck southern China in 2002.

she named George, whom she and her hus-band, Worth Mann, befriended in the early1960s. George lived in some loosestonework behind their house and Kaufmanwas so enamored with him, she wrote thepoem as a gift to her husband.

After the death of her husband,Kaufman’s two longhaired dachshunds wereher primary companions. Her dogs kept herboth spiritually and physically healthy; oneof the reasons for her good health as sheaged was that she would walk her dogsevery day despite her artificial leg. Manyarea residents remember her for her dailywalks on busy Route 73, either alone or inthe company of one or both of her dogs.

— Nina Braten

A D VA N C E M E N T


In July 1979, Elizabeth Kaufman, 73, ofSouth Thomaston, Maine, was reading herlocal newspaper when she came across anarticle about Tufts University’s recent estab-lishment of a veterinary school in Grafton.Having just lost her faithful and lovingcompanion, a longhaired dachshund namedHansi, she was eager to support the school.A few months later, she gave a modest butmeaningful gift to the veterinary school insupport of student scholarships, establishingthe Elizabeth H. Kaufman ScholarshipFund. It was the first endowed scholarshipat the fledgling school.

As the years went by, Kaufman added tothe scholarship endowment periodically,finally capping it with a bequest in her will.Kaufman’s motivation to give so many giftsafter the initial one was the result of thedeep and meaningful friendships shedeveloped with the administration at theCummings School. She also took greatpleasure in learning about the scholarshiprecipients, visiting the campus, and attend-ing commencements.

What originally began as a small giftinspired by her love for animals and respectfor veterinarians, has grown to become asignificant scholarship fund that now ben-efits several Cummings students every year.Kaufman’s daughter, Pleasance Crawford,has taken over watch of the scholarshipfund since her mother’s passing in 1998. Ofher mother’s scholarship, she says, “The les-son to anyone thinking of giving a gift isthat you can start small, and it can grow tobecome something very important.”

One of this year’s scholarship recipients,Kavishti A. Kokaram, V07, who studiesambulatory and large animal medicine, hasexpressed deep gratitude: “The scholarshipfrom Elizabeth Kaufman has made a hugedifference in my academic career. My loanswill always be in the back of my mind, butthis scholarship helps a lot. I wouldn’t beable to attend this school without it.”

Prior to attending the CummingsSchool, Kokaram received a scholarship tostudy marine biology at the University of

Maine. Kokaram feels lucky that both hisundergraduate and graduate careers havebeen made possible by the generosity ofothers. He says: “These scholarships havelet me pursue my interests. I enjoyedmarine biology, but veterinary medicine iswhere my real passion lies. I look forwardto the challenges of being a vet, one ofthem being that the patient can’t tell youwhat’s wrong!”

Kokaram also believes the scholarshipreflects Tufts’s biggest strength—its com-munity. “Tufts has a very close-knit com-munity. Professors are friendly and accessi-ble; I will never feel like I am just a num-ber.” It was this same sense of communitythat inspired Kaufman to keep givingthroughout her lifetime.

Kristina (Kristi) Delaski V07, anotherscholarship recipient, expresses similarappreciation: “This scholarship has meant agreat deal to me. It’s a real honor to be cho-sen,” she says. “Growing up in Wisconsin, Ialso knew I wanted to be a vet. When I wasa little girl, all I wanted to do was go to thezoo. I could watch animals for hours. When

I graduate from the Cummings School, Ilook forward to eventually working in a zoosetting.”

Delaski, who studies zoo medicine,wildlife and exotics, was attracted to Tuftsbecause it was “a hard school to get into,”and she wanted a challenge. She also appre-ciates that the school has a rotation inwildlife. “Cummings is the only school thathas an entire wildlife staff. It’s unique.”

Kaufman never underestimated thebond that individuals have with their pets,and in turn truly appreciated the veterinaryprofession. She witnessed first hand thereality that veterinarians do more than helptake care of animals—they give unspeak-able joy to doting pet owners by keepingtheir animals healthy and happy.

From the time she was a young girl,Kaufman was passionate about animals,particularly dogs and birds. She read vora-ciously on a wide range of topics but espe-cially enjoyed books about animals andwildlife. She was also known to occasion-ally write animal-inspired poetry. Onepoem in particular was about a chipmunk

Elizabeth H. Kaufman Scholarship Fund“You can start small, and it can grow to become something very important.”

Scholarships haveallowed Kristina Delaski,V07, and KavishtiKokaram, V07, to pursuetheir passion for animalsand medicine.

The Charles Tufts Society

Therese AscolilloBarbara A. Balaschak, Ph.D.Christopher A. Balestra

and Richard P. Smith*Charles Douglas BeelerMarcia D. BellermannJanet S. BirnieSue and David BloomBonnie BoydLillian BoydMartha H. BriscoeKaren and Joseph BroderickJean BryarSara H. Brydges

Althea Leona BuckleyHolly L. CableJanice S. Calkin, J51Norma E. CardSara M. (Sally) CarnCarol H. CaseCarleen and Donald CoteGerald L. Craig and

Gail Schiappacasse CraigBarbara L. CrimmingsBernice F. Daley, J48Helen H. DavenportMarilyn Davison, J63, AG64Jacqueline Devillers

Rarie T. DyeNancy K. EbbsNancy L. ElliottBarbara J. FigurskiMrs. John F. FlaggLois and Henry L. Foster, V83, H92Virginia A. GaffeyJanine L. GillMelinda and Stuart GoldbergMr. and Mrs. Christopher W.

GrahamMelvin N. GroveHope V. HavensLeslie Hendrix and Joseph SmithRobin and Michael HessionSandra and Bruce HillAnn B. HoustonPaula Ignatowicz and Bruce ClarkeLinda A. KaraberisMartin B. KayeAnne H. KeltonA. Noreen KollerEdward S. LancianiAlice and Raymond Larter, E47Suzanne LeblancAlice LesakAlice Lee Lan LinSuzanne Aimes Livornese, J62Norman J. MacLeodJean M. Marshall

Renee J. McGrathWilliam Morrison and

Carol BrodetteAnn C. NelsonPhyllis and Robert A. ParkerRichard J. PhelpsJanet M. PischMichael Podell, V88Bruce RhodesDianne and John RobertsCarolyn K. RockwellBarbara and Waldo Rowell, VP83Joan and Paul SadowskiLeon G. SchwartzRandle SmithMr. and Mrs. Reid SmithLeanne and Gary SpencerNorbert L. StegemannPatti and Jeffrey E. TautenhanNatalie C. TenneyShirley ThomasCecelia TrigliaMaude and Raymond Walker, A50Lois Wikstrom and Michael G. KaneFlorence T. WildnerAnonymous Alumni (2)Anonymous Friends (22)

* Deceased

The Charles Tufts Society, named after the man whose gift of 20 acresof land in Medford, Mass., led to the creation of Tufts University, hon-ors friends and alumni who have included Tufts in their estate plansthrough bequest provisions, charitable trusts, annuities, and otherarrangements. The society includes many supporters of the CummingsSchool of Veterinary Medicine.

Members of the Charles Tufts Society are invited to special eventson the Cummings School’s Grafton campus and to an annual luncheonhosted by President Bacow on the Medford campus.

Tufts University is deeply grateful to the individuals listed below,members of the Charles Tufts Society whose ultimate philanthropicgifts will strengthen the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine forfuture generations. Their vision and generosity, linking their legaciesto the school’s mission, demonstrate their respect for the current workof the Cummings School and their confidence in what will come.

Please contact me with information about:

o Bequests through a will or living trust

o Charitable gift annuities

o Charitable remainder trusts

o Gifts of retirement plans

o Gifts of real estate

NAME___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ADDRESS________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CITY/STATE/ZIP___________________________________________________________________________________________________

TELEPHONE _____________________________________________ BEST TIME TO CALL______________________________________

EMAIL___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For more information contact:Rebecca Scott, Director Office of Estate and Gift Planning, Tufts University 200 Boston Avenue, Suite 2400, Medford, MA 02155 Toll free: 1-888/748-8387

Anna Cushing, Associate Director Office of Development and Alumni Relations Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University 200 Westboro Road , North Grafton, MA 01536 1-508/839-7908

o I have not previouslyinformed you, but I havealready included Tufts University’s Cummings School ofVeterinary Medicine in my will. Please send me information about the Charles Tufts Society.

spring 2006

TUFTSG I F T P L A N N I N G

Partnering Philanthropy with Financial Wisdom

When Si Si (left) bolted from her yard head on into an oncoming car, theconsequences could have been dire. But fate and fast-action worked inconcert to get Si Si the help he needed at the intensive care unit at theCummings School’s Foster Hospital for Small Animals. See page 6 for thewhole story.

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDNO. GRAFTON, MA

PERMIT NO. 9

T U F T S U N I V E R S I T Y Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine200 Westboro RoadNorth Grafton, Massachusetts 01536http://www.tufts.edu/vet

Tragedy Averted

OPEN HOUSE: SAVE THE DATEJoin thousands from around New England at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine’s 17th Annual Open House

on Sat., Sept. 9 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.—rain or shine. Located at 200 Westboro Road (Rte. 30) in North Grafton, Mass.,

the school is offering obedience, police and assistance canine demonstrations, breed rescue exhibitions, animal health care

exhibits, tours and demonstrations in Tufts’ animal hospitals, and fun activities for the kids.

in good hands · 2019-03-15 · ening disease illustrates the intersection of mul-tiple aspects of...

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