View from our Chair
David E. Freeman, MVB, PhD, DACVS
Welcome to the Large Animal Clinical Sciences Department of the College of Veterinary Medicine. Over the years, the Department has seen the growth of a very strong clinical component, with superb faculty that has established national and international reputations in large animal medicine, surgery, reproduction, anesthesiology and pain management, acupuncture, food animal reproduction and medicine, extension, aquatic animal health, and other disciplines. The caseload in our large animal hospital has maintained a constant input of challenging and routine cases in sufficient numbers to sustain a healthy workload for faculty, residents, and students. As always, our goal is to provide the client, and thus the referring veterinarian, with a positive experience at the UF Veterinary Medical Center, and thereby justify their continued support of our services.
Despite the current economic climate, our overall attitude towards the future of the Department and of the College is one of optimism. We are always looking to make the best of available resources and to preserve our Departmental functions in research, teaching and service to the highest level possible, and to be prepared for meeting the increased demands in all three missions. Our hospital has made some important improvements along those lines, particularly in large animal imaging, as highlighted by our 1.5 Tesla high-field magnetic resonance unit, a recently installed nuclear medicine camera, and our state of the art computed tomography suite. The latter was made possible through kind support from George Steinbrenner and family, and includes an Aquilion Toshiba 8 slice multidetector-row CT scanner and a specially designed table for large animal patients. Due to their size, our large animal studies are limited to the skull and lower extremities. Nonetheless, the advantage of this addition is that high quality images can be generated at great speed, so that the associated anesthesia time is shortened considerably. This facilitates planning of any surgery that follows, and allows completion of scanning and surgery during a single anesthetic period, a great improvement in efficiency and in safety for the patient. We have also made some repairs and improvements in our facilities, especially in our large animal surgery suites, again with emphasis on improved efficiency and patient safety.
These are challenging times in academic veterinary medicine and our faculty is committed to meeting those challenges. We recognize the great interdependence between teaching, research and service and that we must be leaders in all three. We also recognize that we must look to changing the way we teach, serve and discover, so that we can meet the needs of our stakeholders, students, clients, patients, and referring veterinarians in a more efficient and competitive manner. We also recognize that we can no longer separate our academic missions from our financial obligations. To quote Dr. Doug Barrett from his final monthly column when he stepped down as senior vice president for health affairs at the University of Florida: “The insecurity that comes with change helps us see what we otherwise take for granted; it helps us appreciate what is good about the way things are but be impatient to improve that which could be better. It’s about laying strong foundations, then taking our belief in a better tomorrow and acting on it.” Please join us as we embrace this attitude toward what lies ahead.