By Sarah Carey
After over three decades as a professor of small animal surgery at the University of Florida, Dr. Dan Lewis has retired. In an interview Nov. 6, the day before his final day on the job, Lewis reflected on his long and distinguished career, the growth of the surgery program, and the mentors and colleagues who shaped his journey.
“I will really miss coming in early each morning and working with the great group of residents,” said Lewis, who served as the Jerry and Lola Collins Eminent Scholar in Canine Sports Medicine and Comparative Orthopedics since 2002 and as chief of the small animal surgery service since 2018.
Lewis first joined the UF faculty in 1993 as an associate professor, six years after completing his residency in surgery at UF in 1987. He arrived from the Louisiana State University College of Veterinary Medicine where he had served on the faculty. At UF, Lewis took the position formerly occupied by Dr. Brian Beale, while his wife, Diane, a veterinary dermatology specialist, took the position occupied by Dr. Karin Beale after the two moved to Houston. Lewis was promoted to full professor in 1999.
When he arrived, the small animal surgery service had just four faculty members — Lewis, Dr. Rob Parker, Dr. Jamie Bellah, and Dr. Gary Ellison. Over time, the team expanded to eight faculty surgeons.
“That we’ve gone from four to eight surgeons has been an amazing transformation,” Lewis said. “The section has morphed into separate soft tissue and orthopedic services, but the residents are still a shared responsibility, and the core of what we do. We have expanded from three to eleven residents, if you include the two residents in their master’s year.”
In addition to the traditional three-year small animal surgery residency, the service offers a four-year option with an extra year devoted to obtaining a Master’s of Veterinary Science degree.
Among the milestones Lewis recalls from his earlier years at UF were helping to design the fundamentals of orthopedics and advanced surgery courses as part of the curriculum review which was in progress when he returned to UF in the early ‘90s. He also contributed to designing the student surgery laboratory, housed in the Veterinary Academic Building, which opened in 1996.
Later came the campaign to raise funds for a new small animal hospital, an endeavor for which he was called upon by then-dean Dr. Joseph DiPietro to serve as a kind of unofficial ambassador.
“One thing about me is, if I have a cause I truly believe in, I don’t mind asking people for money,” Lewis said. He recalled speaking at professional meetings where UF veterinary college alumni would be present and telling them that college facilities were lacking, changes were needed, and now that they were in the professional world as veterinarians, they needed to contribute.
“But I’d also tell them, ‘You have clients. Think of how many wealthy clients you have who are animal lovers. Maybe we can put our people in touch with these people to support this.’ And you know, people would do that.”
The $58 million UF Small Animal Hospital opened in 2010, providing additional operating rooms and clinical space, but the research and training laboratory facilities dedicated to small animal surgery remained much the same as they had when Lewis was a resident at UF. He knew the college didn’t have the funds to initiate the major renovation he envisioned to bring the laboratory up to the high standards he and his colleagues had set for training.
Once again, Lewis decided to be hands-on, working with college advancement team member Melissa Headrick to spearhead a campaign, targeting those he knew had benefited in some way from the UF small animal surgery program: former residents and faculty, referring veterinarians, grateful clients, alumni and other friends of the college. Lewis wrote personal emails to each individual on his list, asking for support to bring the project to fruition.
His efforts generated nearly $250,000 in donations, a large portion of which were provided by Dr. Jeff Godwin, a member of the college’s Charter Class of 1980. In recognition of his efforts, the laboratory was named in Jeff and Jo Godwin’s honor.
While he will miss his routine, especially his daily interactions with residents and fellow orthopods, Lewis is looking forward to retirement. He has already lined up several locums as well as domestic and international teaching opportunities, including a course at the University of Zurich, where his former UF faculty colleague, Dr. Antonio Pozzi, is the head of Small Animal Surgery and the Small Animal Department chair. This trip will also afford Lewis to indulge in one of his passions, as he and Diane will spend the week following the course skiing in the Alps with the Pozzi family.
“I have always had a great group of residents,” Lewis said. “I just really appreciate their enthusiasm, their effort and their dedication. After working with them in the trenches for three or four years, it’s like they are my kids. It’s sad to think that I won’t be coming in each morning, like I always have, and working with them.
“And we’re doing so many cool things,” he added. “The discipline of orthopedics has made so many innovative advances, particular here at UF, and I will really miss being on that cutting edge.”
He added that he realized a couple of weeks ago that when you count the three years he spent at UF as a resident, he’s spent half of his life at UF. “I’m 68, and I spent 34 years here at the vet school,” he said. “It’s a weird feeling, walking away from that daily routine.”
Throughout the years, Lewis has received numerous honors and awards for his teaching, service and research accomplishments. Among those acknowledgements were receiving the Hill’s Pet Mobility Award from the World Small Animal Veterinary Medical Association in 2012 and serving as a UF Research Foundation Professor from 2016-2018. In 2022, he received the UF College of Veterinary Medicine’s Distinguished Service Award, and earlier this year at the Annual Conference of the Veterinary Orthopedic Society in Lake Tahoe, Lewis received the 2024 Steve Fox Lifetime Achievement Award. He also received a Distinguished Alumni Award from his alma mater, the University of California-Davis, and was admitted as an Honorary Fellow in the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in 2024.
He gave the keynote address at the ACVS Surgery Summit in Phoenix in October, on “Innovations in Veterinary Orthopedic Surgery.”
“The three areas I focused on were the use of circular and hybrid fixators, minimally invasive fracture repair, and the utilization of virtual surgery and 3D printing,” he said. “I give Dr. (Antonio) Pozzi a lot of credit for really pulling me into the discipline of minimally invasive fracture repair, specifically percutaneous plating.”
Lewis became an American College of Veterinary Surgeons Founding Fellow in Minimally Invasive Orthopedic Small Animal Surgery in 2018. He’s grateful that his small animal surgery faculty colleague, Dr. Matt Johnson, wanted to pursue a MIS Fellowship with him, with Johnson becoming first surgeon to complete a Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship in Small Animal Orthopedics. He credits former UF surgery resident, Dr. Christina De Armond, for pushing him to utilize virtual surgical planning and 3D printing in addressing challenging clinical cases.
Lewis is also very appreciative of Dr. Adam Biedrzycki, an associate professor of large animal surgery, for establishing UF’s 3D printing laboratory.
Looking back on his career, Lewis acknowledged former UF faculty members Dr. Alan Cross and Dr. Gary Ellison, a key mentor with whom he worked until Ellison’s retirement in 2018. He also acknowledged the many contributions of former resident and now colleague, Dr. Stan Kim, who has assumed the role of orthopedic service chief.
Perhaps Lewis’ greatest source of pride from his three decades on faculty at UF is his daughter, Sarah, who followed in her parents’ footsteps and became a veterinarian, graduating from the UF College of Veterinary Medicine in 2019. She then proceeded to become a board-certified veterinary dermatologist, like her mom.
On the evening of his retirement celebration, Lewis learned that a new fund had been established at the UF Foundation in his honor. Donate here to support the Dr. Dan Lewis Small Animal Surgery Resident Support Fund.
As Lewis hangs up his UF-branded clinical white coat for the last time, he leaves behind a transformed small animal surgery program — one that is stronger, more capable, and better positioned to serve animals and their owners than ever before. His colleagues and students will miss his steady leadership, clinical expertise, and passionate commitment to advancing the field of veterinary orthopedics.