20142015

Ontario Veterinary College Alumni AssocialtionAnnual Report

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Annual General Meeting Agenda8:30 am Saturday, June 13th 2015

Room 1714, Ontario Veterinary College

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Meeting Minutes - OVCAA AGM9:30 am Saturday, June 21st, 2015Room 1714, Ontario Veterinary College

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This year we welcome classes gathering for special milestones: OVC 55, 60, 65, 75, 80, 95, 10 and 14.

It has been a year with some great events for the Ontario Veteri-nary College Alumni Association. Here are a few items which are especially worth noting:

Our “Words of Wisdom” project has been a great success and we are asking alumni to submit helpful words of advice or encourage-ment for the incoming class of 2019. Each comment to be placed in the pocket of one of the lab coats the students will receive at the Professional Welcoming Ceremony in September. You can submit your words today at the registration table across the hall.

The OVC Alumni Association hosted a successful networking event this year at the OVMA conference in Toronto this past January. This event brought practitioners who are looking to hire together with members of the graduating class in an informal setting.

The Association supports one of the most famous interactive displays at the university’s College Royal open house: Teddy Bear Surgery. This event sees children gowning and gloving to assist second-and third-year DVM students suture various cuts on stuffed animals.

On Sunday, March 15 of this year, the Ontario Veterinary College Alumni Association hosted our first Continuing Education day in the OVC Lifetime Learning Centre. We would like to express our sincere thanks to our OVC faculty presenters – Drs. Chantale Pinard, Stephanie Nykamp, Michelle Oblak, Paul Woods and Ameet

Singh. We were also grateful to have the support of Veterinary Purchasing, Merck, Trupanion, Merial, Pets + US, CDMV, Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Business Affairs. It was a real success and plans are made to follow with another CE day this fall and again next spring.

Again this past March, alumni from a number of DVM classes presented the OVC Hockey Challenge Cup to OVC 2015 Stags who won the women’s division, and OVC 2016 Caracals won the co-ed division. In April we held the 25th annual OVC Alumni Hockey Tournament, which was attended by almost 20 graduates, spouses and children. As this was the 25th anniversary of the tournament, a dinner which was held at Brass Taps after all of the tournament games had ended. This was a welcome addition to the OVC Alumni Hockey Tournament weekend which will be repeated again next year. Over the years our hockey tournament has attracted alumni from as far away as Hong Kong and has consistently been one of the largest OVC alumni events.

As the academic year comes to a close, it is my pleasure to welcome Chris Doherty, OVC 2013, as incoming Vice President and Monica Marshman, OVC’14, again as our Treasurer. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone on the OVCAA Board of Directors for their hard work this year and make special mention of the tremendous help that the Ontario Veterinary College Alumni Association has received from Stefanie Sharp who is the OVC Alum-ni Advancement Manager from the Development Department at the University of Guelph.

President’s

Dr. Robert Van Delst, President, Ontario Veterinary College Alumni Association

20142015

Report:

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Every year at this time, I’m honoured and delighted to take part in Alumni Weekend celebrations. This year’s Alumni Weekend

is particularly poignant for me as I complete my tenure as Dean. I will always remember my very first OVC alumni weekend in 2005 as the “new” dean and the welcoming friendliness of the OVC reunion classes of 1950 and 1955 and many other alumni.

I have enjoyed getting to know and work with our many support-ers, friends and donors. You bring new ideas, energy and confi-dence in what we can accomplish.

Looking back over the past 10 years, I’m proud of what we have accomplished; looking forward, I see incredible opportunities for the college. Just recently in an international survey, we were ranked number 4 in the world for veterinary colleges and the no. 1 in Canada (Quacquarelli Symonds (QS)).

The past 12 months have continued the long list of achievements of our faculty, staff, students and alumni. Here are just a few ex-amples of how OVC and veterinarians are helping make the world a better place.

Economic Impact StudyFaculty, staff and alumni have always known that the Ontario Veterinary College contributes to the province and the country in critical ways, particularly in animal and public health, food produc-tion, security and safety, emergency preparedness and preventing infectious diseases. An economic impact analysis by Deloitte LLP released fall 2014 confirms these contributions.

OVC directly contributes more than $125 million to Ontario’s economy and generates more than 800 jobs each year. Almost one-third of all veterinarians working in Canada graduated from OVC. These graduates work in and own veterinary practices in communities across the province and beyond; in Ontario alone,

these businesses have an economic impact of $1.3 billion to the province. In addition, OVC graduates support Ontario’s meat, dairy, poultry and egg industries, a sector that contributes an estimated $20 billion to the provincial economy.

University of Guelph President Franco Vaccarino spoke about the economic impact of OVC during the Opening Ceremony at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show in September and we were pleased that Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Jeff Leal attended the opening ceremony.

IDEXX Chair in Emerging Technologies and Bond-Centred Animal HealthcareA new $1.5-million faculty position at OVC focuses on better understanding of how technology can be used to improve the relationships between veterinarians and their clients and within the veterinary practice team.

The IDEXX Chair will create and teach new ways to recognize and reinforce the importance of animals in their owners’ lives. Experiential learning opportunities for student veterinarians will focus on technology to support bond-centred care. The Chair will also help develop a world-class research and graduate training program connecting veterinary medicine and epidemiology with emerging technologies, including social media and web-based care. The chairholder will develop and apply epidemiology and other methodologies to address key questions for animal health-care providers.

OVC Historical Archive FundA special event in April 2015 offered Canadian veterinary and agriculture school deans, government representatives and OVC alumni an opportunity to tour “Canadian Veterinarians Caring for War I Horses” a special exhibit at the Canadian Agriculture and Food Museum. Dr. Lisa Cox, an OVC Postdoctoral Fellow in Veteri-

Dean’s Report: 2014

Dr. Elizabeth Stone, Dean, Ontario Veterinary College

2015

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nary History, lectured on animals and veterinarians in World I and collaborated in mounting this exhibit, which included items from the OVC’s C.A.V. Barker Museum of Canadian Veterinary History. The C.A.V. Barker Museum, the largest and most diverse in Canada and among the largest in North America, reflects the history of Canadian veterinary education, practice and the service of veteri-narians in various government roles throughout history.

The OVC Historical Archive Fund helps the College to properly man-age, store and selectively display the more than 10,000 artifacts and preserve this important collection.

OVC PeopleOne of the factors that makes OVC special is the sense of communi-ty created by our alumni, faculty, students, staff and supporters.

The College boasts 460 DVM students, more than 250 graduate students, and 6,500 undergraduate students enrolled in OVC courses with 110 faculty and 240 staff.

New Appointments:Dr. Shane Bateman, Associate Professor, Clinical StudiesDr. Leonardo Susta, Assistant Professor, PathobiologyDr. Stefan Keller, Assistant Professor, PathobiologyDr. Ravi Kulkarni, Poultry Health Research Network co-ordinatorCarly O’Brien, OVC Senior Development Manager

Faculty, Staff and Alumni Honours

2014 Schofield Memorial Lecture - Dr. Corrie Brown, OVC alumna, University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine

2015 Chappel Memorial Lecture – Dr. Gerry Wright, Director, Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University

Honourary Degrees –November 2015 Convocation Dr. Timothy Ogilvie, DVM 1975, dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine at St. George’s University in GrenadaDr. Ted Leighton, Pathology Professor, Western College of Veteri-nary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan

Honourary Degrees –June 2015 Convocation Dr. Mohamed A. Karmali, Director-General of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses and pro-fessor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto

Dr. John Fetrow, Department of Population Medicine, University of Minnesota Dr. Bonnie Beaver, Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biological Sciences at Texas A&M University

Congratulations to the following OVC alumni, faculty and staff members:Dr. John Prescott was named Professor Emeritus.

Dr. Hugues Beaufrère became an American College of Zoological Medicine diplomate.

Researchers at OVC are teaming up with McMaster University’s Im-munology Research Centre to treat breast cancer in cats using new vaccines designed to boost the immune system and kill tumour cells without harming healthy tissue.

A special issue of the journal Zoonoses and Public Health highlights years of work by Dr. Jan Sargeant, Population Medicine, and Dr. Annette O’Connor, veterinary epidemiologist at Iowa State Uni-versity, focused on applying principles of evidence-based practice and systematic reviews to questions of animal health and zoonotic disease.

OVC PhD candidates Monica Baquero and Matthew Little were awarded prestigious Vanier scholarships worth $50,000 a year for three years.

Dr. Andrew Peregrine, Pathobiology, was named the President of the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists.

Dr. Jeff Caswell, Pathobiology, was awarded the Zoetis Research Award for OVC this year in recognition for his research on innate immunity and pneumonia.

OVC alumnus Dr. Andrew Peacock, OVC 1982, launched his book, Creatures of the Rock: A Veterinarian’s Adventures in Newfound-land.

OVC alumnus Dr. Roly Armitage, OVC 1951, published his book, The Way It Was and Now, a series of vignettes about his family and his life, spanning from the early 1900s to the present day.

Dr. Paula Menzies, Population Medicine, was the 2014 recipient of the Canadian Animal Health Coalition Carl Block Award.

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Dr. Greg Keefe, DVM 1988, was appointed as dean of the Atlantic Veterinary College. Dr. Stephen LeBlanc, Population Medicine, was appointed Research Program Director for the Production System, Animals Theme for the OMAFRA – UofG Partnership Research Program.

Dr. Patricia Turner, Pathobiology, was awarded the 2014 Canadian Veterinary Medical Association’s Humane Award. Turner was also elected to a three-year term as a Councillor to the World Veterinary Association (WVA). Turner was elected in her capacity as President of the International Association of Colleges of Laboratory Animal Medicine (IACLAM).

Dr. Todd Duffield and University professor emeritus Dr. Ken Leslie, Population Medicine, named to Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher list of over 3,000 leading scientists in diverse disciplines whose publications are among the top one per cent most cited in their field.

Dr. Katie Clow, OVC 2011 and PhD student in Pathobiology received a Blake Graham Fellowship. Clow is investigating wildlife ecology and factors affecting the distribution of lyme disease in Ontario.

Kelsey Spence, a first-year MSc thesis student in Population Medicine, was awarded the Biosafety and Biosecurity Award at the 2014 Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD)held in December in Chicago.

Andreia Arruda, Population Medicine, won an Association for Vet-erinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine oral presentation in the Epidemiology and Animal Health Economics session.

Mythri Viswanathan, Population Medicine, won an Association for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine poster prize in the Ecology and Management of Foodborne Agents session.

Hind Kasab-Bachi was one of three student PhD competitors named equal recipients of the Biosafety and Biosecurity Awards at CRWAD.

Kate Bishop-Williams, a PhD student in Population Medicine, placed second in the grad student poster presentations at the Arctic Change conference, an annual conference which brings together Arctic researchers, stakeholders and decision makers.

George Charbonneau, OVC 1981, was named president-elect of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians. Devon Barnes, OVC 2015, received the Brian D. Sullivan Student Leadership Award at the UofG Student Life Appreciation and Awards Banquet. The award recognizes a graduating student who has made significant contributions to student leadership at the university.

Dr. Duncan Sinclair, OVC 1958, was recently inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. A prominent medical educator and health policy expert, Dr. Sinclair served as the dean of the Queen’s University medical school and as Director General of the Medical Research Council of Canada (now the Canadian Institutes of Health Research).

Dr. Norman Willis, DVM 1963, was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

Alexandrea Watters, a PhD student in the Department of Pop-ulation Medicine, received a Dairy Farmers of Ontario Doctoral Research Assistantship. The award provides up to $60,000 over three years to a doctoral student whose research is strengthening Ontario’s dairy industry.

Programs and FacilitiesWe continue to make steady progress on key initiatives outlined in our 2012-2017 Integrated Plan, including:

• Creating interdisciplinary research and training programs in poul-try, dairy and swine. Dr. Ravi Kulkarni joined the Poultry Health Research Network as co-ordinator. The PHRN held its first research day in November 2014. The new state-of-the-art Elora dairy research facility which opened in late May will play an important role in OVC’s continuing research and in providing hands-on teach-ing opportunities in clinical skills and herd health management to student veterinarians.

• Creating a global model for integrated companion animal prima-ry healthcare – we celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Hill’s Pet Nutrition Primary Healthcare Centre and the new global model for primary healthcare education for student veterinarians.

• Enhancing clinical programs for minimally invasive procedures and for recuperative and restorative therapy – the Health Sciences Centre became the first veterinary hospital in Canada to offer

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Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy, a form of hemodialysis for emergency treatments of companion animals.

• Strengthening the clinical trials program – a Clinical Research Coordinator’ at the Mona Campbell Centre for Animal Cancer, funded in part by Pet Trust will assist in administrative aspects of any companion animal OVC-HSC-based clinical project including assistance with recruiting patients, obtaining consent, liaising with referring clinics, publicity and ensuring samples are collected.

Research Our research and graduate studies programs continue to enjoy an international reputation for excellence. Here are a few funding highlights:

Dr. Anthony Mustaers, Clinical Studies, received at $125,000 Cana-da Foundation for Innovation grant to help equip a cancer research laboratory at OVC. He will look at how types of cancer develop, and seek new treatments for humans and dogs.

Dr. Sarah Wootton, Pathobiology, received $157,674 from Cystic Fibrosis Canada to study a method to permanently treat cystic fibrosis.

Drs. Byram Bridle and Paul Woods are the only two veterinary researchers involved in the BioCanRx Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE), a new $25-million national research network of experts developing novel biotherapeutics for cancer.

Dr. Patricia Turner received $38,300US funding from the National Pork Board to examine refinements to mitigate pain associated with commercial piglet processing.

OVC Pet Trust awarded more than $400,000 in research funding to 23 research projects. Research topics included preventing blood transfusion reactions in critically ill dogs; vitamin B1 deficiency in dogs and cats; overcoming cancer cells’ resistance to chemother-apy in canine osteosarcoma and the epidemiology of blacklegged and dog ticks in pet dogs living in an emerging lyme disease area of Ontario. Visit www.pettrust.ca for more information.

Bovine Education TrustEstablished by the Ontario Association of Bovine Practitioners and OVC with start-up funding from the Ontario Ministry of Agricul-ture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Bovine Education Trust builds

upon a longstanding tradition of veterinary practitioners mentor-ing students.

Facilities

OVC MasterplanThe University of Guelph retained an architectural consulting team to develop a Master Plan for the Ontario Veterinary College campus to provide guidance for future development of the OVC site. This plan builds on the original OVC Campus Master Plan developed in the late 1990s, as well as a subsequent Master Plan done in 2009.

The new Master Plan identifies a concept for short and long term development that can be implemented in phases in response to evolving OVC academic, clinical and research needs to maintain OVC as a leading veterinary college. Planning began in January 2015 in a consultative process involving visioning workshops and stakeholder meetings to receive input on current and anticipated needs. A draft Master Plan has been developed incorporating the input received during the consultation process. The plan includes new Surgical and Anesthesia Facilities in renovated space within the current OVC Health Sciences Centre, as well as new spaces for Enhanced Clinical Learning in new and renovated facilities. The plan is moving through the approval process, with the Physical Resources Property Committee and then the Board of Governors for the University in early June.

Renovations complete to Companion Animal Hospital and Large Animal Hospital reception.Renovations were completed to enhance the front entrance and customer service areas of the OVC Companion Animal Hospital. The work includes five new exam rooms, a client comfort room, call centre, and billing and discharge area. Renovations to the Large Animal Hospital reception area also were recently completed.

The goal of these projects is to ensure that clients have a positive and enriching experience throughout their interactions with OVC.These projects are the latest in an extensive list of capital projects that have transformed the OVC campus including the Animal Can-cer Centre (opened in 2012); Equine Sports Medicine and Repro-duction Centre (2012); large animal clinical skills building (2011); Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses laboratory facilities (2011); Hill’s Pet Nutrition Primary Healthcare Centre (2010); Pathobiology / Animal Health Laboratory (2010); large animal isolation unit (2009).

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4th year Ecohealth CourseThe 4th year Ecohealth course is a collaboration between all five Canadian veterinary colleges with students from each of the schools working together to identify and find solutions for com-plex issues affecting the health of animals, people and the envi-ronment. Notably, they develop the ability to engage community stakeholders on societal health and wellness issues. We are very pleased that the class of OVC 1970 has created an endowment to support this important course and to enable international students to also participate. By teaching ‘big picture’ problem-solving skills, students are learning to deliver meaningful ‘big world’ health results.

OVC 1973 contributes to the Mona Campbell Centre for Animal CancerIn honour of their 40th anniversary, the OVC Class of 1973 was looking for a project to recognize their dedication and significant contributions to veterinary medicine. We are pleased they have contributed $150,000 to the Mona Campbell Centre for Animal Cancer. Two rooms have been named in honour of OVC 1973; the Feline Radioiodine Therapy Room and the Anesthesia and Recov-ery Ward.

OVC Pet Trust publishes Live Love! Famous Canadians & the Pets They LoveOVC Pet Trust published Live Love! Famous Canadians & the Pets They Love in 2014 featuring pet stories by 30 notables, including Chris Hadfield, Don Cherry, Bob Rae, Margaret Atwood, Rick Hansen and Valerie Pringle. Book sale proceeds will support OVC Pet Trust at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College. Author Nancy Silcox spent a year travelling across Canada to gather stories for the book.

Social media expands and growsSocial media has become more and more important in OVC’s approach to sharing information with students, staff, faculty, alumni, industry and the general public. In addition to Twitter and Facebook, OVC is now on Instagram and Snapchat, user name OntVetCollege on both platforms. Our target for 2014-2015 was to connect with more millenials; increase our global reach and increase engagement. We have made significant head way in all 3 areas.

The 2015 edition of Externship Blogging Project, which features some of our students sharing stories, pictures and video of their externship experiences online, got underway the June.

Last year’s project received a lot of attention in the agricultural and veterinary media. The students will be blogging all summer long – so check it out at ovc.uoguelph.ca/externship.

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Ontario Veterinary College Alumni Association Student AwardsMargaret A. B. Maxwell Memorial Graduate Scholarship: Adriana Pastor & Andrea ThomasOVC Alumni Association Spirit Prize Phase 2: Patrick BoelsterliOVC Alumni Association Spirit Prize Phase 3: Arin PorOVC Alumni Association Robert Clarke Public Health Prize: Megan Hempel

Ontario Veterinary College Alumni Association Alumni Awards Each year, the OVC Alumni Association highlights the accomplish-ments and contributions of a few of our outstanding alumni.

The OVC Distinguished Alumnus award recognizes OVC graduates who have brought honour to their alma mater and fellow alumni through their contributions to alumni affairs, education, commu-nity, their profession, country and the sciences. The OVC AA Young Alumnus award recognizes alumni who have made a significant contribution in their field within 15 years of graduation. The OVC AA Alumni Volunteer award celebrates OVC graduates who bring honour and recognition to the College by giving generously of their time within the college, in their community or veterinary organization.

This year’s Distinguished Alumnus award is presented to Dr. Bruce Wilkie OVC 1965. Bruce has been very successful in his career in science. This success can be attributed to his clear thinking, his dedication, his conviction about his ideas, and his propensity to think big. He has published over 160 refereed articles in sci-ence journals as well as numerous book chapters and papers in conference proceedings. He has been recognized as a leader in the international veterinary immunology community and has been the organizer of several international symposia. Bruce is probably best recognized for his work along with colleague Pat Shewen in development and commercialization of Presponse, a vaccine that has been highly successful in protecting cattle against morbidity and mortality due to Mannheimia haemolytica-associated ship-

ping fever. Royalties from that vaccine are said to be the highest of any invention at the University of Guelph. In March of this year, the Council of Ontario Universities recognized this innovation as a life-changing breakthrough and recognized it as one of the top 50 innovations by Ontario universities over the past 100 years. Bruce later teamed up with Bonnie Mallard to develop effective methods for identifying and selecting for generalized disease resistance in cattle and pigs. They were granted a patent for this development and it is now finding application in the dairy industry.

Young Alumnus Award: Dr. Jason Coe is the recipient of the Young Alumnus award for his excellence in research and contributions to the profession, most notably in communication, primary care education, and pet relinquishment. An OVC ‘01 graduate, Jason has achieved much in a short period of time - he is an Associ-ate Professor in the Department of Population Medicine at the Ontario Veterinary College where he coordinates the clinical communication curriculum across all four years of the veterinary program, he was named Nestlé Purina PetCare Canada Chair in Communications in 2010, he sits on the Urban Animal Foundation Advisory Council, and he is the Chair of the Primary Care Veterinary Educators subcommittee of the Association of the American Veteri-nary Medical College.

Alumni Volunteer Award: Dr. William Dale Scott is the recipient of the Alumni Volunteer Award. Dr. Scott’s list of community and vol-unteer work is extensive and impressive. To name a few Dr. Scott provided assistance to Wikwemikong First Nations to establish a fi-nancial assistance program for spay/neuter. He provided assistance to M’Chigeeng First Nations to establish a financial assistance pro-gram for spay/neuter. Dr. Scott was the Chair of Executive Board for the Mindemoya Missionary Church. He supervised a building program which provided the only level access activity centre for the community. He established the Farley Ride in 2005 as a solo rider, and continued to support and expand the ride to the present. He is a member of the Central Manitoulin Lions Club.

Honours & 2014

Committee Report

2015

Awards

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On behalf of the OVC development team, thank you to our alum-ni supporters. You are helping to provide the next generation

of student veterinarians with a first-class education and improve the health and welfare of all species. We are so grateful for your support and we look forward to continually earning your confi-dence.

OVC 2014/2015 Priorities

Class ProjectsThe past year has been a big one for OVC and many classes have enjoyed great support and success in their efforts to launch and/or complete their projects.

Stone Scholarship for Student Veterinarian ExplorationIn honour of Elizabeth Stone’s leadership and accomplishments in her 10-year tenure as OVC Dean, alumni, staff and friends have joined together to create the Stone Scholarship for Student Veterinarian Exploration with a goal of $30,000. Celebrating her passion for integrated education, the award will be presented to the student who submits the best proposal for an interdisciplinary project where they will use their skills and creativity to broaden their career horizons, foster collaboration both within and beyond the OVC and expand the role of veterinarians in society.

OVC Dean’s FundThe Dean’s Fund is an unrestricted fundraising initiative that focus-es on meeting the overall needs of the college. Funds generated in support of the Dean’s Fund are used, at the Dean’s discretion, for areas of greatest student need and innovative programs within the College, whether they are scholarships, bursaries, equipment renewals, collaboration amongst faculty and students, or student experience opportunities.

OVC Student AssistanceWith rising tuition costs and related fees, the student experience is becoming increasingly more expensive. At the University of Guelph we recognize that financial capacity should not be a barrier to any student’s academic potential. Student assistance provides a means to offset these ever increasing costs as well as support student learning. Funds allocated to this area will be used to establish and enhance undergraduate (ie: DVM), upper-year scholarships and graduate scholarships within the College.

Chair in Ecosystem Approaches to HealthThis year we will begin to fundraise in earnest to support a five-year Chair in Ecosystem Approaches to Health. The Chair will oversee local, national, and international projects that employ eco-systems approaches to understanding and promoting animal and human health within the broader social and ecological context. While the Chair will be based in the OVC, the teams of researchers working on the projects will be drawn from a variety of disciplines across the University.

On Going Class Projects

The class of OVC 1964’s entrance scholarship project is well under-way and is on track to complete the goal within the next year.

The class of OVC 1965 launched a project to support a travel grant for the Global Vets Student Club and a piece of art of the Mona Campbell Animal Cancer Centre.

The class of OVC 1980 launched a project that will support Wellness Wednesdays which increase mental health awareness for students, faculty and staff.

Alumni Affairs 2014

Stefanie Sharp, Alumni Advancement Manager

2015

& DevelopmentReport

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The class of OVC 1984 launched a student space initiative project in fall 2014 and are quickly reaching their goal.

The class of 2007 has the support of Erin Leis (Stewart) family who are currently matching any gifts made to the class project. They are now working towards endowing the scholarship.

Many OVC classes reached out to their classmates through appeals this year, including OVC ’50, OVC ’61, OVC ’62, OVC ’64, OVC ’70, OVC ’75, OVC ’84, OVC ‘86 and OVC 2007.

Completed Class Projects in 14/15

The class of OVC 1954 donated the remainder of their class fund, $7,800 to the OVC Historical Archive Fund.

The class of OVC 1956 spearheaded a project in support of the Gryphon statue and garden that marks the entrance to the University of Guelph. They reached the highest level of donor recognition for this.

The class of OVC 1970 has reached their $200,000 goal to support a fourth year elective in eco-health.

The class of OVC 1973 has reached their $150,000 goal in support of naming two animal cancer centre rooms.

The class of OVC 1986 has a project in memory of class-mates who passed away. This is an online campaign that raised over $30,000 to start an endowed scholarship for DVM students.

OVC 2014/2015 Dollars RaisedAnnual Fund $1,526,766Major Gifts $3,108,037Planned Giving $1,651,452 Total $6,291,986

Historical OVC Results2014/2015 $6.3 million2013/2014 $6.3 million2012/2013 $4.2 million2011/2012 $4.6 million2010/2011 $5.8 million2009/2010 $8.1 million2008/2009 $9.5 million2007/2008 $11.1 million2006/2007 $4.0 million2005/2006 $3.8 millionTotal: $63,674,204.00

Historical University Wide Results2014/2015 $25.18 million2013/2014 $31.93 million2012/2013 $28.5 million2011/2012 $27.5 million2010/2011 $22.9 million2009/2010 $21.3 million2008/2009 $15.9 million2007/2008 $20.8 million2006/2007 $15.3 million2005/2006 $12.3 millionTotal: $221,090,154.00

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It’s been another great year for OVC Pet Trust. $2,914,416M was raised in 2014. This figure is an increase of 29% from the previous fiscal year. Money raised supports innovative discoveries that improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases of pets; trains veterinarians to provide exceptional veterinary health care, and provides leading-edge facilities and equipment for the OVC Health Sciences Centre.

Twenty-three new research projects were funded this year. Vari-ous areas of companion animal medicine were studied, including: canine distemper virus strains in dogs and wildlife in Ontario; the effects of blood thinners on cats; predicting treatment outcomes for dogs with lymphoma; new diagnostic tests for kidney disease in cats; and the purchase of a platelet function analyzer which is one of the first advanced bedside platelet function testing instru-ments to be introduced into human and animal medicine.

The campaign for the Mona Campbell Centre for Animal Cancer was completed, with more than $13.5M raised to build, equip and staff this one-of-a-kind facility in Canada. An anonymous donor provided $1M to create a new, endowed DVSc in cardiology and we are well on our way to raising the approximately $9M required to build and provide equipment for the advanced surgical complex at the Ontario Veterinary College.

OVC Pet Trust published its first book, “Live-Love! Famous Canadians & the pets they love”, written by local author Nancy Silcox. The book was very well received at both the official launch, on line and in local stores. Many notable Canadians shared their

stories about the pets in their lives, including Don Cherry, Chris Hadfield, Jann Arden and Yannick Bisson. In addition to the book, we designed a new website and promotional materials. Be sure to check out www.pettrust.ca.

Each year, OVC Pet Trust provides up to $500,000 for research stud-ies in various areas of pet health and well-being, as well as several graduate DVSc fellowships. More than 350 veterinary hospitals and 10,000 individual donors support Pet Trust and its various initiatives. This year, with the support of the Smiling Blue Skies Cancer Fund, we were able to fund a clinical trials coordinator. Vicky Sabine was hired in January. She assists in administrative aspects of any companion animal OVC-HSC based clinical project with priority being given to oncology related and Pet Trust funded projects.

In addition to funding the clinical trials coordinator, Suzi Beber and her team at Smiling Blue Skies host walks across Canada and continue to be a vital partner to OVC Pet Trust.

Many exciting initiatives are planned for the coming year, includ-ing our third “Walk in the Park” gala which will be held on October 15th at Daniel’s Spectrum in Toronto. Funds raised at the event this year will support the Advanced Surgical Complex at OVC.

A special thank you goes out to our volunteer Board of Directors and those individuals on the “Walk in the Park” gala committee. We couldn’t do what we do without you.

Pet Trust 2014

Kim Robinson, Managing Director, OVC Pet Trust

2015

Report:

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Report on CommunicationsDuring 2014 OVC’s communications team launched many innova-tive communication projects to grow reach, deepen conversations and expand engagement with our audiences including: future and existing students, staff, faculty, alumni, colleagues at follow universities, private and government funding agencies and the broader community, as well as to raise the profile of the Ontario Veterinary College and increase awareness of the role of veterinar-ians in society.

The communications and marketing team continued to devel-op communications and promotional materials to support key initiatives from the OVC’s five-year Integrated Plan, including the Poultry Health Research Network, Dairy Health Network, Hill’s Pet Nutrition Primary Healthcare Centre, Health Sciences Centre services, OVC Pet Trust, Donor communications as well as ongoing research activities.

OVC now has an OVC SPARK (Students Promoting Awareness of Research Knowledge) writer exclusively devoted to reporting about OVC research stories. SPARK has numerous strategic alliances with the media. SPARK-written news stories appear in agri-food publications across Ontario and Canada, as well as on the Uni-versity of Guelph website and in Research magazine, one of the University’s flagship publications, and in the Guelph Mercury and other Metroland newspaper. This provides another avenue to share OVC research with a broad audience.

Live streaming lecture series and special eventsThe OVC Marketing Communications team has continued to live

stream/tweet during Veterinary Team Appreciation Rounds from the OVC’s Health Sciences Centre. These continuing education sessions are held monthly for veterinarians and their support teams during the academic year. Offering live online and free access to these events has opened global conversations on relevant veterinary medical topics such as oncology, radiology, cardiology, anesthesiology, and nutrition. Viewership includes Canada, the United States, Brazil, India, Australia and more.

OVC has also started to record and live stream department guest speakers and lecture series. Stay tuned for announcements and links to upcoming events in the OVC Bulletin.

The Externship Blog Project 2014:In 2014 OVC’s communications team launched a student blog-ging project. The first of its kind, this social media-based project highlights the experience of five student veterinarians during their placement. Students submitted a post weekly about their experiences and had creative freedom to talk about their work through writing, photos or video creation. Blogs were posted to the OVC website and social channels. A visual identity and series of promotional videos were created to promote the effort and posted on YouTube. The college received tremendous interest from veterinary, agricultural and main stream social media.

This summer you will be able to follow eight students veterinar-ians as they post articles and videos about their experiences in mixed animal practices across Ontario and beyond. Check it out at www.ovc.uoguelph.ca/externship.

Communications 2014

Jane Dawkins and Karen Mantel, OVC Marketing Communications Officers

2015

Report:

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Economic Impact of OVCThe communications team was closely involved in the drafting and release of an economic impact study of OVC’s programs and services. As the University of Guelph and the province face financial challenges, it is vital that we highlight the strengths and value of OVC to all of our stakeholders. With the support of the U of G provost, the College commissioned an external consultant to compile the economic data needed to support our message. The report was released in fall 2014.

As part of the release, special sessions following the annual Pro-fessional Welcome Ceremony for first year DVM students provided an opportunity for the students, their families, friends and special guests to get a glimpse of the diverse roles of veterinarians in clin-ical practice, on farms, in translational medicine, and public health.

The marketing communications team continued to highlight the Economic Impact Study throughout the year with stories and pro-motions linked to core areas of health management, public health and translational medicine.

Ramping Up Social MediaSocial media has become more and more important in OVC’s approach to sharing information with students, staff, faculty, alumni, industry and the general public. Over the past 12 months key targets for social media include: reaching the millenial audi-ence; increasing global reach and growing engagement with our followers. We have made significant head way in all 3 areas.

Successes include:• Doubling OVC’s Facebook following in just over 1 year - now

over 2500• Doubling twitter following in just over 1 year - now 6000

following• Highest reach on Facebook 33,000 people organic reach• Quadrupled number of visitors to read our twitter feed• Launched two new social platforms - Snapchat and Instagram

to reach a global audience and millennials. Rapidly growing over the past 3 months, we now reach over 1500 (between the two platforms).

If you’re not doing so already, please be sure to follow OVC on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ontariovetcollege www.facebook.com/OVCAlum

Twitter: @ontvetcollege

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/OntarioVetCollege

Instagram: user: OntVetCollegeSnapchat: user: OntVetCollege

Traditional ‘Channels’We are also continuing our traditional communications efforts using a mix of print and electronic communications products, including:

The Crest, OVC’s alumni newsletter, published three times per year

Best Friends of Pet Trust, a donor recognition and stewardship newsletter published twice per year

OVC Bulletin, a weekly electronic internal newsletter. Since its launch in 2007, the Bulletin has become an important resource for providing current news and information about OVC events, people and their achievements. Alumni who have a story idea, can contact ovcinfo@uoguelph.ca.

Regular liaison with UofG communications and media relations to ensure OVC news and stories are included in broader UofG commu-nications such as At Guelph, news releases, and the Portico.

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OVC Alumni Association Board of Directors:

President: Dr. Bob Van Delst, OVC ‘95

Vice- President: Dr. Chris Doherty, OVC ‘13

Past- President: Dr. W. J. Brad Hanna, OVC ‘89

Secretary: Dr. Maureen E. Anderson, OVC ‘03

Treasurer: Ms. Monica Marshman, OVC ‘14

Directors:Dr. Colleen Best, OVC ‘09Dr. Peter Conlon, OVC ‘80Dr. Tamara Hofstede, OVC ‘04Francesca Small, Representative: Class of 2015Sharon Zhang, Representative: Class of 2016Kandice Runyon, Representative: Class of 2017Elizabeth Hartnett, Representative: Class of 2018

Stepping down: Dr. Janet R. Sunohara-Neilson, OVC ‘07

Proposed 20142015

Slate of Officers:

To learn more about how to get involved with

the Ontario Veterinary College Alumni Association please contact:

Stefanie SharpAlumni Advancement Manager

Ontario Veterinary CollegePhone: 519-827-7872 x.56679

Email: ovcaa@uoguelph.ca

www.ovc.uoguelph.ca/alumni/https://twitter.com/OntVetCollege

https://www.facebook.com/ontariovetcollege