Veterinary students win prestigious awards

Eleven veterinary students from around the world were honored for their hard work in improving the lives of companion animals and wildlife. The students, who completed the projects with funding from the Morris Animal Foundation's (MAF) Veterinary Student Scholars program, presented their results at MAF's annual meeting in June. Judges from MAF's scientific advisory boards chose 11 winners from more than 30 entries. The winners:

Ballard Award for Companion Animals, $5,000 each (tie)

Mia Lieberman, University of California-Davis

Isolation and Purification of Lytic Bacteriophages Against Streptococcus equi subspecies equi

Stephanie Montgomery, North Carolina State University

Development of a Genomic Assay to Profile Archival Canine Hemangiosarcomas

Ballard Award for Wildlife, $5,000 each (tie)

Samantha Haskins, University of Illinois

Do Immune Responses to Helicobacter Change Over Time in Captivity in Wild-Caught Namibian Cheetahs?

Michelle Madonia, University of Illinois

Wildlife-Human Interactions and Zoonotic Disease in Kabarole District, Uganda: The Case of Monkeypox

2nd Place for Companion Animals, $2,500 each (tie)

Courtney Varney, University of Florida

Cardiovascular Effects of N-Butylscopolammonium Bromide in Horses

Aimee Jalkanen, The Ohio State University

MicroRNA Expression Profiling of Canine Osteosarcoma

Blaire Holland, North Carolina State University

Luteal Function and Ovulation in Mares Treated with PGF2a During Early and Mid-Diestrus

Kimberly Ann Bridges, Western University of Health Sciences

Molecular Evaluation of Canine and Feline Parvoviruses in Southern California

2nd Place for Wildlife, $2,500

Laura Waring, Royal Veterinary College

The Effect of Population Density on African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) Endoparasite Burden: A Study of Three South African National Parks

3rd Place for Wildlife, $1,500

Santiago Diaz, University of Florida

Use of Elephant-Specific Monoclonal Antibodies and Recombinant Antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to Improve an ELISA Test for Elephants

IMPACT Award, $500

Ana Iris Mota Torres, University of Veracruz (Mexico)

Feral Cats: Trap-Neuter-Mark and Return Program

Click here to learn more about these projects and the Morris Animal Foundation.