Dr. Baljit Singh is the Spring 2008 recipient of the University of Saskatchewan's Master Teacher Award — the fourth professor in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine's history to receive this prestigious honour.

Singh, a professor in WCVM's Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, received the award during the U of S Spring Convocation ceremony on May 28. Established in 1984, the Master Teacher Award recognizes faculty members who make outstanding contributions to the university's learning and working environments. The award honours faculty members who excel in their profession, and emphasizes the importance of good teaching at the U of S.

"This is a tremendous honour for Dr. Singh and for the College," said WCVM Dean Dr. Charles Rhodes. "Dr. Singh takes his teaching and the discipline of teaching very seriously. He puts tremendous effort into all his teaching, and into improving his teaching. It's great to see his effort and commitment rewarded."

Dr. Cecil Doige was the first WCVM professor to receive the U of S award in 1985. Drs. Otto Radostits and Gary Wobeser were also honoured for their teaching abilities in 1986 and 1992 respectively.

Continue reading "Dr. Baljit Singh receives U of S Master Teacher Award" »

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Two U of S-based research studies targeting chronic wasting disease (CWD) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) were among 19 national projects that received a total of $8 million in new funding from PrioNet Canada on May 7.

• A collaborative research team led by Dr. Trent Bollinger of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Veterinary Pathology will receive $750,000 over the next three years to continue work in creating a national strategy for minimizing the spread of CWD among wild deer. Bollinger’s co-investigators include scientists from WCVM, the U of S Department of Biology and the University of Alberta.

• Dr. Andrew Potter, director of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) and the International Vaccine Centre (InterVac) and his collaborators will receive $445,000 toward the development of a BSE vaccine for cattle to ensure that Canadian herds are protected against the prion disease.

PrioNet Canada, part of the Networks of Centres of Excellence Canada program, brings together the country’s top scientists involved in investigating prion diseases like BSE, CWD and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans.

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The Canadian Water Network has awarded a $1.6-million grant to Dr. Monique Dubé, the University of Saskatchewan’s Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Ecosystem Health Diagnosis and a professor in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences.

Over the next four years, the funding will support Dubé’s development of The Healthy River Ecosystem Assessment System (THREATS). Once completed, the specialized software program will enable scientists to assess and adaptively manage the cumulative effects of man-made developments on Canadian freshwaters.

This project involves scientists at Dalhousie University and the Universities of New Brunswick, Waterloo, Saskatchewan, Calgary and British Columbia. It also involves watersheds in B.C. (Fraser River), Alberta and Saskatchewan (South Saskatchewan River), Ontario (Grand River), and New Brunswick (Saint John River). As well, six PhD students will be trained in a team-based model of their own to encourage development of a high-performance, collaborative student network across Canada.

For more information, contact Dr. Monique Dubé.

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Dr. Janet Hill of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) is part of a multi-disciplinary team of Canadian researchers that received $35,000 through the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research in April 2008.

The Collaborative Research Group for the Study of Human Vaginal Microbiota in Health and Disease received one of the foundation’s 2008 Health Research Team Planning Awards. The program focuses on understanding the role of vaginal microbial ecology in human reproductive health — particularly pre-term birth.

Dr. Deborah Money, executive director of the Women’s Health Research Institute and an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of British Columbia, leads the national research team. The award will support travel, meetings and support personnel for the group’s development over the next year. For more details, contact Dr. Janet Hill.

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The Collegium Internationale Allergologicum (CIA), an exclusive collegium of the world’s leading allergy clinicians and researchers, elected U of S immunologist Dr. John Gordon to become one of its members on May 5 during its annual symposium at Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles.

Gordon, director of the U of S Canadian Centre for Health and Safety in Agriculture, is a former long-time faculty member and researcher at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. He is now an associate member of the college’s Department of Veterinary Microbiology. Gordon’s research team recently made significant strides in developing a new immunosuppressive dendritic cell therapy for asthma that has had very positive results in animal models and with allergic cells of atopic people.

Founded in 1954, the CIA is an international collegium for the study of scientific and clinical problems in allergy and related branches of medicine and immunology. Only about 250 clinicians and scientists have been elected as members of the organization: all have made significant contributions to knowledge in allergic diseases throughout their careers.

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New research facilities, greater funding and increases in faculty and graduate student numbers have all contributed to make 2007 a banner year for the Western College of Veterinary Medicine’s research program.

You can now read all about the veterinary college's recent research achievements in the WCVM 2007 Annual Research Report: click here to download your own copy (4.5 MB). Inside, you'll find:

• profiles of Dr. Lynn Weber, Dr. Steve Hendrick, Dr. Janet Hill, Dr. Susantha Gomis and Dr. Trent Bollinger — five members of WCVM's successful research team
• an article on the impact of WCVM research in the worldwide scientific community
• photos and stories about the WCVM Goodale Research Farm and the college's new research wing
• a listing of award-winning faculty members and graduate students
• listings of faculty, graduate students, clinical interns and summer research students
• listings of peer-reviewed journal articles, books, reviews, presentations and contributed papers.

For more information, please contact the WCVM Research Office (306-966-7453; wcvm.research@usask.ca).

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