Veterinary college's Zajac, Goodwin receive national honors
A faculty member and student in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech were recently honored by the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists.
Dr. Anne Zajac, of Blacksburg, Va., an associate professor in the college’s Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, was named the recipient of the association’s 2008 Distinguished Service Award. David Goodwin of Kingston, N.H., a graduate student in the college, was named the first recipient of the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists-Companion Animal Parasite Council Graduate Student Award in Zoonotic Disease.
Zajac was honored for her many contributions to the association and to the field of parasitology. She has been active in the association for over 20 years and served as its first female president. She has also authored two editions of the standard diagnostic manual Veterinary Clinical Parasitology, which is published under the auspices of the association. Zajac also conducts research and educates futures generations of parasitologists.
“I greatly enjoy teaching students about parasites and working on new ways to provide effective control of parasitic infections,” said Zajac.
She received her doctor of veterinary medicine degree in 1982 from Michigan State University and her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1986 at which time she joined the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. In addition to the American Association of Veterinary Parasitologists, Zajac is a member of the American Society of Parasitologists, the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Helminthological Society of Washington.
Goodwin was honored for his contributions to the parasitology field in the investigation of two zoonotic parasites.
Naming Goodwin as the first recipient of this award was an excellent choice, according to Dr. David Lindsay, a professor of parasitology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, who serves as his advisor. “David has worked with two different zoonotic parasites, Encephalitozoon cuniculi and Toxoplasma gondii, and he has published his finding in several parasitology journals,” said Lindsay.
Goodwin is a Ph.D. student in Lindsay’s laboratory and is expected to graduate in 2009. He is a 2000 graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a bachelor of science degree in animal science and a 1996 graduate of Berwick Academy in South Berwick, Maine.
Zajac and Goodwin were both formally presented with their awards during the 53rd American Association of Veterinary ParasitologistsAnnual Meeting held recently in New Orleans, La.
