Veterinary Teaching Hospital honors Staff Members of the Year

The Veterinary Teaching Hospital has chosen five Staff Members of the Year, people who excel in providing expertise and support to the clinicians, residents, and students in the hospital and who provide a critical layer of care for animal patients and human clients served by the hospital.

This year’s honorees are Amanda Conrad, Emily Falls, Karolee Furrow, Katie Reuss, and Brandon Willis, each with a brief description below.

Amanda E. Conrad
Licensed Veterinary Technician, Cardiology

Conrad, who has been at Virginia Tech for 11 years, contributes to patient care, teaching students, maintaining the ward and its equipment, and day-to-day operations of cardiology, including assistance in surgeries such as balloon valvuloplasty's and pacemaker implantations.

She said, “The people!” are her favorite part of working in the VTH, as she said "can always count on them to uplift me on difficult days. The people challenge me to grow and expand my knowledge on a daily basis.”

“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work in such a dynamic and rewarding field. It's a privilege to work with such talented colleagues and help teach the next generation of veterinary professionals.”

Emily Falls
Anatomical Pathology Technician, ViTALS (necropsy)

“Necropsy isn’t just looking at dead animals,” Falls said. “It’s looking at the animal’s body, examining all the organs in the body, putting the physiology together, and discovering what went wrong. It’s sort of like solving a mystery.”

Falls takes in animals’ bodies and process paperwork for students and pathologists to perform necropsies. She also trims tissues for histology and works with students in the pathology rotation. “The most difficult part of my job is the legal cases brought in,” Falls said. “It’s always so surprising at how cruel people can be to animals.” 

Falls, her husband, and three children own a farm with six dogs, seven cats, two horses, a mule, chickens, sheep, goats, and cattle. 

Karolee Furrow         
Inventory and Logistics Supervisor, Hospital Stores

Furrow’s time at Virginia Tech dates to the last century, as she has worked in the VTH for 27 years. She is responsible for ordering supplies for the hospital and maintaining Hospital Stores inventory stock levels, plus receiving all packages for the VMCVM.

She sums her responsibilities up as “Helping others anyway I can” and said that “working with a great group of people is very rewarding.”

Furrow said she has “three beautiful grandchildren that I adore” plus “four grandpups” and three “grandkitties.” 

Katie Reuss
Surgery Technician, Large Animal Clinical Sciences

“Horses make everything better,” said Katie Reuss, who has spent the last two decades working in Large Animal Clinical Sciences.

Reuss assists the surgery team and helps care for inpatients, among other job duties. “Whatever anyone needs at the time,” she said of her role. “It is difficult to have such broad job duties and play so many roles throughout the day. I might be training students, taking radiographs, doing some heavy lifting, cleaning up an enormous mess, or working on billing. That is what makes employment different in large animal. You wear a lot of different hats!”

Reuss herself has a horse, Denali, and two miniature horses, Sparkle and Dandy, plus an outdoor cat, Max. 

Brandon Willis
Lead Pharmacy Technician

Willis has been at the VTH for nine years and is responsible for making sure that dosages for inpatient and outpatient prescriptions are correct for the species and breeds of animal patients. He also processes refills, provides assistance to field services, and makes sure other services in the hospital have needed pharmacy support. 

The workflow can be “very stressful and high pace,” said Willis, who finds interesting ways outside work to offset that stress. He has been training for over two years to break the world record for the most chin-ups done in 24 hours, he has been an extra in an NF rap music video, and he supports the youth at the school where his wife teaches, Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy.

“I know how important animals are to our clients, as most of us here at Vet Med have pets of our own and love them,” said Willis, who has a 16-year-old “chiweenie” dog named Reese. “To be able to provide a high standard of service and make sure they get the best care possible is rewarding. I am also very fortunate to work with an awesome pharmacy team, and it’s amazing to work with other LVTS, doctors, and veterinary staff that definitely don’t get the praise they deserve but they help make sure this hospital functions at a high level.”