Three Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine alumni were recognized for their contributions to the veterinary field on June 2 at the college’s Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony.
The honors were awarded in the Mickelsen Lounge in front of dozens of alumni who were invited back to campus.
Veterinarian Dr. Raymond D. Ediger (’61 DVM) was given the Excellence in Practice Award. The award recognizes the college’s most outstanding alumni for outstanding contributions to clinical, diagnostic, military, public health, regulatory, or other practice service. In addition, Ediger was also recognized with a Diamond Award for being a donor to the college for more than 50 years. Dr. Harold C. Schott II (’91 PhD) received the Graduate Alumni Award for his research contributions in endurance horse physiology. Late veterinarian Dr. Jerry W. Brown (’79 DVM) was recognized posthumously with an Outstanding Service Award, largely for his volunteer work with client-owned animals and wildlife rehabilitation. Brown’s daughter will receive the award on his behalf at a ceremony in August in western Washington.
Dr. Jerry W. Brown
Dr. Brown grew up in Yelm, Washington, and got his start as a veterinarian in Spanaway before embarking on his career at Yelm Veterinary Hospital in 1982. He became a partner in the practice by 1985 and worked there until his death in 2022. Dr. Brown spent a great deal of time paving the way for future veterinarians, teaching hands-on skills to third-year veterinary students. He was also the main veterinarian for Wolf Haven International – a sanctuary located near Tenino, Washington, for captive-born displaced wolves – for about 40 years. Dr. Brown devoted much of his life working to rehabilitate wildlife, including with initiatives such as the Mexican Wolf Program. Since the 1990s, Dr. Brown was a Washington state licensed wildlife rehabilitator, conducted animal handling courses, and volunteered for 14 years with World Vets International. He also spent several years volunteering for Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS).
Dr. Raymond D. Ediger
Raymond Ediger was born in Bethany, Oregon, and attended Oregon State University for his undergraduate education. Dr. Ediger’s 62-year career has encompassed numerous accomplishments and awards. While serving in the Veterinary Corps as director of the Fort Detrick Biological Laboratories in Fort, Detrick, Maryland, he was credited for making it one of the leading laboratory animal facilities in the U.S. He is also credited for developing procedures for the caesarean-derivation of germ-free colonies of laboratory animals. Many of his innovations are now accepted as the gold standard in the care and use of laboratory animals. Dr. Ediger is a Diplomate of the College of Laboratory Animal Medicine and created the National Institute of Health’s Animal Facilities Diagnostic Laboratory, which served the NIH laboratory animal colonies on the Bethesda, Maryland, campus. As the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) state veterinary epidemiologist, he initiated the Maryland Scrapie Eradication Program and was honored as MDA’s Most Outstanding Employee of the Year. “I want to thank WSU and the veterinary school for the fantastic training we had, and their ability to train a student for a career in veterinary medicine, that in your wildest dreams, you didn’t know that you would ever do,” Ediger said as he addressed the crowd.
Dr. Harold (Hal) Schott
Dr. Schott is an internationally renowned academic equine internal medicine specialist and was elected by his colleagues as president of the Large Animal Specialty of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (the only WSU CVM alumnus to have been afforded this honor). He then took it upon himself to initiate, organize and lead what is now known worldwide as the ACVIM – Large Animal Internal Medicine Boot Camp, a four-day long, hands-on in-depth training program he created for equine medicine residents from across the globe. The intent was to give aspiring specialists the chance to learn to perform advanced medical diagnostic techniques they might otherwise not have been exposed to during their training programs. He insisted in his position as president of ACVIM-LA that the College had to take on some responsibility for helping train these young people, rather than relying on the individual veterinary clinical training programs to do so, and he made it happen. It is now a globally acclaimed program. At WSU, Dr. Schott also completed a PhD in equine exercise physiology and used this training as a springboard for a career-long research interest in endurance horse physiology. He was a member of teams completing field studies of endurance horses in Idaho, Michigan, Virginia, California, Newmarket, and Dubai. Later in his career, Dr. Schott’s attention was directed to the need for better care for aging horses and at Michigan State University he oversaw the largest cohort of horses enrolled in the FDA trial to license pergolide for treatment of Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction in horses. He continues to perform research studies on endocrine disorders in horses and has authored over 120 manuscripts and multiple book chapters.