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Dr. Gregg Cutler, a fourth-generation poultry industry professional and triple alumnus of the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine, was recognized on April 30 at the annual Spring Showcase with the school's Distinguished Service Award.

Dean Mark Stetter presented the honor, describing Cutler as someone who has "gone above and beyond for decades,” volunteering, advising, and advocating for the school with a consistency that few could match. "I can't think of anybody more appropriate for this award," Stetter said.

A Founding Voice for Poultry Health

Ben Sacks (a resource quoted in this article) serves as an adjunct professor and director of the Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit, a research unit in the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine.

Dr. Antonio Maria Tardo has joined the Department of Medicine and Epidemiology as Assistant Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine effective May 1, 2026.

Dr. Tardo received his DVM (2018) from the University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.  He continued to complete a one-year rotating small animal internal medicine internship (2019), post-graduate researcher (2020) before starting a small animal internal medicine residency (2021-2024).  Concurrently, he completed a PhD program (2021-2024) on canine and feline endocrinology at the University of Bologna.

Dr. Allan Gunn has joined the Department of Population Health and Reproduction as Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor of Livestock Herd Health and Reproduction, effective May 2026.

Dr. Gunn received his BSc.Agric degree (1984) from the University of Natal, South Africa and his BVM&S (1993) from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Dr. Karyn Bischoff joined CAHFS-Davis as faculty toxicologist and Toxicology Section Lead in May 2025.   

She received her DVM from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, followed by a residency in Veterinary Toxicology and MS in Veterinary Pathology at Oklahoma State, and an MS in Public Health from Cornell University.  She is board certified in Veterinary Toxicology and previously served as the Director of Analytical Toxicology at the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory from 2004-2025 prior to joining CAHFS.  

Climate change is likely to drive rodent-borne arenaviruses into parts of South America that have never faced these diseases, putting new communities of people at risk, finds a study from the University of California, Davis. 

Gathering fresh eggs laid by chickens in your backyard may sound idyllic, but keeping the birds healthy requires some special knowledge. Avian influenza, salmonella, predators, food safety, choosing the correct feed, what’s snake oil and what’s not, and how to pick the right breed for you are just some of the common chicken conundrums people want practical science-based information about.

Professor Pamela Lein co-authored two new research papers that help explain how biological systems respond to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exposure, including key differences between males and females.

An inherited form of blindness directly comparable to a common inherited optic nerve disease in humans has been discovered in rhesus macaques at the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis. The work, published April 15 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could lead to a better understanding of autosomal dominant optic atrophy, or ADOA, and potentially to new treatments. 

As a world-class veterinary and research institution, UC Davis has many spaces that serve not only humans, but also horses and raptors and cats (oh my). Long before a beloved furry friend can get a state-of-the-art CT scan or a peregrine falcon can fly through an obstacle course to inform flight research, Design and Construction Management, or DCM, project managers work diligently and collaboratively to ensure each project is able to accommodate every creature that uses it. 

The California Wool Growers Association recently held its 106th Annual California Ram Sale in Tulare, and UC Davis livestock veterinarians and students were on hand to help facilitate the event. As they have done for more than 50 years, the school’s livestock team provided health checks on all 500 rams up for sale.

Dr. Don Janssen passed away in April, 2026. A graduate of the school, Janssen was a recipient of the Dr. Murray Fowler Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Zoological Medicine (ACZM) and the 

In 2016, then 4-year-old Mustang mare Magic was one of 279 wild horses rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) following the massive Soda Fire in Idaho, which destroyed more than 279,000 acres of their critical habitat. To prevent their starvation, BLM rescued the wild horses. Between 2016 and 2019, many of the horses, including Magic, were adopted out, and others were returned to the wild when their grazing area grew back.

“He wasn’t doing normal dog stuff,” said Keri Sheldon about her experience in 2021 with Andy, her golden retriever/poodle mix puppy. “We noticed he was always guarded with other dogs and not playing normally. It gave us concern – he was not acting like a normal puppy.”

So, when he started whimpering after a mishap while playing, Sheldon and her partner Keith Fenech took the goldendoodle to their primary veterinarian.

“The vet took x-rays and diagnosed Andy with hip dysplasia,” Sheldon said. “I was quite upset to hear that.”

The UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine has received the second largest individual gift ever made to the school: $75 million from Bay Area residents Kathy Chiao and Kenneth Hao. 

Their gift will name the school’s new small animal hospital, which will provide cutting-edge veterinary care, accommodate more patients annually, and increase space for student and specialty training. Their gift will also fund scholarships, animal-human translational medicine, and programs for those unable to afford veterinary care.