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Large animal surgery resident honored by clinician group

Dr. Andrew Smith is shown with a former large animal hospital patient. (Photo by Diana Andersen-Davis Photography)

Dr. Andrew Smith, a large animal surgery resident and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, was recently honored by a national professional association for his achievements in the clinical, educational and scholarly arenas.

In April, the American Association of Veterinary Clinicians, an organization of veterinary clinicians engaged in teaching and research at the professional, graduate or postgraduate level, presented Smith with its Resident Award, which is given annually to two residents selected from all the veterinary residents in North America.

Smith completed his veterinary degree from N.C. State University in 2009. He then completed consecutive internships in large animal surgery at N.C. State and at New England Equine Practice, Patterson, N.Y.

His research interests include equine diagnostic imaging, orthopedic surgery, upper airway surgery, lameness and podiatry.

Smith is the UF veterinary college’s only current resident-in-training who is simultaneously pursuing a Ph.D. degree. A recipient of the university’s prestigious Graduate School Fellowship, his thesis work focuses on the use of a magnetic resonance imaging scoring system to map the progression of osteoarthritis following a traumatic joint injury. This work was part of a larger project funded at UF by the National Institutes of Health that uses horses as the model to study osteoarthritis in both humans and in horses.

Smith recently presented his research findings at the Veterinary Orthopedic Society sponsored World Veterinary Orthopedic Congress and at UF’s Phi Zeta Research Symposium. He will present the same data at the Osteoarthritis Research Society’s meeting in Paris in April.

In addition to Smith’s mentors, Dr. Steve Ghivizzani, a professor in the UF College of Medicine’s department of orthopedics and rehabilitation, and Dr. Patrick Colahan, a professor emeritus of large animal surgery at the UF veterinary college, other collaborators in his research from UF include Dr. Matt Winter,  Dr. Alison Morton, Dr. Murray Brown and Dr. Jorge Hernandez.