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Emergency specialist faculty member receives inaugural Michael Schaer Professorship

Dr. Adesola Odunayo and Dr. Michael Schaer in the intensive care unit at UF’s Small Animal Hospital.

By Sarah Carey

Dr. Adesola Odunayo, a clinical associate professor of emergency and critical care at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine, is the inaugural recipient of the Michael Schaer Professorship in Small Animal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine — the first endowed professorship established at the college in support of a clinical faculty member and the first to carry the name of a faculty member.

The professorship provides perpetual support for a clinical faculty member associated with the department of small animal clinical sciences who works with the UF Small Animal Hospital’s emergency and critical care service.

“I feel so incredibly honored to have received this recognition,” said Odunayo, who joined the college’s faculty in 2021. “It means so much to me from a professional perspective, as I have always viewed an endowed professorship as one of the pinnacles of success in an academic career.”

Receiving the award was a great opportunity to reflect on, and appreciate, everyone who helped get her to this point — her family, mentors, colleagues, veterinary nurses and staff, house officers, students and most especially her patients, Odunayo said.

“This award is as much a celebration of their influence on my career and the inspiration they brought my way,” she said, adding that the honor was awe-inspiring from a personal perspective as well.

“Dr. Larry Dee, who donated the gift that made this professorship possible, was one of my very first mentors as a veterinarian,” she said. “I completed a rotating internship at his practice, Hollywood Animal Hospital, in 2005. That experience was what propelled me to become a critical care specialist.”

As a founding veterinarian board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, Schaer had also been a significant role model for Odunayo, as she had read many of his scholarly articles and heard him speak at conferences.

“I was finally privileged to work with him after I started my job at the University of Florida,” she said. “To be recognized by this award that is connected to both of these exceptional veterinarians is extraordinary. I would not have imagined this happening in a million years. I’m just thankful to everyone who made this happen and hope I can keep striving to uphold the ideals behind this incredibly meaningful award.”

Dr. Larry Dee and his wife, Rita Dee, made a $1 million gift to the college in 2020 to create the professorship as a way of honoring Schaer, a professor emeritus of small animal medicine at UF who specializes in emergency and critical care. Dee and Schaer have known each other for many years professionally, and forged a friendship through their many connections and mutual support for the UF College of Veterinary Medicine and the Florida Veterinary Medical Association.

Dee also hails from a family with a huge legacy in veterinary medicine in Florida. His late father, Clarence Dee, D.V.M., served on the state’s Board of Veterinary Medicine for more than 20 years, and helped support efforts to build the state’s only veterinary college in the 1970s.

Prior to joining UF’s faculty, Odunayo served for nine years on the faculty at the University of Tennessee and for two years as a clinical instructor at Auburn University. A 2005 graduate of the Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine, she completed a residency in emergency and critical care from the University of Missouri’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2010, along with a master’s degree in veterinary clinical sciences.