Guidelines for Distinguished Veterinary Microbiologist Award

Distinguished Veterinary Microbiologist Award

Purpose: The purpose of the award is to recognize and honor a veterinary microbiologist who has distinguished themselves by a career that has made important contributions to the field of veterinary microbiology in the areas of research, teaching, and/or service.

The 2024 Distinguished Veterinary Microbiologist

Dr. John A. Ellis

Dr. John A. Ellis is a Professor of Microbiology at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, where he teaches virology and immunology. He is an ACVM Diplomate in Immunology (1989) and Virology (1993), as well as a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists. Science Watch identified him as one of the most highly cited authors in veterinary medicine.

Dr. Ellis has had a distinguished career as a researcher in veterinary microbiology, ruminant immunology, ovine lentiviruses, porcine circovirus pathogenesis, and vaccine development in large and small animals. He has written or co-authored more than 250 peer-reviewed publications in addition to many book chapters and conference proceedings. His leadership and expertise were invaluable to several specialty committees for the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and the Conference for Research Workers in Animal Diseases. Recently he co-chaired the American Animal Hospital Association Vaccine Guidelines Task Force to provide information on how to address some of the most common client objections to vaccines.

Equally impressive is Dr. Ellis’s commitment to educating veterinary students, veterinarians, and researchers. He has supervised and mentored over 60 graduate students, provided innumerable hours of laboratory instruction, and taught thousands of veterinary students in virology, immunology, disease ecology, epidemiology & public health, and clinical medicine. He has provided countless continuing educational seminars for practicing veterinarians in addition to overseeing and providing results in veterinary diagnostic services prior to the formation of Prairie Veterinary Diagnostic Services in 1999. Throughout his career, Dr. Ellis has focused on improving animal health and educating future veterinary microbiologists.

Award Criteria

Criteria: Nominees should have an established track record of noteworthy contributions to research, teaching, and/or service in the field of veterinary microbiology. Noteworthy contributions could include examples such as, but not limited to, the following:

• a history of undertaking research that has helped to define pathogen biology or mechanisms of pathogenesis, identify protective host mechanisms, or determine means of prevention or treatment of infectious diseases of animals. Evidence of research contributions will be supported by regular publications and/or grant funding related to the area of specialty, as well as presentations at national and international conferences.
• service in a diagnostic facility in which the nominee has developed and made available accurate and useful tests for the diagnosis of important animal diseases, or in which the nominee has worked to characterize and distribute information regarding infectious agents (e.g., antimicrobial susceptibility, strain variation) on a regional or national scale. Other outstanding service could include regulatory work that led to the development of programs that aid veterinarians or producers in the identification or control of important infectious animal diseases, or that educate the public about issues relevant to veterinary microbiology.
• efforts in teaching characterized by the development of novel undergraduate, graduate, or outreach courses or other learning materials, media, and opportunities relevant to veterinary microbiology; or authorship of useful and regularly updated textbooks relevant to veterinary microbiology.

Nominees for this award may well have made outstanding contributions in more than one area.

Nomination Process

Nomination process and identification of recipient: The ACVM Nominating Committee will solicit nominations for the Distinguished Veterinary Microbiologist Award in order to identify one or more nominees. The nominees can be an ACVM member or non-member who has done considerable work in veterinary microbiology/parasitology. Current members of the ACVM Board of Governors are not eligible. Persons nominating a candidate must provide the Nominations Committee with a letter of no more than one page explaining the nominee’s qualifications, with a copy of the nominee’s CV. These materials will be forwarded to the ACVM Board of Governors, who will vote on the nominee. The nominee with the most votes (representing at least a majority of the Board) will receive the award; in the event that only one nominee is presented, the award will be made if a majority of the Board is in favor of the making the award.