Happy Holidays from Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program~2022

Dear Friends,

It has been a tumultuous year nationally, in the sheltering world, and also in our little shelter medicine program here at Cornell. Throughout it all we have been extremely fortunate to have so much support from individuals and institutions far and wide, including you.

In March, we lost our long-time program technician Vicki Weber to a lateral Cornell transfer to internal medicine, but gained Kelsey Arrison, LVT, a passionate, experienced HQHVS/N tech who was working in anesthesia while waiting for a more shelter-oriented position. She jumped right into teaching, shelter and program clinical service, and has even worked overtime fostering special needs animals for the SPCA of Tompkins County. Her working knowledge of CUHA helps us navigate our transfers in and out, and her cat-wrangling skills continue to impress.

In March we also learned that our program had managed to match our top two picks for shelter medicine intern! In June, Dr. Abby Reichard joined us from Michigan via veterinary college in Scotland, and was the primary doctor treating Galaxy, the

sweet dog on the front cover of our card (featured to the right), whose eye developed painful glaucoma after an unknown traumatic event and required removal.

Dr. Emily Boccia joined us from Maine via veterinary school in Michigan, and quickly became a magnet for sick, broken kittens like Charlotte, seen inside the card (pictured below), who recovered and was adopted out this summer.

Brutus, Purdy and Charlotte (featured clockwise)

Dr. Elizabeth Berliner, the director and leader of Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program since 2014, finished up a Cornell University community engagement fellowship in February, once again joining our clinical team providing service and teaching at the Tompkins County SPCA, but not for long. She accepted a position at the ASPCA in New York in June, working with us until the end of July. We are looking forward to involving her in our didactic teaching in the spring and hope she will continue to provide our program her expertise and energy every now and then, since she is still living nearby.

Since EB’s departure, we have been very fortunate to once more have the assistance of Dr. Aly Cohen, also part-time at Cornell’s Riney Canine Health Center and the Binghamton Zoo, join our program to help with clinical instruction, especially in surgery. We have especially appreciated her soft tissue skills this year, because it seems like we have had a parade of shelter cats with large and complicated skin defects.

Dr. Erin Henry and I continue to hold the course despite all the changes around us. Dr. Henry continues to provide clear-eyed leadership as Medical Director of the SPCA of Tompkins County, teaching interns and students on rotations and didactic courses, leading the Cornell veterinary student’s HSUS-sponsored “Spay Day,” which we all look forward to every February, and providing our service with professional-grade baked goods.

We are so thankful that we continue to benefit from professor emerita Dr. Jan Scarlett’s continued participation in our journal club and study design work; her passion for the topic and continued guidance helps us to consume and design important research that elevates our practice and our field. Finally, we wouldn’t be where we are without the support of Suzette Moschetti, our ever-organized and professional program coordinator, and Gail Babcock, who provides institutional experience and insight as our departmental support.

We are looking forward to beginning the search for the next Janet Swanson Director of Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program beginning early next year. In the meantime, I am extremely grateful for all the assistance, commitment, support, and camaraderie, as I learn and work to temporarily fill this role.

We are also extremely grateful for all the shelters that help us learn and teach in this field, and all the animals that remind us why we love this work.

Thank you once again for supporting our program.