Mae Chisholm, senior laboratory technician

Mae Chisholm has worked at UF for 35 years, the last 16 of which have been spent as a senior laboratory technician for the ophthalmology service at the College of Veterinary Medicine’s department of small animal clinical sciences. Chisholm likes to tell people that she holds a bachelor’s in hard times, a master’s in common sense and a Ph.D. in survival.

“Mae became a part of our ophthalmology family 16 years ago,” said Don Samuelson, Ph.D., her supervisor. “She was utilized right away for her skills in histology technique. She provided me with a great deal of assistance with maintaining the histology student slide sets over the years. In addition, she helped our residents, graduate students and veterinary students working on their senior projects.”

Jim Mehaffey, Maintenance Specialist

Jim Mehaffey began his UF career as a locksmith at the Health Science Center’s physical plant division in 1974 and was named supervisor in the mid-1980s. He retires after 29 years of service. As a maintenance specialist, Mehaffey’s duties have included maintenance and upkeep of all keying, cylinders and locksets.

“This requires a high level of responsibility, huge organizational skills and the ability to lead others as a supervisor,” said John Lawson, coordinator of construction projects for the division. “If something goes wrong with a lock or a key is missing, security of the whole area or that space could be compromised. Jim responds with incredible expediency. Whether he has to correct the lock or change out a cylinder, he makes sure that the area is secured that day.”

Mehaffey has been involved with various keying issues at the UF veterinary college. His expertise was instrumental when the new Veterinary Academic Building opened.

“His staff had to expedite re-keying the entire building due to a misplaced master key,” Lawson said.

Wayne McClellan, Laboratory Technician

Wayne McClellan has worked as a laboratory technician Professor Paul Cardeilhac, D.V.M., Ph.D., who also retired, since 1987.

“He has been an excellent employee—loyal, dependable, conscientious, hard-working and always willing to learn,” Cardeilhac said.

McClellan worked for UF in other capacities before joining the veterinary college, serving the university for 35 years.

He enjoys coaching youth tackle football, listening to music and fishing. He also is interested in astronomy and owns three telescopes. After he retires, he plans to “take it easy,” travel a little, do some remodeling work at his home and become more active in his church.

Carrie Mosely, Housekeeping Staff Member

Carrie Mosely—“Miss Carrie” as she’s known to her friends—has spent nearly 30 years of working in housekeeping at UF. She has been at the veterinary college since 1981. Much has changed since then, she said, including the annoyance of student pranks.

“They’re nothing like they were back then,” she said, recalling one incident that involved bales of hay and toilet paper being thrown on walls in the hospital administration area.

“There were only two people working back then,” she said. “It took forever to clean that up.”

A longtime member of Friendship Baptist Church, Mosely looks forward to performing volunteer work after a few months of relaxing. She also would like to work with AIDS patients.

Freida Sessions, Senior Biological Scientist

Freida Sessions has been a senior biological scientist in clinical pathology since 1989. Her primary job duties have been in the clinical chemistry section of the department, where she maintains the chemistry analyzers, runs patient and research blood and body fluid samples, and confers with clinicians and veterinary students on their chemistry requests and results.

“Freida is very knowledgeable of factors that may affect chemistry results,” said Tina Conrad, her supervisor. “She has been instrumental in the evaluation and implementation of new chemistry analyzers in the department over the years, and she also has good troubleshooting skills when it comes to solving problems with automated chemistry analyzers.”

Sessions plans to take computer classes and further cultivate her interest in dressage riding and carriage driving when she retires. She also collects orchids and bonsai and maintains “a huge fabric stash” for quilting.

Qi-Yun Zeng, Senior Biological Scientist

Qi-Yun Zeng, a senior biological scientist, has managed the laboratory of Ellis Greiner, Ph.D., since 1996. Before that, she also ran the laboratory of Charles Courtney, Ph.D., where she began her UF career in 1987.

“She is our senior quality control person who makes sure that things are working, supplies are ordered, and that students receive direction and supervision when needed,” Greiner said.

“She also helps teach veterinary parasitology labs and performs a lot of parasite examinations for both Dr. Courtney and me,” Greiner added, noting that Qi-Yun is continually broadening her experience with new parasites and learning how to identify them.

FACULTY:

Paul Cardeilhac, D.V.M, Ph.D, Professor

Paul Cardeilhac, D.V.M., Ph.D., is known to many as “the alligator guy” for good reason: He has worked closely with the many of the state’s alligator farms and their representatives for many years.

Thanks to Cardeilhac’s efforts, alligators from Florida farms are more -resistant, less stressed and more reproductive. They also taste better — Cardeilhac’s research led to a change in diet from purely fish to a combination of fish and beef products, resulting in more flavorful gator tail. Cardeilhac’s interest in aquaculture also led him to develop more nutritional and economical feed for tilapia fish and manatees. Before joining the College of Veterinary Medicine’s faculty in 1976, he served in the Army Veterinary Corps as a laboratory officer at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He was a Pennsylvania Plan Scholar and an National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his Ph.D. He also served as a faculty member at Oklahoma State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Maarten Drost, D.V.M. Professor

Maarten Drost, D.V.M., a member of UF’s faculty since 1977, is a professor of large animal clinical sciences and a world-renowned specialist in the area of reproduction. Drost’s areas of expertise include embryo transfer technology, mechanisms of pregnancy recognition and fertility management in cattle.

Drost was selected as this year’s Teacher of the Year for his expertise in many aspects of animal reproduction and for his delight in sharing what he knows with students at the College of Veterinary Medicine and others, including members of the food animal production industry and veterinary practitioners.

In 1983, Drost and colleague Wyland Cripe, D.V.M., an associate professor emeritus, produced the world’s first water buffalo calf through embryo transfer technology. Drost says his interest in teaching stems from the satisfaction he derives from explaining the marvels of reproduction.

“Dr. Drost is clearly an icon in his discipline of bovine reproduction and has never lost his enthusiasm for knowledge of teaching,” said department chairwoman Eleanor Green, D.V.M. Drost’s son, Tod, and daughter, Nikki, are both UF veterinary college graduates.

Donald Forrester, Ph.D., Professor

Don Forrester, Ph.D., has contributed to the world of wildlife diseases through his heralded research, but it’s his quiet, gentle manner and forgiving spirit that permeate his day-to-day interactions with faculty and staff.

“In addition to being a brilliant and very productive researcher and educator, Don is always willing to devote time and energy to help interested students and colleagues to achieve their goals,” said Marilyn Spalding, M.D., Forrester’s longtime collaborator and an associate scientist in the department of pathobiology.

Forrester has been a member of the UF faculty since 1973 and with the College of Veterinary Medicine since its inception in 1969. His book, “Parasites and Diseases of Wild Mammals in Florida,” is a benchmark reference, and his new book, Parasites and Diseases of Birds in Florida, co-authored by Spalding, recently was published to rave reviews.

Dr. Forrester has taken an active role in UF veterinary college committee work and was instrumental in the development of the college’s now-thriving graduate program.

Alfred M. Merritt, D.V.M., Appleton Endowed Professor

Alfred M. Merritt, D.V.M., has been a member of the UF veterinary faculty since 1978. In 1998, he was appointed to the Appleton Endowed Professorship in Equine Studies., through which he has performed research and teaching activities, as well as some fund raising. He also developed a graduate course in comparative gastroenterology.

Merritt’s research interests relate to the function and malfunction of the equine gastrointestinal system. He has served as director of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Island Whirl Colic Laboratory since its inception in 1989. Many studies conducted through the laboratory have been published in professional journals.

Department chairwoman Eleanor Green, D.V.M., said Merritt has left his professional footprints across the globe in the discipline of veterinary gastroenterology.

“He is the quintessential clinician scholar and is revered by his colleagues around the world for his research contribution to equine gastroenterology,” Green said. “While he will be sorely missed, his impact will live on through his discoveries and the graduate students and residents he has trained.”

John T. Neilson, Ph.D., Professor

John Neilson, Ph.D., a professor of pathobiology, began his career at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, where he received his Ph.D. in 1965.

He served as a research assistant there and then as a scientist and lecturer at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Sydney, Australia.

He came to UF in 1968 and has been here ever since, serving as a professor in the department of infectious diseases with the veterinary college and as assistant dean for research and graduate studies from 1981-87. He then served as assistant dean for research at the Instistute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and assistant director of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station for ten years.

A professor of pathobiology with the College of Veterinary Medicine since 1997, Neilson has been a program manager for a special USDA research grant targeting agricultural and veterinary science programs in the Caribbean. The grant, which funds individual research grants to faculty members at UF, the University of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, has grown from $1.2 million to $4.2 million.

Neilson, whose daughter, Jacqui, graduated from the UF veterinary college in 1993, plans to continue managing the grant in retirement.

Paul Nicoletti, D.V.M., Professor

Paul Nicoletti, D.V.M., loves a good story and a good student, and many students, as well as members of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s faculty and staff, have shared stories with him over the years about their lives and their challenges.

The class of 2003 gave Nicoletti a standing ovation when he emotionally addressed them after being honored with the alumni council’s Distinguished Service Award.

Internationally respected for his expertise in brucellosis, a devastating disease that affects cattle, Nicoletti was a USDA employee for 20 years before joining the college in 1978. His involvement with a brucellosis eradication program led to close friendships within the dairy industry.

Joe Campoamor, 86, owned one of the state’s top-producing dairy enterprises in the 1970s, with more than 1000 head of cattle.

“Dr. Nicoletti helped me enormously,” said Campoamor, who this year donated $1.2 million to the college in Nicoletti’s name. “To me, he was a godsend. I think it’s fair to say that Dr. Nicoletti saved the milk cow dairy industry in the state of Florida.”