UF veterinary college honors 2003 Distinguished Award winners

Florida’s state public health veterinarian, a world-renowned veterinary infectious disease expert and an individual whose enthusiasm and support for college programs have endeared him to many have been honored through the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine’s 2003 Distinguished Awards program.

The program spotlights distinguished alumni, faculty and friends of the college. Three awards are given annually: one for alumni achievement, one for distinguished service and one for special service.

The awards were presented May 24 during the college’s commencement ceremony at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on the UF campus.

Lisa Conti, D.V.M., a member of the college’s class of 1988, received the college’s Alumni Achievement Award. Conti, who has served as Florida’s public health veterinarian since 1998, now serves as the state’s division director of environmental health. Conti plans and conducts statewide epidemiological research to assess the prevalence and distribution of animal diseases that are transmissible to humans.

This past year, her efforts to coordinate and streamline the reporting of West Nile virus in various species, including birds, horses and alligators, drew acclaim from her colleagues at UF as well as those within the state’s regulatory organizations and the animal industry.

Paul Nicoletti, D.V.M., a professor of infectious diseases who is internationally respected for his work in cattle, received the college’s Distinguished Service Award. In the past, Nicoletti worked in epidemiology and zoonotic diseases for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Iran. In the mid-1970s, he supervised a brucellosis vaccination project in Florida for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which led to global modifications of the agency’s cattle vaccination program.

Nicoletti’s work in the area of brucellosis became so well-known within the dairy industry that a Tampa couple who owned cattle for many years donated $1.2 million to the college in his name. He has received many other honors, including being named Florida Veterinary Medical Association’s Veterinarian of the Year in 1994 and its Distinguished Service Award winner in 1999.

This year’s Special Service Award winner is Ellis Greiner, Ph.D., a professor of parasitology. Greiner has been recognized worldwide for his work on the taxonomy and transmission of blood parasites, specifically those infecting birds. He has helped researchers better understand the transmission of bluetongue and epizootic hemorrhagic disease viruses that affect cattle and sheep. He received the college’s Daniels Senior Clinical Investigator Award in 1996.

Greiner was selected Teacher of the Year in 1984 by the class of 1986 and won the Merck MSDAgVet Award for Creativity in 1996. He consults regularly with veterinary practitioners, zoo veterinarians and managers of zoological collections on parasite-related problems. In recent years, Greiner taught a cardiopulmonary resuscitation course and coordinated the UF Community Campaign for the college. He regularly participates in the Team Vet Med biking group to help fund UF veterinary student scholarships.