New food animal medicine building is dedicated

University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine faculty who provide on-site veterinary assistance to Florida beef and dairy cattle farms now have a bright new place to call home.

Food Animal Reproduction and Medicine Service personnel joined campus administrators, agriculture industry representatives and other friends of the college recently for the official dedication of Deriso Hall.

"As long as we've existed, we've never had everything together," said Owen Rae, D.V.M., FARMS service chief and a longtime CVM faculty member. "What this building will do is give us a home base that will provide us with everything we need to function: a reception area, office space, a large seminar room with video projection capabilities, a large teaching area and two full-sized laboratories."

Graduate students and residents with the FARMS program will be located in the same cubicle office area, rather than separated as in years past.

Located on Shealy Drive, Deriso Hall is across the street from the main college complex on Southwest 16th Avenue.

Deriso Hall is the direct result of a public-private partnership that began with an estate gift to the college from Bob and Evelyn Deriso, a Tampa couple who had interests in cattle. Many years ago, the Derisos asked their attorney, the late Dan Brown, how they could contribute in a meaningful way to help the cattle industry.

A longtime friend of Paul Nicoletti, D.V.M., a professor emeritus of infectious diseases at the college, Brown told the Derisos about Nicoletti's contributions in the area of brucellosis, a deadly disease that affects livestock. Brucellosis was a major concern to cattle owners in the 1960s and 1970s.

The couple eventually donated half the value of their estate, around $1.3 million, in honor of Nicoletti's contributions. The Deriso gift was subsequently matched and supplemented with additional state dollars.