Gulfstream Barbaro Awards go to UF veterinary students
Gulfstream Park charity committee members and University of Florida veterinary students pose at the racetrack March 28 to mark the naming of the Gulfstream Barbaro Award recipients. The scholarships help students pursue careers in equine medicine and surgery and further equine research. Participating were (from left) committee member Kas Willis, veterinary student Erica Rosen, jockey Kent Desormeaux, veterinary student Megan Lamb, committee member Jan Hansen, graduate student Astrid Grosche, and committee members Jeff Humke and Shirley Horn.
Three students from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine have received financial awards from Gulfstream Park to further their equine studies.
Established after the death of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, the award program is in its third year. One of a family of racetracks owned by Magna Entertainment Corp., the park provides $12,500 in financial assistance as well as professional mentoring through the American Association of Equine Practitioners to two senior UF veterinary students committed to pursuing a career in equine medicine and surgery.
Those scholarships are known as the Gulfstream Barbaro Awards.
In addition, the park provides $5,000 through the Barbaro Research Award to a UF veterinary graduate student who is conducting equine research.
The D.V.M. student awards went to Megan Lamb and Erica Rosen.
Lamb grew up on her parent's Thoroughbred breeding farm in Reddick, Fla., and started riding at an early age. She competed successfully for many years in hunter/jumper and eventing competition and subsequently graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Colgate University. While at Colgate, she participated in animal behavior research projects in both Thailand and Belize.Lamb has been an active member of the student chapter of AAEP and the UF colic team while in veterinary school.
After graduating from UF, she will complete an internship at the New Jersey Equine Clinic in the interest of working toward board certification in either equine surgery or medicine.
Rosen, a summa cum laude graduate of Cornell University, also grew up riding and showing horses in hunter/jumper competition and is a former captain of Cornell's varsity equestrian team. During her undergraduate years, she worked alongside equine veterinarians in private practice as well as in the clinical research field. While a veterinary student, she has been active in equine clubs and activities and also has worked closely with surgical faculty on a research project pertinent to the equine athlete.
She plans to pursue the field of sport horse medicine, focusing on lameness, diagnostic imaging and surgery.
The graduate student award went to Astrid Grosche, a board-certified internist in large animal medicine. Grosche is the UF veterinary college's current Deedie Wrigley-Hancock Equine Colic Research Fellow and is pursuing her doctoral degree under the mentorship of David Freeman, D.V.M., Ph.D. She received her veterinary degree from Leipzig University in Germany in 1997 and subsequently worked as a scientific collaborator in the department of large animal internal medicine at Leipzig University with a specialization in veterinary internal medicine and clinical laboratory medicine.
Motivated by continued interest in equine gastrointestinal disease and surgery, Grosche's current research focuses on the role of inflammation in mucosal damage and restitution in the equine colon during ischemia and reperfusion.
All three scholarships were presented to their recipients inside the winner's circle at the annual Florida Derby, held March 28 at Gulfstream Park.
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