Veterinary college administrator honored for disaster relief work

John Haven, the UF College of Veterinary Medicine’s director of medical/health administration, recently was honored with the Distinguished Service Award for his work with disaster relief and response efforts on behalf of the college and the state.

Haven’s award was given “for his significant contributions to the state disaster preparedness and response efforts involving the rescue and care of large and small animals” and was presented during the Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference, held recently in Fort Lauderdale.

A Florida-licensed CPA, Haven has held the director’s position at the college since 2004. He pre-viously served as the chief financial officer for the UF Veterinary Hospitals.

He serves as the college’s representative to the Florida State Agricultural Response Team and also represents the college on the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges’ task force on Veteri-nary Medical Teaching Hospital Best Practices, which is developing standard procedures for teaching hospitals and redefining the comparative data report to be more accurate and consistent across schools.

Haven was instrumental in forming the college’s Veterinary Emergency Treatment Service follow-ing the 2004-2005 hurricanes. The team has since responded to Hurricane Wilma, the Bugaboo wildfires, and an equine herpes disease outbreak.

In September 2007, Haven launched Vet Corps, the statewide reserve corps of veterinarians and technicians. Both Vets and the Vet Corps are partnerships between the college, the state veterinarian’s office, the the Florida Veterinary Medicine. He also helped establish the National Alliance of State Animal and Agricultural Emergency Programs.