Abstract
The E. P. Pope Memorial Award is presented in memory of Dr. Edward P. Pope, who was one of the founders of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) and who served with distinction as its secretary-treasurer from 1950 to 1972. The award was established in his honor in 1974. The Pope award is the highest award given by the association and is presented to an individual who has made noteworthy and significant contributions to the association in regard to implementing and advancing the recognition of the specialty of veterinary diagnostic laboratory medicine.
The 2012 E. P. Pope Memorial Award was presented to Dr. Grant Maxie on October 21, 2012, during the 55th annual meeting of the AAVLD in Greensboro, North Carolina. Dr. Maxie received his DVM from the University of Saskatchewan in 1969. After an internship in small animal medicine at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC), he undertook a PhD in clinical pathology at OVC under the supervision of Dr. Ted Valli, receiving his PhD in 1973. From 1974 to 1977, he worked as a clinical pathologist in a trypanosomiasis and theileriosis R&D project in Kenya at the East African Veterinary Research Organization. Returning to Canada, he took up an assistant professorship in anatomic pathology at the OVC, teaching cardiovascular and urinary pathology and becoming a tenured associate professor in 1980. In 1982, he left OVC to join the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food as a veterinary anatomic pathologist. In 1984, he sat and successfully completed the board certification examination in anatomic pathology of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists.
From 1994 to 1997, Dr. Maxie was the Laboratory Head of the Guelph Laboratory, Veterinary Laboratory Services Branch (VLSB), Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. When the VLSB was transferred to the University of Guelph on April 1, 1997, Dr. Maxie was named the director of the Animal Health Laboratory (AHL) in the Laboratory Services Division. Management of Lab Services was reorganized in 2007, and Dr. Maxie added on the duties of co–executive director, Laboratory Services Division. The University of Guelph was fortunate in securing government funding for a new laboratory building, and after participating in several years of planning and construction, the AHL moved into the new building in the fall of 2010. Test development and new capital equipment were further supported through funding from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in the 2008–2013 Animal Health Strategic Investment, of which Dr. Maxie is codirector.
Throughout Dr. Maxie’s career, he has been very active in various provincial, national, and international associations. Provincially, he served a term as councilor on the College of Veterinarians of Ontario, 2004–2007. Nationally, he was editor in chief of the Canadian Veterinary Journal, 1986–1991, and chair of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association’s Editorial Committee, 1991–1998. He has been involved in the Canadian Animal Health Laboratorians Network since its inception in 2001 and served as president in 2011–2012. He was elected vice president of the AAVLD in 2005–2006; president-elect, 2006–2007; organizer of the 50th annual scientific meeting, Reno Nevada; president, 2007–2008; and immediate past president, 2008–2009. He has also served on various AAVLD boards and committees, including the Executive Board, Pathology Committee, Strategic Planning Committee (chair, 2009–2012), and Accreditation Committee (1999 to date, performing site visits to ~30 laboratories). As well as serving as an AAVLD accreditation team assessor, Dr. Maxie is an ISO/IEC 17025 technical assessor. The AHL is an AAVLD-accredited laboratory and is expanding its ISO 17025 scope to more than 30 accredited tests. He is currently a member of the Advisory Group of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists’ Maintenance of Certification Development Committee.
Dr. Maxie has also been active in community service, including organizing and coaching minor soccer and minor hockey, and was founding chair of the annual OVC Alumni Hockey Tournament. In his spare time, he is a part-time farmer and does custom haying for neighbors.
While maintaining a career as a pathologist and laboratory director, Dr. Maxie has authored or coauthored over 40 peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters. After contributing to the third and fourth editions of Jubb, Kennedy, and Palmer’s Pathology of Domestic Animals, he became sole editor of the fifth edition and is currently working on the sixth edition.
Dr. Maxie has served the AAVLD and the diagnostic community in an exemplary fashion for many years, and we are very pleased to present him with the 2012 E. P. Pope Memorial Award.
A word from Dr. Maxie
I am tremendously honored and very humbly accept the E. P. Pope Award. I want to thank everyone, especially all the dedicated team members (past and present) of the OVC/VLSB/AHL and my many AAVLD colleagues who have encouraged me over the years and made this award possible. The AAVLD is a tremendous organization and a family of people that I look forward to working with for many more years. Thank you again for this honor.