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 with regard to implementing and advancing the recognition of the specialty of veterinary diagnostic laboratory medicine.
The 2016 E. P. Pope Memorial Award was presented to Dr. John M. Adaska during the 59th Annual Meeting of the AAVLD in Greensboro, North Carolina. Dr. Adaska is a board-certified veterinary anatomic pathologist, diagnostician, and Branch Chief for the Tulare Branch of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System (CAHFS) at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Adaska obtained his DVM and MPVM degrees from the University of California, Davis in 1990. He then completed a 3-y residency in Anatomic Pathology at Cornell University followed by a research fellowship at the University of Washington and Seattle Biomedical Research Institute where he worked on animal models of Leishmania. Dr. Adaska returned to California in 1996 when he joined CAHFS as a diagnostic pathologist. In the early years with CAHFS, Dr. Adaska completed his PhD, focusing on comparative molecular biology of Salmonella Typhimurium from dairy cattle and humans. John has subsequently traveled through the academic ranks and is currently a full professor with CAHFS and the School of Veterinary Medicine at University of California, Davis with a particular emphasis on gastrointestinal diseases of cattle. He has authored or coauthored more than 100 published articles, book chapters, and presentations. Dr. Adaska was appointed as the CAHFS Branch Chief in Tulare in 2014.
Dr. Adaska’s noteworthy contributions to the AAVLD and the field of veterinary diagnostic laboratory medicine include, in particular, his service on the AAVLD Executive Board as the Secretary-Treasurer from 2009 to 2015. During this extremely dynamic time, the AAVLD Executive Board transitioned to a commercial publisher for the Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation (JVDI), moving away from self-publishing. The Board also hired a professional lobbyist to work toward restoring funding for a federal-state partnership of veterinary diagnostic laboratories (the National Animal Health Laboratory Network [NAHLN]). Finally, the AAVLD Executive Board recruited and hired an Executive Director for the organization. Dr. Adaska has served on the Pathology and Publications committees, continues to serve on the Government Relations and Joint National Animal Health Laboratory Network Committees, and, in his role as the past Secretary-Treasurer, Chairs the Financial Advisory Committee of AAVLD.
A word from Dr. Adaska
I am honored to receive this award, and I humbly thank the AAVLD for this recognition. The AAVLD has played a very large role in my professional career. My work on committees and as the Secretary-Treasurer has simply been an effort to pay back an organization and a group of people that I care about deeply. I thank my wife for her understanding and tolerance of all my travels and absences. I also want to thank the CAHFS organization and the Tulare faculty and staff, in particular, for all their help with my “real job” so that I could dedicate time to the AAVLD. Any individual award is a reflection of a large group of individuals working behind the scenes so that the individual awardee can maintain a concentrated effort toward the endeavor. This award is not an exception and I am truly fortunate to have had a wonderful group of people supporting my efforts.