JCU student wins national AVA award

JCU student wins national AVA award

A final year JCU veterinary science student has won the prestigious Don Kerr Veterinary Student Award for 2014.

The Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) announced earlier this month that Dr Lachlan Strohfeldt had been selected to receive the award.

This is the third occasion in the past four years that a final-year JCU veterinary science student has won this highly competitive national award.

Professor Wayne Hein, Head of school for Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, said he is proud of the announcement.

“The combination of attracting committed, motivated students and providing excellent training seems to be working - it’s fantastic,” he said.

“JCU is strategically located in Australia’s major cattle producing area and we attract some very committed students who have grown up on cattle properties - they have cattle raising in their DNA.”

“Since the inception of the veterinary course, we continue to provide outstanding learning opportunities in cattle medicine through a combination of instruction at the Douglas campus coupled with the development of high-level practical skills at JCU’s cattle property, Fletcherview, near Charters Towers and at the internationally renowned training facility at Tablelands Veterinary Services in Malanda.”

The Don Kerr Veterinary Student Award commemorates the work of the late Dr Don Kerr, a prominent Queensland veterinarian, an enthusiastic cattle practitioner and a dedicated educator of veterinary undergraduates, who died suddenly in November 1992 while serving as President of the AVA.

The award is determined by final-year academic achievement and exceptional commitment to cattle medicine, and for other commitments that demonstrate an interest in, and commitment to, the cattle industry.

The seven veterinary schools in Australia are invited to nominate one final-year student yearly with the awardee chosen by the AVA.

“It is especially pleasing to observe that, following graduation, all previous JCU winners have remained in Queensland and are now working in country veterinary practices doing what they love most: working with cattle to the benefit of the Queensland cattle industry,” Professor Hein said.

The Award consists of a three-year membership to AVA and the Australian Cattle Veterinarians’ special interest group, a book voucher and complimentary registration at the AVA national conference.

The award will be presented to Dr Strohfeldt at the annual conference of the AVA to be held in Perth in late May 2014.

Issued: March 19, 2014

JCU Media Liaison: Gemma Bauman, tel: (07) 4781 4990 or 0402 864 636