WCVM grad students shine at poster days

Graduate students at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) had the chance to display their research work and vie for awards during two graduate research poster days in early March.

The WCVM Graduate Research Poster Day, held on March 11, filled the second-floor hallways of the veterinary college with curious faculty, students and staff who browsed through a wide array of research posters. At the end of the day, judges gave top honours to four students and their research posters.

The students also received $100 bursaries provided by Pfizer Animal Health, Merial Canada and the WCVM Research Office:

• Jennifer Prentice, Veterinary Biomedical Sciences (Supervisor: Dr. Muhammad Anzar)
• Regine Belanger, Small Animal Clinical Sciences (Supervisor: Dr. Cindy Shmon)
• Fiona Tam, Small Animal Clinical Sciences (Supervisor: Dr. Anthony Carr)
• Nicole Paur, Veterinary Microbiology (Supervisor: Dr. John Gordon).

On March 12, a number of WCVM graduate students also participated in the University of Saskatchewan Health Sciences Research Day that was hosted by the U of S College of Medicine. The event’s featured speaker was Dr. John Giesy, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Toxicology. After judging was completed, the veterinary college’s graduate students took home seven awards in five categories:

• Todd Shury (Large Animal Clinical Sciences): first place in the “Animal Science” category. Supervisor: Dr. John Campbell.
• Isha Katyal (Veterinary Microbiology): first place in the “Microbiology” category. Supervisor: Dr. Janet Hill.
• Monica Polewicz (Veterinary Microbiology): first place in the “Immunology” category. Supervisor: Dr. Volker Gerdts.
• Navjot Kaur (Veterinary Biomedical Sciences): second place in the “Immunology” category. Supervisor: Dr. Baljit Singh.
• David Vardy (Veterinary Biomedical Sciences): second place in the “Environmental Toxicology” category. Supervisor: Dr. John Giesy.
• Nikki Leavins (Veterinary Biomedical Sciences): first place in the “Reproductive Biology” category. Supervisor: Dr. Carl Lessard.
• Jennifer Prentice (Veterinary Biomedical Sciences): second place in the “Reproductive Biology” category. Supervisor: Dr. Muhammad Anzar.

Visit the U of S College of Medicine web site to view a complete list of award recipients from the U of S Health Sciences Research Day.