Two OSU veterinary faculty honored for excellence

Friday, May 6, 2011

Drs. Melanie Breshears and Anthony Confer were recently honored at the Oklahoma State University Center for Veterinary Health Sciences’ Awards Banquet.  Breshears received the Pfizer Distinguished Teacher Award and Confer the Pfizer Animal Health Award for Research Excellence.

Breshears is an assistant professor of veterinary pathology.  She teaches Veterinary Histology and General Pathology to first year veterinary students and a third year elective called Systemic Pathology Case Studies. Drawn to pathology by OSU Emeritus Professor Dr. Roger Panciera who taught her pathology of infectious diseases in veterinary college, Breshears enjoys ‘figuring out diseases.’

Confer is a Regents Professor and holds the Sitlington Endowed Chair in Food Animal Research.  He is recognized internationally for his research, especially his work focusing on bovine respiratory disease with emphasis on bacterial pneumonias.  He is a renowned expert on the pathogenesis and immunity to the agents that cause shipping fever, which costs the Oklahoma cattle industry millions of dollars yearly in lost production.

An alumna of OSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Breshears earned her DVM degree in 1998 and then her PhD in Veterinary Biomedical Sciences in 2004. 

Confer, also an OSU alumnus, graduated in 1972 and earned a MS degree in Veterinary Pathology in 1974 from The Ohio State University and a PhD in Microbiology in 1978 from the University of Missouri—Columbia. 

Both Breshears and Confer are Diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists.

Photos available at Flickr.com:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/Breshears

Dr. Michael Lorenz, dean of OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, presents the Pfizer Distinguished Teacher Award to Dr. Melanie Breshears, assistant professor, Veterinary Pathology.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/Confer

Drs. Michael Lorenz, dean of OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences (left) and Jerry Malayer, associate dean of research and graduate education (right) present the Pfizer Animal Health Award for Research Excellence to Dr. Anthony Confer, Regents Professor and Sitlington Endowed Chair in Food Animal Research.