Presenters:
Sally O’Sullivan Bair, a native of Rochester, Minnesota, graduated from Colorado Women’s College (now part of Denver University) with majors in History and Literature. She pursued graduate work in chemical dependency counseling at the University of Minnesota and received certification in special education learning disabilities and remedial reading from Bemidji State University.
Ms. Bair’s teaching career spanned over 30 years and included positions as a girls’ gymnastics coach and judge. She also served as the associate editor for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Laryngology and editor for the National Indian Education Association. It was during this time that she entered sled dog sports as a successful competitor in the sprint racing circuit for 25 years.
In 1999, Ms. Bair retired from both teaching and sled dog racing. She was appointed Secretary General of the International Federation of Sleddog Sports (IFSS) and she continues to serve in that capacity. She also serves on the board of Mushing USA (MUSA) and chairs the MUSA Anti-Doping Committee. She was editor The Tugline, published by the North Star Sled Dog Club (NSSDC) in Minnesota from 1993 to 2006, and again in 2010. In 1996, she was awarded the Maeb Bayers Memorial Trophy for her outstanding contributions to NSSDC. She has authored numerous articles and news releases on the sport of mushing for NSSDC, MUSA, and IFSS, and she recently completed a six-minute video highlighting the sport for the 2010 SportAccord Convention in Dubai in April, attending the convention on behalf of IFSS and the Non-IOC (International Olympic Committee) Sports Committee. This summer she is completing her certification as a Canine DCO (Doping Control Officer) through the IFSS in France.
Dr. Randy Basaraba is a board certified veterinary pathologist and associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Pathology, and Immunology at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Colorado State University. He has more than 20 years experience in diagnostic anatomic pathology and infectious disease research, with a primary interest in host response to infection and the role of oxidative stress and antioxidant therapy in disease pathogenesis, especially during strenuous exercise, such as sled dog racing.
Dr. Basaraba received his BS in Animal Nutrition and his DVM from Washington State University, after which he practiced mixed animal medicine and surgery in Chugiak, Alaska, before returning to WSU for his residency and PhD. He is a board member of ISDVMA and chairman of the Dr. Roland “Doc” Lombard Student Research Award Scholarship Committee. For 14 years, he has served as trail veterinarian and official pathologist for the Iditarod and as well as once for the Yukon Quest.
Dr. Charles Berger is a graduate of Cornell Veterinary College and was the owner and medical director of Campus Veterinary Clinic in Berkeley, California for 35 years. He was the veterinarian and a member of the Board of Directors of the institute that oversaw the largest collection of captive wolves. Dr. Berger also served on the Board of Directors of the International Sled Dog Veterinary Medical Association and he has been a trail veterinarian for over 30 mid- and long-distance sled dog races, including many Iditarods and Yukon Quests. His presentation, “From the Big Bang to Chihuahuas,” is a distillation of his ILEAD (Institute for Lifelong Learning) Program course taught at Dartmouth College in 2007 and 2008.
Dr. Jim Kallman graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Zoology in 1985 and received his DVM from the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1990. He practiced small animal medicine and surgery in the Omaha, Nebraska area for 16 years before joining Schering-Plough Animal Health in 2006. Currently, Dr. Kallman is the Intervet/Schering-Plough Technical Services Manager for their Midwest Region, which covers nine states, including Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In addition, he continues to practice part time in Omaha where he resides with his wife and two children. Dr. Kallman enjoys hiking, biking, and catching up on all those years spent not golfing enough.
Dr. Allison Kelly graduated from the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2009. She recently finished a small animal surgical/medical internship with VCA in Chicago, Illinois, and now is employed as an emergency clinician at VCA in Berwyn, Illinois. As a fourth-year veterinary student, Dr. Kelly assisted Dr. Michael Davis with research on the biochemical and hematological predictors of performance in sled dogs during the 2009 Yukon Quest. For her work, she was named a 2009 co-recipient (with Dr. Corey Schmidt) of the ISDVMA’s Dr. Roland “Doc” Lombard Student Research Award.
Dr. Peggy Root Kustritz is a 1987 graduate of the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. After working in small animal private practice in the Twin Cities for several years, she returned to the University of Minnesota, completing a residency in theriogenology. She achieved board certification in theriogenology in 1994, and completed a PhD in theriogenology in 1995. She currently is employed as an associate professor in small animal reproduction and also serves as Vice-Chair of the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences and Assistant Dean of Education at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine in Saint Paul. Dr. Root Kustritz recently received the U of M veterinary school’s 2010 Outstanding Faculty Award as well as being named Theriogenologist of the Year by the American College of Theriogenologists and the Society for Theriogenology. She is the author of several veterinary texts and one text for dog breeders and is a frequent speaker for lay and veterinary audiences.
Dr. Justine Lee is a board-certified veterinary emergency critical care specialist (DACVECC) and is the Associate Director of Veterinary Services for Pet Poison Helpline. Dr. Lee graduated from Virginia Tech, received her veterinary degree from Cornell University, and then completed an internship at Angell Memorial Animal Hospital. She also completed an emergency fellowship and residency at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the current pet columnist for "Prevention" magazine, and the author of two humorous pet books called "It's a Dog's Life... but It's Your Carpet" and "It's a Cat's World... You Just Live in It." Dr. Lee first became interested in sled dogs as a 4th-year veterinary student, where she completed a student research project during her first Iditarod in 1997. Since then, she has returned to the Iditarod 7 times, the John Beargrease Sled Dog Race (Duluth, MN, USA) 2 times, and the Finnmarkslopet (Alta, Norway) once. Dr. Lee is one of the board members of the ISDVMA, and has been the editor of the ISDVMA Newsletter for the past 4 years.
Ms. Heidi Pecoraro, a native of Washington state, is a fourth-year student in the DVM/PhD joint degree program at the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences under the mentorship of Dr. Gabriele Landolt. Ms. Pecoraro’s primary PhD research is focused on viral, host, and epidemiological factors contributing to canine influenza virus (CIV). Her general research interest is the dynamics of infectious disease transmission between and among animal species. Since joining Dr. Landolt’s lab, Ms. Pecoraro has worked on various CIV projects, including a study utilizing solid-phase binding assays to investigate the receptor-binding preference of CIV. Additionally, she has been part of a larger team evaluating the seroprevalence of CIV in Colorado household dogs, shelter dogs throughout the U.S., and sled dogs competing in the 2010 Iditarod. Ms. Pecararo is the co-recipient (with Mr. Justin Lee) of the ISDVMA 2010 Dr. Roland “Doc” Lombard Student Research Award.
Ms. Karen Ramstead breeds, shows, and races purebred Siberian Huskies with her husband, Mark, from her home at North Wapiti Siberian Husky Kennels near Perryvale, Alberta, Canada. Over the years, her marathon race schedule has taken her from the John Beargrease in Minnesota to the Race to the Sky in Montana, to numerous races across Canada and Alaska including the Iditarod, where she fielded the only all-Siberian Husky team from Canada and was the first resident Canadian woman to finish the Last Great Race—a feat accomplished four times. She currently serves as president of MUSH with PRIDE, and she sits on the Iditarod’s Rules Committee. In addition to her mushing achievements, Ms Ramstead has finished many confirmation champions as well as obtaining numerous titles in obedience, working sled dog, and temperament-testing. She and her Siberians also were the subject of the DVD documentary movie “Pretty Sled Dogs,” and she is the head of the Snickers Memorial/Ulcer Research Fund, supporting investigations into ulcers in racing sled dogs. Her presentation is sponsored by Eagle Pack Natural Dog Food (www.wellpet.com).
Dr. Jerry Vanek has served as a sled dog veterinarian on 80 races in North America and Europe since 1992, including the Iditarod, Quest, Beargrease, Amundsen, CanAm, Race to the Sky, UP 200, Empire, Apostle Islands, Eagle Cap, Grand Portage, Great Trail, Red River, IFSS World and Junior World Championships, and numerous Midwestern sprint races. In 1993, Dr. Vanek was the veterinarian on the Mount Vaughan Antarctic Expedition, and, in ‘07 and ‘09, a veterinarian on the 1925 Diphtheria Serum Run reenactment. A musher since his teens, he still drives dogs whenever he can. He is an honorary life member of the North Star Sled Dog Club; recipient of the Maeb Bayers’ Lifetime Achievement in Mushing award; and past president, life member, and charter board member of the ISDVMA. Dr. Vanek is a certified canine rehabilitation therapist (CCRT) and his veterinary practice is focused on sled dogs and canine sports medicine, a subject on which he speaks and writes regularly. He also is a wilderness EMT trained in advanced wilderness life support for humans and he trains firefighters and EMTs to rescue animals in disasters as a Basic Animal Rescue Training (BART) instructor. He lives on his family’s 1881 homestead in Minnesota’s northern Red River Valley.
Dr. Joseph Wakshlag began his academic career by receiving a BS and MS from Montclair State University. He then attended Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine, graduating in 1998, and where his work earned him the coveted ISDVMA Doc Lombard Student Research Award. Dr. Wakshlag continued his residency training in both pathology and nutrition, as well as earning his PhD in Pharmacology in 2005. He is a recent diplomat in the American College of Veterinary Nutrition and he currently is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Nutrition at Cornell University. His continued obsession with sled dogs has led to a handful of publications regarding sled dog physiology, metabolism, and neurologic disorders and it continues to fuel his passion far beyond his veterinary interests and into the realm of musher want-to-be. With his small kennel of misfit Alaskan Husky/Eurohounds, Dr. Wakshlag now frequents the mushing trails throughout the Finger Lakes Region of New York state.
Dr. Chris Zink graduated summa cum laude from the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph, Canada, where she also received her PhD. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. She is a diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Pathology and a full professor and director of the Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where she also holds professorships in the Department of Pathology as well as in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Zink’s research focuses on simian models for HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and immunosuppression. She has authored over 100 scientific publications in her academic career.
In 2009, Dr. Zink was named the AWVF’s Outstanding Woman Veterinarian of the Year.
Dr. Zink is equally well-known as a canine sports medicine consultant, working with owners of canine athletes on a variety of sports medicine-related subjects including, retraining for performance after injuries/surgery, techniques for training and competing with dogs that have developmental/genetic disorders such as hip or elbow dysplasia, gait analysis, and lameness evaluation. She is the Veterinary Sports Trainer for the Veterinary Orthopedic Sports Medicine Group, and she serves on the faculty of the Canine Rehabilitation Institute, training veterinarians, technicians, and human physiotherapists in canine sports medicine and rehabilitation. She is president of Canine Sports Productions and over the last 17 years has presented more than 100 two-day Coaching the Canine Athlete® seminars in North America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Her research interests include canine gait and gait analysis in performance dogs, the relationship of structure to canine performance, and the effects of gonadectomy on structure and behavior of performance dogs.
For more than 30 years, she has obtained over 70 obedience, agility, retrieving, tracking, and conformation titles on dogs from the sporting, herding, working, terrier, and hound groups. In addition, she is the award-winning author of Peak Performance: Coaching the Canine Athlete; Dog Health and Nutrition for Dummies; and The Agility Advantage; and the co-author of Jumping From A to Z: Teach Your Dog to Soar, and the DVD, Building the Canine Athlete: Strength, Stretching, Endurance, and Body Awareness Exercises. She has received the Dog Writers of America’s Maxwell Award for Best Series in an All-Breed Magazine and the DWAA President’s Award for Best Dog Publication. Dr. Zink has been featured in articles in Dog Fancy and Dog World magazines.
In her spare time, Dr. Zink enjoys wildlife photography and she has won several national awards for her work, many of which are on display around the Johns Hopkins University Medical Campus.