Program for Friday

Melissa Bourgeois graduated from the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine in 2007 with a DVM, and in 2010 with a PhD in veterinary medicine, focusing on gene expression in the equine host following West Nile virus infection. From 2010-2012 Dr. Bourgeois served as an associate service fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducting research into methods to combat highly pathogenic avian influenza. Dr. Bourgeois became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists (ACVM) in virology (2011) and immunology (2013). Dr. Bourgeois currently serves as an Associate Director, Professional Services for Merck Animal Health. In addition, from 2015 until the present, Dr. Bourgeois practices locum and part time at local clinics.

Dr. Candace Lyman is originally from Abilene, Kansas, where she completed both her undergraduate and veterinary training at Kansas State University. After graduation she performed a surgical and ambulatory internship at Ocala Equine Hospital in Ocala, Florida. Lyman then moved to College Station, Texas to work in the Texas A&M Equine Embryo Laboratory. It was during her time in College Station that she became practiced in transvaginal aspiration of both mature and immature oocytes for the purposes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and nuclear transfer (cloning) in the mare. Lyman continued on to perform a residency in Large Animal Reproduction at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania and spent a year in an equine private practice. Soon after, she joined the faculty at Oklahoma State University where she now divides her time between the equine, canine, small ruminant and bovine case loads.

Dr. Shearer is currently Professor and Extension Veterinarian at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. He received his BS degree from Ashland University in 1971 and his DVM degree from The Ohio State University in 1975. Upon graduation he joined the Orrville Veterinary Clinic, Inc. in northeast Ohio where he served as an Associate Veterinarian for 4 ½ years before returning to The Ohio State University to pursue graduate studies in nutrition. He completed his Master’s Degree in 1981 and was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine at The Ohio State University in 1981.

In 1982 he relocated to the University of Florida where he became Professor and Dairy Extension Veterinarian at the College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Shearer served the University of Florida for 27 years before accepting his current position as Professor and Extension Veterinarian at Iowa State University. His primary research and extension interests are lameness and welfare issues of cattle. He is a former past Chair of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners Animal Welfare Committee (AWC), and is presently serving as Chair of the Food Animal Working Group of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Panel on Euthanasia. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization and on the Organizing Committee of the American College of Animal Welfare, a proposed Specialty Board in AVMA on animal welfare.

Dr. Hall has B.S. in Agriculture Economics – Farm and Ranch Management and a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Oklahoma State University. He completed an internship, residency, and a Ph.D. in veterinary toxicology from the University of Illinois. Licensed Veterinarian and Board Certified in Veterinary Toxicology.