John Piehl, ’76 DVM, was honored with the Distinguished Veterinary Service Award by the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA). This award is given to individuals who have performed outstanding veterinary service to the veterinary profession and have contributed to the well-being of animals. Piehl has served as a Veterinary Medical Officer with USDA-APHIS for 33 years, and has worked on the exotic Newcastle Disease in California and tuberculosis and pseudorabies eradication in Minnesota. 

John Lillie, ’73 DVM, was awarded Veterinarian of the Year by the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA). This award is given to a MVMA member who has given much to the veterinary profession, as well as to his community—a well-rounded member who is outstanding in the profession. Lillie is the medical director of the Keller Lake Animal Hospital in Maplewood, and has served as president of Animal Emergency Veterinary Services in Minneapolis, as well as on numerous boards. 

Mary Olson, ’76 DVM, and Jennifer Schurrer, ’06 DVM, ’07 MS, won the President’s Award from the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA). The MVMA President’s Award recognizes those who have contributed significantly to the veterinary profession and the MVMA, and that have promoted the human-animal bond, animal health, and welfare or public health.

Olson and Schurrer have led Minnesota's prescription monitoring program, VetPMP. They started to develop VetPMP nearly a year ago—it was launched at the MVMA Annual Meeting in February. The pair created VetPMP to help control the current opioid crisis and prevent misuse of controlled pain medications.

Olson is one of the owners of East Central Veterinarians. Olson, along with two other veterinarians, countless FFA’ers, and volunteers are responsible for bringing the Miracle of Birth Center to the Minnesota State Fair. Olson has also been president of the MVMA (2000-2001).

Schurrer joined East Central Veterinarians in 2015 as the practice manager. She is currently the chair of the MVMA Small Animal Continuing Education Committee, which helps provide an opportunity for Minnesota veterinarians improve their knowledge and skills to care for their patents.

Jagjit S. Brar, DVM, ’78 MS, was recently honored with the Lifetime Merit Award by the Chicago Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) at the CVMA annual meeting on December 12, 2018, in Oak Brook, Ill. Brar has been a veterinarian for more than 55 years. He has owned Dorchester Animal Hospital in Chicago for more than 37 years and Palos Pet Clinic in Palos Hills, Ill., for 14 years.

He has served as secretary, vice president, and president of the CVMA. Now, he is the veterinary board president of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulations. Brar was executive board member of the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association for three years. He was also a member of Cook County Executive Board University of Illinois Extension and chair of the nomination committee for four years.

John Piehl, ’76 DVM, was honored with the Distinguished Veterinary Service Award by the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA). This award is given to individuals who have performed outstanding veterinary service to the veterinary profession and have contributed to the well-being of animals.

Piehl has served as a Veterinary Medical Officer with USDA-APHIS for 33 years. Piehl has never lost sight of the need to protect livestock from potential exotic threats. He has worked on the Exotic Newcastle Disease in California and tuberculosis and pseudorabies eradication in Minnesota. When avian influenza struck in 2015, he was appointed to a position of authority auditing claims for indemnity, cleaning, and disinfection in Minnesota.

John Lillie, ’73 DVM, was awarded Veterinarian of the Year by the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA). This award is given to a MVMA member who has given much to the veterinary profession, as well as to his community—a well-rounded member who is outstanding in the profession.

Lillie is the medical director of the Keller Lake Animal Hospital in Maplewood. He started the clinic in 1990 to fulfill his goal of spending more time with each of his patients. His special veterinary interests are surgery and advanced dentistry.

Lillie has served as president of Animal Emergency Veterinary Services in Minneapolis, as well as on the Animal Emergency Clinic board, the Veterinary Hospitals Association board, and the Ramsey County Humane Society board. His membership affiliations include the AVMA, AAHA, AVDS, and the Cornell Feline Medicine Society. Lillie also enjoys volunteering his time and expertise to the French Bulldog Rescue Network along with his daughter.

Dennis French, ’78 DVM, joined the faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign College of Veterinary Medicine in 2009 to lead the Food Animal Medicine and Surgery section. 

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) House of Delegates has elected John Howe, ’77 DVM, of Grand Rapids, Minn., as the organization’s president-elect. Howe will begin his presidential term in July 2019. 

Richard Reierson, ’71 DVM, was recently awarded Veterinarian of the Year from the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA). Reierson is the founder of Elm Creek Animal Hospital in Champlin, Minn., is a longtime member of the MVMA Continuing Education Committee, and serves on the Minnesota Veterinary Medical Foundation’s Clay Shoot Committee. He is a past member of the American Animal Hospital Association board of directors.