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Craig Carter honored as Kentucky Vet of the Year

By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Dr. Craig Carter, director of the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture’s Livestock Disease and Diagnostic Center (LDDC) and professor of epidemiology, has a long résumé. Now, he can add one more thing to that list – Kentucky Veterinarian of the Year.

The annual award comes by way of the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Assoc. (KVMA), and recognizes an individual that “has made outstanding contributions either outside or within the veterinary profession, or both, and is held in high esteem by his or her peers.”

The committee that chose Carter is chaired by Veterinarian Wade Northington, director of the Breathitt Veterinary Center in Hopkinsville, and said the UK vet is an individual who has contributed to the betterment of society and the veterinary profession above and beyond his normal activities.

“In being selected KVMA Veterinarian of the Year, Dr. Carter is recognized for his recent retirement from 42 years of military service,” Northington wrote. “In a retirement ceremony March 22, 2009, at the Army Reserve Medical Command in Pinellas Park, Fla., Dr. Carter was awarded the Legion of Merit and Joint Service Commendation Medal.”

That particular honor is just one of many Carter has accumulated over his years in the veterinary field. He received the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious service in positions of increasing responsibility, culminating in a 30-year career as veterinary readiness advisor for the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Command.
Carter was also awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal for distinguishing himself by exceptionally meritorious service as senior veterinarian in Task Force Ramadi, Iraq, from March-August 2008, according to information from UK. And the Indiana native received the Bronze Star in 2002 for commanding the first veterinary unit to be deployed to Afghanistan after Sept. 11, 2001.

Carter came to UK in 2005 then was named as director of the LDDC in 2007 after the retirement of Dr. Lenn Harrison, who was himself named Veterinarian of the Year in 2007.

“What a distinct honor, humbling beyond belief,” Carter said. “The Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association is such an outstanding organization, with so many great people that do endless volunteer work to assure a vibrant veterinary profession and healthy animals, large and small, for the commonwealth.

“I am so proud to be a member of this compassionate and productive group of veterinarians, technicians and workers, including the likes of Louise Cook, the energetic and dedicated KVMA executive director. Many thanks go out to the nominating committee and the many folks who supported me.”

Carter’s position at the LDDC has placed him in an environment conducive to helping those in the veterinary profession.

“We’re in a very unique position in the lab in that we are kind of the veterinarian’s veterinarian. They come to us when they are scratching their head on a case,” he said. “We are a full-service veterinarian lab and can do about anything; kind of like the CSI for veterinarian medicine.”

But the work of the LDDC goes beyond the vet community. Farmers, ultimately, are on the receiving end.

“We try to do our best to get answers for veterinarians and that has an impact on the farm. The earlier we can detect and correctly diagnose a problem on the farm, then the earlier the veterinarian can treat it. Of course, that all boils down to taking care of the precious agriculture resources we have here in Kentucky,” Carter said.

He added with agriculture being so important in the state, it makes their mission all that more important.

Still, there are challenges ahead and Carter, along with his colleagues at the LDDC, are poised to handle those challenges – the center is undergoing a huge makeover and an addition that will increase their capacity to further that mission.

“Right now we’re in the middle of a large expansion program, where we are nearly doubling our square footage from 37,000 to about 67,000. We have the highest necropsy load in the country, but we have the smallest necropsy facility, so we are tripling the size of that,” Carter said.

“We hope to move into the new wing next summer and we are already beginning a total renovation of the existing facility, and we’re really pleased with that. We are very fortunate to move ahead with that expansion project – a little sunshine in this economic downturn.”

11/25/2009