Posted: September 25, 2017

Congratulations to University of Guelph professor David Kelton who received the 2017 American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) Award of Excellence. 

A veterinary epidemiologist in the Ontario Veterinary College’s Population Department, Kelton is also the Dairy Farmers of Ontario Dairy Cattle Health Research Chair and a member of the U of G research group Dairy at Guelph.  

Kelton was presented with the award at the recent AABP Annual Conference. Sponsored by AABP, the award recognizes recipients from teaching, research, industry or government areas whose professional activities have had a consistent and direct influence on daily activities of veterinarians in bovine practice.

Drs. David Kelton, OVC’s Population Medicine Department, and Ken Leslie,  U of G Professor Emeritus.

“It’s a humbling experience to receive such a prestigious award that has previously recognized the contributions of my mentors, including Ken Leslie, Chuck Guard and John Fetrow,” says Kelton. “To have Ken introduce me as the recipient at this year’s meeting was very special.  I thank my colleagues and graduate students who have made me look good over these last 25 years, and Ken and Kerry Lissemore for nominating me.”

Over his career, Kelton has worked closely with dairy producers, dairy producer organizations and veterinary practitioners in developing field-based research projects that address practical issues of concern to the Canadian dairy industry and is a member of several local, provincial and national working groups dealing with dairy cattle health and animal disease surveillance.  

He is a member of Scientific Committee of the Canadian Bovine Mastitis and Milk Quality Research Network and the Canadian Representative to the International Dairy Federation Standing Committee on Animal Health and Welfare.

His research interests include infectious and metabolic diseases of dairy cattle, including particular interest in Johne’s Disease, bovine mastitis and bovine lameness. Most recently, he has overseen the National Dairy Study. Funded by Dairy Farmers of Canada, the study focused on benchmarking key management and health issues in the national dairy herd.

“David has the ability to delve into multi-factorial animal health problems and to produce outcome-based results that are of relevance to his peers in dairy research, as well as to veterinary practitioners and dairy producers,” says Dr. Ken Leslie, U of G professor emeritus. “In completing his work, he ensures that each of these different interest groups has meaningful take-home messages for immediate implementation.”

Kelton teaches in the undergraduate, graduate and professional curriculum; his DVM program teaching focuses on aspects of evidence-based veterinary medicine, infectious disease control and dairy health management.

Also at this year’s AABP Conference, graduate student Charlotte Winder, Population Medicine, received third place in the 2017 AABP Research Summaries Graduate Student Awards.

Winder’s research focuses on better understanding of current pain mitigation practices for disbudding of dairy calves.