Griffin Joins Texas Veterinary Medical Center
As the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) celebrates its centennial year, the college has announced its newest landmark faculty hire as part of the Texas Veterinary Medical Center (TVMC) partnership at West Texas A&M University (WT). Dee Griffin, DVM, MS, will serve as director of the TVMC at WT. He will direct the first of the statewide partnerships being launched as the CVM remains dedicated to “Serving Every Texan Every Day.”
Starting on July 1, 2016, Dr. Griffin will utilize his extensive experience in livestock health, feedlot production medicine management, education, and outreach to serve Texas, its livestock industries, and the students of Texas with aspirations for careers in veterinary medicine and related fields, especially those interested in large animal and rural veterinary medicine. He and his team will work with the excellent faculty, staff, and students at WT and the CVM to create a first-of-its-kind, program of excellence designed to meet the unique regional veterinary, educational and livestock health needs of the Panhandle region of Texas. Dr. Griffin will be an invaluable asset to the State of Texas, WT, and the CVM.
Griffin comes to the Texas Panhandle directly from the University of Nebraska’s Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center, where he served as professor since 1991 in a program focused on food animal health and production. His research, teaching, and extension interests include feedlot medicine and management. He was active in the development of the Nebraska Cattlemen Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Program. He also has developed and teaches techniques for BQA and production monitoring in beef harvest facilities. Prior to teaching he practiced veterinary medicine for 10 years throughout Oklahoma. In 2012, Griffin was awarded the inaugural National Beef Quality Assurance Educator of the Year Award. He has been a BQA Certified Trainer and served on the Nebraska BQA Advisory Board since the program’s inception in 1987. He started the first train-the-trainer sessions in Nebraska and has traveled extensively and has certified over 1,000 producers.
As director, Griffin will develop and oversee the teaching, research, and outreach missions of this landmark partnership. He will also be responsible for shaping the program at WT and solidifying collaborations among WT, the CVM, the veterinary profession, the livestock industry and the other TVMC partnerships. These include strategic partnerships with other Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) universities, including Prairie View A&M University, Texas A&M University Kingsville and Tarleton State University.
“West Texas A&M is in the heart of the beef industry where a third of the nation’s beef is fed and where more and more dairy and swine operations are locating,” said John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University System. “It is important that Texas A&M provides veterinary support to one of our state’s most important industries. This new hire is the first step in the regional partnerships that ultimately will educate more large-animal and rural veterinarians who are badly needed.”
This article originally appeared in the Texas A&M Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences website.
