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Gavin Meerdink (1945-2020):In 1970, Dr. Meerdink became the third generation of his family to earn a veterinary degree from Iowa State University. He founded a practice in Denison IA, mainly for large animals, and it became a multi-person facility. He returned to Iowa State to teach large animal internal medicine and joined its Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in 1974. He became a diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology in 1978. He was hired by Michigan State University in 1979 as an Associate Professor in its diagnostic laboratory, large animal clinic, and extension. He became Chief of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Arizona in 1983. In 1989, he joined the University of Illinois Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory as Clinical Professor and Head of Diagnostic Toxicology and also served as Beef and Feed Safety Extension Veterinarian and Director of the Veterinary Medical Research Farm. He contributed to many committees of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) and was President of that organization in 1990. He helped establish the Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation and was a member of the organizing committee of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners.  He was given the E. P. Pope Memorial Award by the AAVLD in 2002.  For more information, please see Dr. Meerdink’s obituary.

Gary D. Osweiler (1942-2019): Dr. Osweiler earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Iowa State University in 1966. Following graduation from veterinary college, he worked as a clinician in the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and the ISU Veterinary Field Services unit while earning a MS degree in Pathology (1968). He later went on to become a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Toxicology (1971) and earn a PhD in Toxicology (1973). He served on the faculty at the University of Missouri from 1974-1982l. In 1983, Gary returned to the ISU College of Veterinary Medicine as a Professor of Veterinary Toxicology and Section Leader of Toxicology at ISU. He served for many years as the Chair of the interdepartmental toxicology graduate program. Dr. Osweiler headed the veterinary diagnostic toxicology laboratory at ISU. He served as Director of the ISU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory for 10 years (1994-2004) and retired from ISU in 2010. For more information, please see Dr. Osweiler's obituary. 

William “Bill” Buck (1933-2018): Dr. Buck graduated with a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia, in 1956. He became a professor of veterinary toxicology at Iowa State University and Mississippi State University, and professor emeritus at University of Illinois. Dr. Buck developed veterinary toxicology programs at Iowa State University and the University of Illinois during his career. His legacy is the National Animal Poison Control Center, now known as the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, developed at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. Dr. Buck was among the very first cohort to take the ABVT certification examination. For more information, please see Dr. Buck's obituary

Frederick W. "Fred" Oehme (1933-2018): Dr. Oehme graduated with a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Cornell University, in 1958. After receiving his DVM, Dr. Oehme went to work at a private practice in Maryland for a year. While earning his master's degree at Kansas State University, he worked as an assistant and associate professor in clinical medicine from 1959 to 1966. During his time at Kansas State University Dr. Oehme was a visiting professor at the Justus Liebig University-Giessen in Germany. In 1966, Dr. Oehme went to the University of Missouri for three years to work on his doctorate. He returned to Kansas State University in 1969 as the director of comparative toxicology laboratories and held this position until his retirement in 2009. Dr. Oehme was also a member of the first cohort to take the ABVT certification examination. For more information, see Dr. Oehme's obituary

Eugene Lloyd (1924-2017): Dr. Lloyd graduated with a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Iowa State University, in 1949. After receiving his DVM, Dr. Lloyd worked in private practice in Iowa and while in practice started Vet-A-Mix, the first of several companies he formed. He went on to receive his Ph.D. from Iowa State University. He was a professor of pathology and toxicology at Iowa State University, from 1972 until 1992. It was also in the 1990s that Lloyd founded Lloyd Laboratories, an addition to Vet-A-Mix. A longtime supporter of his alma mater, Dr. Lloyd and his wife, Linda, built the W. Eugene and Linda R. Lloyd Endowed Professorship in Veterinary Medicine and Lloyd Fund for Veterinary Medicine, as well as contributed $3.5 million to a new teaching hospital at Iowa State University, the Dr. W. Eugene and Linda Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center in 2006. For more information, see Dr. Lloyd's obituary