Congratulations to Eliza Baker and Samantha Gammon Kuschke for winning the 2024 Phi Zeta Manuscript competition! The annual competition is designed to recognize and promote scholarship and research related to the welfare and diseases of animals in two categories—basic research and clinical research.

The University of Tennessee Phi Chapter is entitled to submit one article in each category to compete for the national awards. 

Clinical Research Category winner: Eliza Baker (with Alex Jensen, Debra Miller, Kayla Buck Garrett, Christopher A. Cleveland, Justin Brown, Kyle Van Why & Richard Gerhold). Hepatozoon spp. infection in wild canids in the eastern United States. Parasites & Vectors. Volume 16, Article number: 372 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-023-05968-x

Basic Science Category winner Samantha Gammon Kuschke (with Wyneken J, Cray C, Turla E, Kinsella M and Miller, DL). (2023) Fusarium spp. an emerging fungal threat to leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) eggs and neonates. Frontiers in Marine Science. 10:1170376. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1170376

To view a seminar that Dr. Kuschke gave on this topic, visit: https://youtu.be/97mHryo2e6I.

Baker and Kuschke will advance to represent the UT College of Veterinary Medicine at the national level. For competition details and a list of previous winners, visit: https://vetmed.tennessee.edu/research/phi-zeta/.