This year’s winner of the Zoetis Award for Veterinary Research Excellence is Dr. Ángel Abuelo, associate professor of Cattle Health for the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences. This award recognizes researchers whose innovative studies throughout the past few years have made significant scientific advances.

Abuelo's research primarily focuses on strategies that enhance immunity in calves and cows to increase their resistance to infectious diseases during the periods when these animals are most susceptible: the neonatal and periparturient periods. In particular, he’s interested in interventions, such as nutritional strategies or optimization of vaccination protocols, that result in decreased antimicrobial usage on farms. The methods employed to achieve these goals combine mechanistic studies using cells or tissues in the laboratory with epidemiological studies in the field.

Since joining MSU less than 5 years ago, Abuelo has garnered more than $3 million in extramural funding to support his program from the US Department of Agriculture, the Michigan Alliance for Animal Agriculture, and several other industry partners.

Abuelo is jointly appointed with MSU Extension, which enables him to have close interactions with the dairy industry, communicate his research findings, and identify new questions in his field of work that are in need of answers. As part of his extension role, Abuelo is working in a joint USDA project with Cornell and Wisconsin veterinary colleges to alleviate the shortage of rural veterinarians in the US by increasing awareness of rural practice among DVM students, as well as providing continuing education to early-career veterinarians working in veterinary under-served areas. He also coordinates the College’s Food Systems Fellowship Program that offers summer experiential learning opportunities to veterinary students interested in careers in agriculture.

Abuelo is a dairy specialist veterinarian by training. He was raised on a dairy farm, and from an early age, he knew that cows were his passion. In fact, they are the reason he became a veterinarian. Calves are one of Abuelo’s research foci because, historically, they have been overlooked, as they are not productive animals that generate income. However, Abuelo’s research emphasizes and elucidates how the management of calves during their first weeks of life has lifelong impacts in the animals.

Abuelo earned his degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, which is equivalent to a DVM. While there, he earned a master’s degree in Research in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health before he also attained a PhD. Abuelo earned another master’s degree in Veterinary Education from the University of London’s Royal Veterinary College. He is a diplomate of both the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners—Dairy Specialty Practice and the European College of Bovine Health Management, as well as an associate member of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Large Animal).

Dr. Abuelo will present an overview of his current research program as he accepts the Zoetis Award for Veterinary Research Excellence.