The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine named the recipients of its annual Distinguished Alumnus awards at its recent Annual Conference for Veterinarians and Veterinary Technicians.
Dr. James C. Hammon Jr. received the Distinguished Alumnus Award, private practice. Hammon was a member of the UT College of Veterinary Medicine’s first graduating class in 1979. He is currently director of Northgate Animal Hospital in Chattanooga. He is president of the Tennessee Veterinary Medical Association and has served in various positions in that organization since 1985. He co-organized and initiated the first functional veterinary peer review system in the United States and co-authored the TVMA Peer Review Manual. Hammon received the American Animal Hospital Association Southeast Region award in 1994 and was selected for the first edition of Who’s Who in Veterinary medicine, 1987-1988.
Dr. David F. Dean received the Distinguished Alumnus Award, non-private practice. Dean spent 12 years at UT College of Veterinary Medicine, first as a veterinary technician, then a veterinary student, a resident and graduate student in the Pathology Department and the Comparative and Experimental Medicine Graduate Program. He received his doctorate in 1994. He received a teaching award while a pathology resident at UT and was named Teacher of the Year, 1997-1998, at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., where he currently teaches biological sciences to undergraduates. He was also appointed chairman of the Spring Hill College Biology Department in 1997 and is the college’s Advisor for the Health Professions.
Dr. Diane Hendrix, a 1990 graduate of UT College of Veterinary Medicine, received the First Decade Achievement Award. Hendrix is board certified by the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists. She teaches UT veterinary third and fourth year students and trains ophthalmology residents. She won the Lindsay Young Teaching Award in 1999. She also received a Telly Award for a video called “Basic Ophthalmic Exam” the previous year. As a veterinary resident at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in 1995, she was named Small Animal Resident of the Year and received the Jules and Lucy Silver Animal Bedside Manner Award. Hendrix has numerous professional presentations and publications to her credit.