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This section represents the beginning of an information source on
prominent minority veterinarians. The purpose is two-fold. First is
to recognize their contribution to the veterinary medical
profession. Second is to provide greater insight into race and
ethnicity in our profession in furtherance of educating our students
and faculty.
The content cited so far represents an extensive search of multiple
sources including the literature and the internet. It says something
important about the history of minority veterinarians and how it
relates to current circumstances. Prominent minority veterinarians
of the past seem to be largely African Americans. Yet today, less
than two percent of the students in veterinary medical colleges are
African American and that includes the Tuskegee School of Veterinary
Medicine student body. Hispanics predominate among minority
veterinary medical students today. There is an urgent need for
inclusive participation by members of all minority groups.
We welcome information from visitors to the website about other
prominent minority veterinarians, both past and present that can be
added.
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Dr. Eugene W. Adams
Dr. Adams became a part of the Tuskegee faculty in 1947. His first teaching
assignment was in the Department of Large Animal Medicine and
Surgery. In 1948 he transferred to the Department of Physiology and
Pharmacology to assist Dr. Bowie in teaching the courses offered by
the department. Following his appointment as department head in
1955, he was granted educational leave to enter the graduate program
at Cornell University. After completing his graduate work, Dr. Adams
returned to Tuskegee as head of the Department of Pathology and
Parasitology and introduced the “case method” in the teaching of
pathology in which students began to early associate pathologic
anatomy with abnormal physiology. Dr. Adams served as associate dean
until the summer of 1983 when he was appointed vice provost and
director, international programs for Tuskegee University.
Dr. Raliegh H. Allen
Dr. Allen was the first African American to pass the three-day
certification examination and be licensed as a Veterinarian in the
State of Florida. He was also the first African American
Veterinarian in the State of Florida.
Dr. Alfonza Atkinson
Dr. Atkinson was a three-time graduate of Tuskegee University, earning a
BS in biology in 1967, a BS in agriculture in 1971, and the Doctor of
Veterinary Medicine degree in 1973. Dr. Atkinson was dean of the
Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1999. Dr.
Atkinson presided as principal investigator over the college’s
multi-million-dollar Centers of Excellence in Minority Medical
Education Grant. From 1997 through 2004, the veterinary medical
school received $21.9 million to help underrepresented
minorities prepare for veterinary medical careers.
Dr. Wendell O. Belfield
Dr. Belfield owned and operated the first veterinary hospital to
practice orthomolecular medicine. Dr. Belfield also used large doses
sodium ascorbate therapy to treat high fevers and distemper. The
dose level was begun at one-half gram twice daily per pound of body
weight administered intravenously. With dosages this high, Dr.
Belfield uses the sodium ascorbate form of Vitamin C as opposed to
the ascorbic acid form. The intravenous preparations used were made
from crystals to avoid sodium bisulphate, a preservative in the
commercially available intravenous products, which can cause nerve
problems when given at high dosages. He published his first
professional paper with results in 1967. Dr. Belfield and his
colleagues are challenging traditional veterinary practices. They
are introducing completely new methods of overcoming diseases. These
methods are controversial and many scientists question the validity
of these practices.
Dr. Michael Blackwell
Dr. Blackwell graduated from Tuskegee University with a Bachelors
Degree in 1973 and D.V.M. in 1975 followed by a Master's in
Public Health in 1981 from Loma Linda University and Certification
in Epidemiology from the US Public Health Service. Dr. Blackwell
spent several years in private practice in Oklahoma prior to joining
the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine in 1977. In February 1999,
he was named Chief of Staff, Office of the Surgeon General. In 2000,
following a 23 year career in public health in which he attained the
rank of Assistant Surgeon General of the US Public Health Service, he was appointed dean of the University Of Tennessee College Of
Veterinary Medicine.
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Dr. Walter C. Bowie
Dr. Bowie was appointed head of the Department of Physiology and
Pharmacology at Tuskegee University in 1947. In 1964, he was elected president of the
American Association of Veterinary Physiologists and
Pharmacologists. Dr. Bowie collaborated with Dr. Hawthorne, liaison
to establish a Large Animal Cardiovascular Center in the veterinary
school in 1964. The center was funded by the National Institutes of
Health and brought to the campus a number of the leading
cardiovascular specialists and scientists in related disciplines to
participate in studies on the movement of the mitral valve and to
perform surgical procedures in open-heart surgery on the horse. Dr.
Bowie earned a D.V.M. degree from Kansas State in 1947. In 1972 he was named
dean of Tuskegee University’s School of Veterinary Medicine.
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Dr. John Brown
Dr. Brown was the first black veterinarian to earn his D.V.M. degree
at Kansas State. Dr. Brown was head of the Division of Agricultural
Instruction at the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, during
1912 and 1913. He served in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant.
Dr. James Courtney
Dr. Courtney was the first African-American to receive an
undergraduate degree form Texas A&M and in 1970 he was also the
first to receive a DVM degree from Texas A&M. After graduation Dr.
Courtney went into private practice as a veterinarian in Compton,
CA. He later joined the USDA’s Meat and Poultry
Inspection program as inspector in charge. He became FSIS circuit
supervisor in Kansas City, assistant area supervisor in Albany,
N.Y., and Baton Rouge, La; and area supervisor in Jefferson City, Mo. He
was named district manager for the newly created district of Dallas
In 1997.
Dr. Roger D. Estep
Dr. Estep earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Tuskegee
Institute in 1962. Dr. Estep served as an Instructor of Poultry
Husbandry at Pennsylvania State College from 1957 to 1958. In 1970,
he became executive assistant to the vice president for health
affairs at Howard University and in 1971, executive assistant to the president.
Since 1967, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the
American Association for Laboratory Animal Science and of its
Executive Committee. He serves or has served on several federal
councils or committees, including the Intergovernmental Ad Hoc
Committee of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. E. B. Evans
Dr. Evans was the first dean of Tuskegee Institute. He was also the
college veterinarian and director of the Department of Agriculture
at Prairie View College, Texas. Dr. Evans recruited the first eight
veterinary college faculty members to Tuskegee in 1945. Out of the eight faculty members three were
graduates from the Kansas State College of Veterinary Medicine: Drs.
Thomas G. Perry (KSC 1921), Theodore S. Williams (KSC 1935), Lloyd
B. Mobiley (KSC 1938), Eugene W. Adams (KSC 1944), Raymond C.
Williams (KSC 1946), Walter C. Bowie (KSC 1947), and Earl H. Brown (KSC
1947). Thomas G. Perry (KSC 1921).
Dr. Lila Miller
Dr. Miller graduated from Cornell University with a DVM and BS in
Animal Science. She is currently Veterinary Advisor and a Vice
President of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animal. Dr. Miller has over 25 years experience working in the field
of shelter medicine. She is the coeditor of the textbook,
Shelter Medicine for Veterinarians
and Staff and a contributing author to the
publication, "Recognizing and Reporting Animal Abuse, a
Veterinarian’s Guide".
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Dr. Lloyd B. Mobiley
Dr. Mobiley served in the Federal Meat Inspection Service and was an
officer in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps during World War II. He
was appointed head of the Department of Anatomy at Tuskegee. One of
Dr. Mobiley's greatest contributions was to introduce the use of the
intramedullary pin and other devices in the repair of long-bone
fractures.
Dr. Evan Morse
Dr. Morse graduated form Tuskegee University and was one of the first
African-American veterinarians in Ohio. Dr. Morse has owned
and operated the Warrenville Animal Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio
since 1972. In 1974, he co-founded the Free Animal Clinic of
Cleveland. Dr. Morse has been actively involved in many of the major
cultural and civic organizations in Greater Cleveland. He was
recently featured in the national PBS series, Nature. In 2004 Dr.
Morse was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Ohio
Veterinary Medical Association. Dr. Morse is presently a candidate
for the Master’s Degree in Diversity Management at Cleveland State
University.
Dr. Phillip Nelson
Dr. Nelson graduated from Tuskegee University in 1979 receiving his
DVM degree. Dr. Nelson was Head of the Department of Small Animal
Medicine and Surgery at Tuskegee University’s School of Veterinary
Medicine. In 1994, he was selected as Associate Dean for the College
of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State University. He is
presently the Executive Associate Dean for the Pre-clinical Program
at the Western University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in
Pomona, CA.
Dr. Frederick Douglass Patterson
Dr. Patterson, a young man who overcame the odds and inspired
others to do the same, received three advanced degrees. He earned the Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine and the Master of
Science from Iowa State University, and the Doctorate of Philosophy from
Cornell University. Dr. Patterson was selected as the third
president of Tuskegee University and was also selected as department
head. Under his tenure, the veterinary program reached such
outstanding quality that the state of Alabama granted funds for
white students to study veterinary science there, a unique
occurrence in the segregated South. A year before his death on June
23, 1987 Ronald Reagan awarded Dr. Patterson with the nation’s
highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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Dr. Thomas G. Perry
Dr. Perry practiced in
Wichita, Kansas, for twenty-four years and was recognized as one of
the leading small animal practitioners in the state
Dr. Debbye Turner
Dr. Turner graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia in May
1991 with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. She earned a
Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture in May 1986 form Arkansas
State University. Dr. Turner was crowned Miss America in 1990. Since
2001, Dr. Turner has been a broadcast journalist contributor to the
CBS television program The Early Show. Her Life Matters (formerly known as, Yikes, I’m
a Grown Up!) segment offers perspectives on the pleasures and
perils of being an adult. She has also appeared on Pet Planet, the Early
Show, Saturday Early Show, Show Me St. Louis, and she has hosted The Gentle
Doctor.
Dr. Booker T. Washington
Dr. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute in 1881.
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Dr. Raymond C. Williams
Dr. Williams was department head in the College of Veterinary
Medicine at Tuskegee University in 1950 and was selected to be an
assistant veterinarian by the United Nations Relief and
Rehabilitation Agency. He spent the summer aboard ship administering
health care to some seven hundred head of livestock on a
transoceanic voyage to Poland.
Dr. Theodore S. Williams
Dr. Williams began his veterinary medical career in private practice
in Kansas City, Kansas and served on the faculty at Prairie View
College, Texas, as assistant veterinarian. He was
employed by the Federal Meat Inspection Service, United States
Department of Agriculture in Des Moines, Iowa. He was also appointed
head of the Department of Pathology and Parasitology at Tuskegee.
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