(August 2, 2011   Stillwater, OK) – Dee Griffin, DVM, of Hastings, Neb., has been selected by Oklahoma State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine Alumni Association as one of four 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients.  Griffin and the others will be honored at a luncheon on Friday, Oct. 7, at 11:30 a.m. in the Sequoyah Room of the OSU Student Union on the Stillwater campus.  The public is invited to attend.  Tickets may be purchased for $25 from the veterinary center.  Make checks payable to OSU and mail to Oklahoma State University, Veterinary Continuing Education, 002B BVMTH, Stillwater, OK  74078.

Griffin earned his DVM degree from OSU in 1975.  He then earned a M.S. degree in Veterinary Pathology and Animal Science from Purdue University in 1978.

Spending most of his career in the cattle industry, he was the staff veterinarian for Hitch Enterprises, a family owned operation that has 1,200 cows, as many as 20,000 stockers, over 250,000 feeder cattle and two packing plants.  Griffin has worked with the Beef Quality Awareness Program since its inception, when Hitch became the first U.S. Department of Agriculture Verified Control Production beef operation.

Today, Griffin is a Professor at the University of Nebraska in the Veterinary and Biomedical Science Department teaching at the Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center.  His emphasis is on developing pre-harvest HACCP (Hazard Analysis, Critical Control Points) production practices dealing with residue avoidance.  He has a keen interest in respiratory disease and proper antibiotic usage.

He has won several awards including the American Association of Bovine Practitioner’s national award for Excellence in Preventive Medicine, national award for Institutional Teaching, Research and Service Excellence, and the Academy of Veterinary Consultants’ Consultant of the Year award.

Griffin serves on the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Beef Quality and Safety Assurance Advisory Board, on the FDA’s Veterinary Medical Advisory Committee, the FDA’s Minor Use Minor Species Committee and on the Professional Animal Auditor’s Certification Organization Board.

Griffin is a member of several organizations including the Academy of Veterinary Consultants, American Veterinary Medical Association, Plains Nutrition Council, Nebraska Cattlemen, Nebraska Veterinary Medical Association, and the Nebraska Academy of Science.

The Oklahoma State University Center for Veterinary Health Sciences is one of 28 veterinary colleges in the United States and is fully accredited by the Council on Education of the American Veterinary Medical Association. The center’s Boren Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital is open to the public and provides routine and specialized care for small and large animals. It also offers 24-hour emergency care and is certified by the American Animal Hospital Association. For more information, visit www.cvhs.okstate.edu or call (405) 744-7000.

###