Our History
For more than 100 years, the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) has been a place where veterinary experts and veterinary medical students have worked every day to change the lives of animals and people.
Our current Small Animal Teaching Hospital
was designed and built when educational methods
were less sophisticated, and the development
of veterinary specialties was in its infancy.
Today, that once contemporary, spacious hospital has become outdated and overcrowded. The substantial advancement of veterinary medicine over the last 40 years—including the emergence of new technologies and an increased student population—has resulted in more people and more equipment. Along with that has been the increased need for flexible medical spaces, patient housing, and additional staff and student spaces.
A new, Next-Generation Small Animal Teaching & Research Hospital (NGSATRH) is vitally important in sustaining and elevating the national reputation of the VMBS and Texas A&M University.
While we are doing extraordinary work, our facility ranks at the bottom in nearly all criteria when compared to our peer institutions; our outstanding student education and veterinary care are being accomplished in cramped spaces that not only present challenges in managing increasing caseloads but also present potential safety and biosecurity challenges that impact our aspirations in teaching, patient care, and research.
A new, NGSATRH will allow VMBS faculty, staff, and students to build upon our already-outstanding educational experiences, exceptional patient care that supports the human-animal bond, and impactful clinical trials that bring scientists together from across Texas A&M and around the world to solve medical mysteries that benefit both animals and human beings.
NGSATRH Visioning Committee
A special thanks to the veterinarians, faculty members, students, and leaders from the VMBS, Texas A&M, and state and national medical organizations who participated in the college’s Visioning Summits in October 2020:
Facilitator: Mary Léa McAnally, Texas A&M Mays Business School, PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Professor, Accounting
Co-Hosts: John August, Texas A&M VMBS, Dean; Jon Levine,Texas A&M VMBS, Department Head & Professor, Small Animal Clinical Sciences (VSCS)
Angela Arenas, Texas A&M VMBS, Assistant Professor, Veterinary Pathobiology (VTPB)
Robert Burghardt, Texas A&M VMBS, former Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Studies, Director of the Imaging Analysis Laboratory, & Professor, Veterinary Integrative Biosciences (VIBS)
James Cai, Texas A&M VMBS, Associate Professor, VIBS
Chastity Carrigan, Texas A&M Foundation, Vice President for Engagement
Stephen Chmaitelli (deceased), Private Practitioner (Garden Oaks Veterinary Clinic – Houston)
Karen Cornell, Texas A&M VMBS, Associate Dean for the DVM Professional Program, & Professor–Surgery, VSCS
McCalley Cunningham, Texas A&M VMBS, DVM Student, Veterinary Entrepreneurship Academy (VEA) Student Representative
Stacy Eckman, Texas A&M VMBS, Associate Dean for Hospital Operations & Clinical Associate Professor—Primary Care, VSCS
Richard Gomer, Texas A&M College of Arts & Sciences, Professor, Biology
Amy Heimberger, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Professor, Neurosurgery
Peter Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine: Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology, Director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD), and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics; Texas A&M Hagler Institute for Advanced Study (HIAS) Fellow
Natalie Johnson, Texas A&M School of Public Health, Associate Professor, Environmental & Occupational Health & Vice Chair, Interdisciplinary Faculty of Toxicology
Amy LeBlanc, U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Director of CCR Comparative Oncology Program at the National Cancer Institute
Jodi Long, Private Practitioner (Bay Glen Animal Hospital – Clear Lake, Texas)
George Mann, Texas A&M School of Architecture, Professor
Kate McCool, former Texas A&M VMBS, Assistant Professor, VSCS
Mike McShane, Texas A&M College of Engineering, Department Head & Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Elsa Murano, Director, The Borlaug Institute; Interim Director, Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases; College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Professor, and Texas A&M President Emerita
Michael O’Quinn, former Texas A&M Vice President for Government Relations
Gerald Parker, Texas A&M VMBS, Associate Dean for Global One Health
Kenita Rogers, former Texas A&M VMBS, Executive Associate Dean, & Professor Emerita–Oncology, VSCS
Lori Teller, Texas A&M VMBS, Clinical Associate Professor–Telehealth, VSCS
Kelley Thieman, Texas A&M VMBS, Associate Professor–Surgery, VSCS
Amy Waer, Texas A&M School of Medicine, Dean
Larry Walker, Texas A&M Foundation, Assistant Vice President for Development (VMBS)
Heather Wilson-Robles, former Texas A&M VMBS, Professor–Oncology & Assistant Department Head for Research, VSCS