A UF alumna and associate professor’s work caring for shelter pets has earned her a title and extra funding for her professorship.
Natalie Isaza, a clinical associate professor at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine, has been named the Grevior Shelter Medicine Community Outreach Professor, a new professorship established by Barbara and Arnold Grevior.
The Fort Lauderdale couple has been active in the Florida animal welfare community for years, Isaza wrote in an email.
Karen Legato, senior director of development and alumni affairs for the college, said the professorship was created in September 2014. It will fund part of Isaza’s salary, which was $110,962 in 2014, according to UF records.
Isaza said the Greviors have funded scholarship and externship opportunities for veterinary students at the Broward County Humane Society, and their donation helped establish the Grevior Shelter Medicine Suite at UF’s veterinary college.
Isaza graduated from UF with a degree in veterinary medicine in 1994. In 2003, she established the Merial Shelter Medicine Clerkship, now known as the Veterinary Community Outreach Program, which gives students access to animals for physical examination, diagnosis, medical treatment, and spay and neuter opportunities.
The program also cares for animals owned by homeless and low-income residents at the St. Francis House Pet Care Clinic, which Isaza co-founded with former UF president Bernie Machen’s wife, Chris.
Also included under the umbrella of the outreach program is the Helping Alachua’s Animals Requiring Treatment & Surgery program.
“I believe the Greviors were just impressed with the programs we were establishing to help all animals through the clerkship along with the instruction we were providing the veterinary students,” Isaza said. “They wanted to show their appreciation for that.”
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 1/30/2015 under the headline “UF vet professor awarded for work in shelter medicine"]
