Please submit your news to:

Mrs. Anissa Riley,

Office of External Affairs,School of Veterinary Medicine, Tuskegee University

Tuskegee, AL 36088, (334)724-4509, FAX: (334)727-8177, Email: riley@tuskegee.edu

EIGHT TUSKEGEE VETERINARIANS SELECTEDBY THE NATION'S LARGEST PRIVATELY OWNED PRACTICE

by Anissa L. Riley

TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY, AL -- The nation's largest privately owned veterinary practice has hired eight of the best-trained veterinarians from the nation's only School of Veterinary Medicine at a Historically Black College or University.

Drs. John Slaughter, '85, Forrest Cummings, '05, Leonardo Baez, '02, Harrison Foy, '75, Kerrwen Tanner, '06, Charron Bryant, '75, Anthony Shaw, '99, and Will Taylor, '04, recently joined the staff of Banfield, The Pet Hospital ® .

The eight alumni are among the largest number of new recruits from any Alabama school.

Tuskegee's School of Veterinary Medicine, a component of the University's College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health, was established in 1945 and has graduated more than 70 percent of the Black veterinarians in the United States.

The Portland, Oregon, based organization extends the lives of more than 3.5 million pets each year through its nearly 600 locations across the country.

The College's Dean, Dr. Tsegaye Habtemariam, expressed his adoration for the successes of the Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine alumni.

"Their achievements are indicative of the high quality of education offered through our School of Veterinary Medicine," Habtemariam explained. "Through our intensive courses and rigorous clinical training, our graduates are broadly prepared to pursue various career options in veterinary medicine including joining existing practices like Banfield as well as starting their own veterinary practices."

Following is a list of the new Banfield doctors from Tuskegee University and the Banfield hospital locations where they will be providing human-quality medicine to pets at state-of-the-art veterinary hospitals:

TUSKEGEE GRADUATE	YEAR	BANFIELD LOCATION
Dr. John Slaughter	1985	Glen Burnie, MD
Dr. Forrest Cummings	2005	Ft. Myers, FL
Dr. Leonardo Baez	2002	Coral Springs, FL
Dr. Harrison Foy	1975	Bowie, MD
Dr. Kerrwen Tanner	2006	Roswell, GA
Dr. Charron Bryant	1975	Burbank, IL
Dr. Anthony Shaw	1999	Monaca, PA
Dr. Will Taylor	2004	Perimeter, GA