Staff highlights

Mrs. Kimani Rutherford, AHL Bacteriology Team Lead, has been awarded the University of Guelph President’s Exemplary Staff Service award in the category of Innovative Leadership. Kimani facilitates a positive and inclusive work atmosphere through effective communication, while ensuring a high standard of excellence. She implemented a comprehensive six-month training program geared towards addressing the team’s collective needs that had a positive impact on her team’s motivation and skill development. When the team was faced with an unexpectedly busy week, she made team appreciation a priority, organizing coffee and treats to boost morale and acknowledge everyone’s efforts. By celebrating team members’ efforts and contributions, Kimani fostered a positive and supportive work team culture in her unit.
We are glad that Kimani’s contributions have been recognized by the President of the University of Guelph. Congratulations Kimani!

Dr. Đurđa Slavić, AHL Bacteriologist, has been awarded the prestigious 2024 Laboratorian of the Year Award by the Canadian Animal Health Laboratorians Network (CAHLN). In addition to her workload as AHL Bacteriologist, she obtained a 5-year grant (2020-2024) from the US-FDA to participate as the only Canadian veterinary diagnostic laboratory in the Vet-LIRN network. This network supports the development of whole genome sequencing (WGS), and the collection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data. She is an enthusiastic supporter of One Health initiatives through her collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada to include antimicrobial susceptibility data capture for veterinary isolates into AMRNet. Dr. Slavić is currently the Canadian Provincial representative on the AAVLD (American
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Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians) Executive Board, a member of the WAVLD (World Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians) Executive Board and also a member of the scientific organizing committee for the next WAVLD meeting to be held in Calgary in 2025.
All of us at the AHL consider Đurđa well-deserved of this exceptional award which is bestowed on an outstanding individual who has made a significant contribution to animal health laboratory medicine in Canada. Congratulations Đurđa!