Dean's Alumni Council Welcomes New Members
Captain Victoria Hampshire, V’88
Captain Victoria (Tory) Hampshire is a United States Public Health Service Veterinary officer and currently serves as Director of Preclinical Device Review at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Division of Cardiovascular Devices. In this capacity, she is responsible for the assessment of all animal data submitted by device manufacturers to the agency, to demonstrate reasonable safety for the purpose of receiving approval for a first-in-man clinical trial for a cardiovascular implant. She also serves as a center and agency expert on various consultations involving humane animal research, animal research regulations, animal bioethics, and drug and device safety.
Captain Hampshire started her career in private practice in Northern Virginia. At the National Institutes of Health, she served for 10 years as a biomedical research support veterinarian in clinical and program management of critically ill animal research models. She also served for several years as the principal drug safety coordinator at the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, where she had primary responsibility for monitoring side effects of all marketed veterinary drug products. Captain Hampshire has published extensively to advocate for refining animal experimentation to best support the animals; she has also highlighted that animal research is more efficient and easily applied to human settings when there is better monitoring and intervention. She has been involved in developing major agency guidance, and she also keeps in touch with routine issues by maintaining her veterinary clinical competency—moonlighting in animal hospitals within the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area.
Dr. Laurie Landeau, V’84, WG’84
Dr. Laurie Landeau, V’84, WG’84, was the first graduate of a special VMD-MBA program at Penn Vet, combining the required veterinary course load with classes at Wharton to complete the five-year program. Landeau became a Penn Vet Overseer in 1992, serving continuously until 2005. In 2006, she graciously agreed to chair the Board through the School’s exceptionally successful capital campaign, Building New Levels of Excellence. She was appointed to the University’s Board of Trustees in 2005, serving on its Budget & Finance Committee, External Affairs Committee, and Neighborhood Initiatives Committee over the next five years. In addition to serving as a Trustee, Landeau is also a member of the Trustee’s Council of Penn Women. She rejoined the Board as an Overseer from 2009 through June 2014—bringing her years of dedicated service to the University to nearly 27 in total.
Her extraordinary support of aquatic veterinary medicine at Penn Vet, as well as her leadership of Penn Vet’s Aquavet summer teaching program, demonstrates her commitment to one of the world’s most critical food sources. As an adjunct faculty member, Landeau shared her expertise in aquaculture and aquatic veterinary medicine with countless students.
Courtyard Becomes Center of Life at Penn Vet Thanks to Class Gift
In celebration of their combined 50th reunions, the Classes of 1958, 1959, and 1960 provided funding for the transformation of the central courtyard space in the Old Vet Quadrangle from a parking lot to a beautiful courtyard with green space, plantings, and seating. It is enjoyed by students, faculty, staff, and (of course) puppies and dogs of all sizes and breeds.
If those old brick walkways surrounding the courtyard could talk, they would tell an array of stories spanning decades. In 1913, when the Quadrangle was completed, the horse-drawn, small and large animal ambulances would bring patients through the archway. Today, touch football games take place on the lawn, and students study for finals at the picnic tables while enjoying some warm Philadelphia sunshine. Many activities grace the courtyard, including the new student barbecue during orientation, alumni weekend tours, and demonstrations during conferences. If these walkways could talk, they would share how happy they are that the classes of 1958, 1959, and 1960 gave this central area a whole new life.
The project began with the greening of the courtyard, which restored the large, grassy area to provide a central community space for students, staff, and animal patients and their owners. Ground level plantings were added along Classroom A, and a raised planter bed was added near the gates to create an eyecatching entrance. All are maintained on a regular basis by a professional crew.
Recent additions to the courtyard include three picnic tables—which have gotten good use from students studying for anatomy exams or enjoying time with classmates and furry friends, as well as researchers enjoying lunch while taking a break from the lab. Future plans include additional seating and a sprinkler system.
Thank you to our generous alumni who made this inviting space on the Philadelphia campus possible.