Source: Barry Bradford, 785-532-7974, bbradfor@k-state.edu;
and Scott Morey, scottmoreydvm@gmail.com
News release prepared by: Greg Tammen, 785-532-2535, gtammen@k-state.edu

Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010

VETERINARY GRADUATE RECEIVES SPECIAL FEDERAL LOAN WAIVER AWARD

MANHATTAN -- Scott Morey, who earned his doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Kansas State University in May 2010, is one of five recent veterinary medicine graduates chosen to have $100,000 in federal loans waived.

Morey was selected from more than 100 graduating veterinary medicine doctoral students across the nation who are now practicing in food animal medicine. The recipients were chosen by the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Veterinary Medical Foundation through a program to combat the growing shortage of food animal veterinarians.

"It's an awesome feeling to have more than half of my student loans waived," Morey said. "My repayments were going to take about 30 years, and now it'll be about half that, and it will also cut the interest. I'm very excited about this."

According to Larry Kornegay, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the average debt for new veterinary school graduates is more than $130,000.

"This school loan forgiveness program will help support veterinarians who want to pursue a career in food animal medicine," he said.

The program, called the AVMA/AVMF Food Animal Veterinarian Recruitment and Retention Program, is targeted to those new graduates who are able to commit to working in food animal medicine for four years in an area that's experiencing a shortage of veterinary care.

After graduating Morey joined the Tallgrass Veterinary Hospital in Concordia as one of its two veterinarians. The hospital is a mixed animal practice, although its major focus is on large animals like beef cows and calves.

Morey, who also completed a master's degree in dairy nutrition from K-State over the summer, credits Barry Bradford and the rest of the faculty in K-State's department of animal sciences and industry for being essential in the nomination process. Bradford, assistant professor of dairy cattle nutrition, was Morey's major professor and wrote a letter of recommendation to the selection committee.

"I actually picked K-State over a couple of other schools because they have a better vet med program. I wanted to get a good education, especially in working with large animals," Morey said. "K-State gave me the means and opportunity to excel in many areas of food animal medicine."