Each year the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association (KVMA) names one Kentucky Veterinarian of the Year. The award recognizes a practitioner who has made outstanding contributions either outside or within the veterinary profession, or both, and who is held in high esteem by his or her peers. This year’s recipient is Craig Carter, DVM, PhD, director of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture’s Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center and professor of epidemiology.

Veterinarian Wade Northington, DVM, MPA, director of the Breathitt Veterinary Center in Hopkinsville, Ky., chaired the committee that chose Carter for the distinction. He said Carter is an individual who has contributed to the betterment of society and the veterinary profession above and beyond his normal activities. He added that Carter’s award is one that highlights a lifetime of achievements.

“In being selected KVMA Veterinarian of the Year, Dr. Carter is recognized for his recent retirement from 42 years of military service,” Northington wrote. “In a retirement ceremony March 22, 2009, at the Army Reserve Medical Command in Pinellas Park, Fla., Dr. Carter was awarded the Legion of Merit and Joint Service Commendation Medal.”

Carter received the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious service in positions of increasing responsibility, culminating in a 30-year career as veterinary readiness advisor for the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Command. Carter received the Joint Service Commendation Medal for exceptionally meritorious service as senior veterinarian in Task Force Ramadi, Iraq, from March through August 2008. Carter received the Bronze Star in 2002 for commanding the first veterinary unit to be deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11