Jan vanWyk Honored

Anyone who knows "anything" about veterinary parasitology knows the name Jan van Wyk. Jan was instrumental in the development of Targeted Selective Treatment (TST) using systems such as FAMACHA©.

Jan (R) pictured with Tom Terrill (L), coordinator of the American Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control.

The Gold Medal of the South African Veterinary Association was awarded to Dr. Jan van Wyk for his exceptional and sustained scientific achievements as helminthology researcher in a professional career stretching over an impressive 55 years.

Jan graduated as veterinarian in 1962 and spent 6 years as state veterinarian before transferring to the Onderstepoort Veterinary Research Institute’s Helminthology Department, where he was an assistant-director from 1983-1997. Hereafter he was appointed as extraordinary lecturer at the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Veterinary Science, a position that he still holds. He dedicated his entire career to research in helminthology, concentrating on the control of verminosis in sheep, with emphasis on avoiding the development of resistance to conventional chemical methods/chemotherapy by helminth management. His scientific productivity and absolute objectivity are exceptional. His impressive CV lists 93 papers.

Jan's dedication to improvement of the health and production of livestock and thus the quality and success of farming is phenomenal, always going out of his way to make his scientific studies of practical value to the commercial and developing farming community.

Congratulations Jan!

Source: Wormmail in the Cloud (about internal parasites of livestock (NSW, Australia) in particular, and veterinary science in general). August 30, 2017.