|Dr. Ettinger (right) with his former professor |
and mentor, Dr. Robert Kirk (2008).
During the Salmon era, human and veterinary medicine worked side-by-side to achieve great accomplishments in advancing animal and human health. Sadly, the professions drifted apart in the early years of the 20th century.
One of the reasons that Dr. Ettinger is so motivated to acknowledge the impact of Salmon and his colleagues is that he led a resurgence in comparative medicine during his tenure at the Animal Medical Center in New York City following his graduation in 1964. Working with physicians and biomedical scientists while he was developing his clinical skills in cardiology and medicine, Ettinger's commitment to comparative medicine anchored the development of veterinary specialties, residency training programs and science-based medicine. Like Salmon who graduated 90 years earlier, Ettinger's commitment to a unified concept of medicine had a profound and lasting impact on veterinary medicine throughout the world.
With the awarding of the Salmon medal to Dr. Ettinger, their names are now united by this tangable symbol of science and progress.