Former OVC professor had profound impact on teaching

A giant in the veterinary profession who had a major impact on veterinary education at OVC and around the world has died.

Dr. Douglas C. Blood died in Melbourne, Australia on June 6 at the age of 93.

Dr. Douglas C. Blood (Photo courtesy University of Melbourne)

Blood joined the faculty of OVC in 1957 after more than a decade teaching large animal medicine at the University of Sydney in Australia. He brought a fresh, scientific approach to teaching and clinical practice at OVC and together with Dr. James Henderson published Veterinary Medicine: A Textbook of the Diseases of Cattle, Sheep, Pigs and Horses.  Now in its 10^th edition, the book became the seminal work in the teaching and practice of large animal medicine and has been translated into several languages.

In 1962, Blood returned to Australia where he re-established the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Melbourne and served as its dean. There he established a pioneering unit in veterinary preventative medicine and epidemiology that shifted the focus away from the treatment of clinical disease to the detection, measurement and prevention of subclinical disease in farm animals.

Blood retired in 1985 and in 1987 he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Guelph.

For more on his life and career, see the obituary published by the VIN news service.