In selecting Thomas Schaer, VMD, to receive the ACVS Merit Award, the ACVS membership recognizes a non- ACVS Diplomate who has made major contributions to veterinary surgery through the development of methods, techniques, devices, and educational aspects of veterinary surgery.
After finishing veterinary school and completing his surgical training, Dr. Schaer created what is now the Penn Vet Institute for Medical Translation, an ecosystem for multidisciplinary collaboration and mentoring of graduate and undergraduate students in the translational sciences. Dr. Schaer’s group has refined large animal models for intervertebral disc healing/replacement; acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS); tissue engineered menisci; articular cartilage and intervertebral discs; biofilm and fracture healing; augmentation of fragile/osteopenic bone; new implants for interbody fusions; biofilm-infected fractures; and augmented reality for surgical navigation.
Dr. Schaer has more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, including manuscripts in both veterinary and biomedical journals, four book chapters and reviews, and more than 100 scientific abstracts. He speaks regularly at national and international meetings and is supportive and instructional with his trainees, allowing them to present their research.
Dr. Schaer has trained and mentored undergraduate and postgraduate fellows that have become talented ACVS Diplomates around the world. Several of these ACVS Diplomates now train residents and serve within the ACVS organization. His translational center fellowship is a sought-after position that aspiring surgeons look to for advanced training. He collaborates with veterinarians and medical professionals around the world and is generous with his time and knowledge working with residents, interns, fellows, and peers.
“Tom is specifically sought out to figure out some truly staggeringly difficult translational challenges. He does not get involved in any of these scientific collaborations without being a major player in the intellectual effort. I daresay anyone who spent time working in his program leaves with tremendously diverse experience, an appreciation for translational science, and solid training in the nuts and bolts of veterinary surgery.”
—Dean Richardson, DVM, Diplomate, ACVS