Large animal medicine specialist named chief of staff of UF veterinary hospitals

June 29, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Dana Zimmel, a clinical associate professor at University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine, has been named interim chief of staff of UF’s Veterinary Hospitals.

Zimmel has served as associate chief of staff for the UF Large Animal Hospital since Jan. 26. Because of recent administrative restructuring, both the large and the small animal hospitals will now be supervised by a single chief of staff.

The UF Veterinary Hospitals function as a major referral center, treating more than 18,700 animals annually. A new $58 million small animal hospital is under construction and will be unique among veterinary colleges nationwide when it opens this fall. The new hospital will include a linear accelerator, a cardiology catheterization laboratory and state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, including MRI and CT. Patients seen in both hospitals are referred by veterinarians throughout the state. Routine wellness and outpatient medicine clinics are also available.

In her new role, Zimmel will be responsible for all issues relating to patient care as well as managing hospital operations.

A 1995 UF veterinary school graduate, Zimmel is certified in equine practice by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners and in large animal medicine by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. She performed an internship in equine field services at North Carolina State University and subsequently completed her residency there in large animal internal medicine and equine practice.

After working in private practice, then teaching for two years on the large animal medicine faculty at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, Zimmel joined UF’s faculty in 2002 as an assistant professor of equine health extension. She was the college’s equine extension agent and chief of extension services until 2006. She became a clinical assistant professor of large animal medicine at the college in 2006, and has served as large animal medicine service chief since 2007.