Agency History

Dr. Sippel was born on March 1, 1915 in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Duke University and the University of Maryland, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree. He was awarded a Doctor degree in Veterinary Medicine in 1940 from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Science degree in Pathology from Cornell University, where he studied under Professor Peter Olafson. At the New York Medical College, he studied viral disease research techniques. In 1955 he heard the first PhD degree awarded by the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M University. The degree was in Veterinary Pathology, where he was a student of Dr. Hilton Smith.

Dr. Sippel was a Junior Veterinarian with the US Department of Agriculture during 1941, an Instructor and Ambulatory Clinician at Kansas State University from 1942-1944 and in 1945 established the Veterinary Research and Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Georgia Experiment Station at Tifton, Georgia. In 1956 he joined the Florida Department of Agriculture and founded the diagnostic laboratory system in that state.

Dr. Sippel joined TVMDL in 1968 as the agency’s Executive Director and the first TVMDL employee. He oversaw the construction of TVMDL while working as a Professor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery at Texas A&M University.

During his tenure as Executive Director at TVMDL, a second full service veterinary diagnostic laboratory was built in Amarillo, Texas in 1975, and the case load in both laboratories, as well as funding, increased tenfold.

Dr. Sippel received a Citation of Merit from the Georgia Veterinary Medical Association in 1958, was Florida Veterinarian of the Year in 1966, and received the Florida Thoroughbred Farm Managers Distinguished Service Award in 1967.

In 1977 he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Texas Veterinary Medical Association, of which he became a distinguished member upon his retirement. He was presented in 1975 with the EP Pope Memorial Award by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. He was the first recipient of this distinguished award, in recognition by his peers for his leadership and contributions to diagnostic veterinary medicine. He was nationally known as a cofounder of AAVLD, having served as its Secretary and President.

The street in front of the original College Station facility was named after Dr. Sippel in the 1980’s and still bears his name today. Dr. Sippel and his wife, Catie, left an endowment to TVMDL and the William and Catie Sippel Lecture Series, instituted in 2017, is a direct result of that gift.

The cornerstone of Dr. Sippel’s leadership – dedication, service, hard work, and excellence – are the foundation on which TVMDL continues to provide the best possible veterinary diagnostic services to the animal industries of this state and nation.

A. Konrad Eugster was born in 1938 in Austria.  He grew up on a dairy farm in a small alpine village.  After obtaining his DVM degree from Vienna Veterinary College, he practiced large animal medicine in Austria and Switzerland. In 1964, he emigrated to the US and served as a virologist at the Southwest Foundation for Research and Education in San Antonio, Texas. He received a PhD degree in Veterinary Microbiology from Colorado State University in 1970 and, immediately thereafter, started his career at TVMDLas head of Veterinary Microbiology. During his ten year tenure in this position, he discovered several diseases new to Texas and in some cases, new to the world. He was the first to isolate canine parvovirus II and published the first report on this disease in world literature. His research led to the development of an effective parvovirus vaccine. he also found several pathogenic organisms for the first time in Texas causing such diseases as chlamydial infections in cattle and goats, coronavirus infections in horses and pigs, IBR encephalitis in cattle, enteric rotavirus infections in foals, calves, dogs and zoo nurseries, parapox virus infection in goats, and RSV infections in foals and cats.

In 1980 he was appointed by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents as Executive Director of TVMDl and later received the additional title of Associate Vice Chancellor for Agriculture. Under his 22-year leadership at TVMDL, the budget increased 10-fold and the caseload 5-fold. The physical facilities in College Station and Amarillo doubled in size and in 2001 he also obtained the funds to replace the old Poultry Diagnostic Lab in Center, Texas with a new facility. He was instrumental in the transfer of the poultry diagnostic program from the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station to TVMDL, the establishment of the drug testing program for the pari-mutuel horse and greyhound racing industry, the creation of the aquaculture diagnostics, molecular diagnostics and the endocrinology sections at TVMDL.

He was committed to providing an outstanding service to TVMDL clients and was able to instill this service attitude in the staff. The clientele showed their satisfaction and gratitude by bestowing on him various honors and recognitions. The Texas Veterinary Medical Association (TVMA) named him “Veterinarian of the Year – Distinguished Achievement” in 1984. The TVMA also presented him twice with the President’s Award. The Texas A&M University System, the Texas Animal Health Commission, the Texas Poultry Federation, the Texas Pork Producers, the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers’ Association and the Texas and American Brahman Association, honored him with certificates of appreciation, lifetime achievement awards and industry service awards.

He was a member of many local, state, national and international organizations. In 1988 he served as President of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) and from 1999-2001 as President of the World Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (WAVLD). The AAVLD honored him in 1994 with the coveted EL Pope Award, the AVMA with the XII International Congress Award and the American Veterinary Epidemiology Society with the Gold-Headed Cane Award in 2003. Since his retirement as Executive Director of TVMDL in 2002, he has worked in various capacities for TVMDL, the Institute for Countermeasures Against Bioterrorism, and the International Agriculture Program at TAMU. In the later capacity, he helped improve the veterinary diagnostic infrastructure in Columbia, Nicaragua, Brazil, Thailand, China and more recently in Ethiopia and El Salvador.

Dr. Eugster will always be remembered as one who has greatly improved the veterinary diagnostic capabilities and capacities in Texas and to some degree, in the nation and the world. He was a leader who instilled by example the virtue and value of hard work, dedication and foresight. His vision of embracing new techniques, ideas and concepts and transforming them into timely, high quality service outputs of benefit to the client will serve TVMDL well as a foundation to continue to build on.

Dr. Lelve Gayle, a native of Lovelady, Texas, received his bachelor’s degree in animal science in 1963 and earned his DVM in 1964, both from Texas A&M University.  Upon graduation, Dr. Gayle served as a staff veterinarian with the 819th Medical Group, SAC, in the United States Air Force. Later he worked in private veterinary practice in the Dallas area, served as a clinical associate professor of veterinary physiology at Texas A&M, then worked as owner and veterinarian at a large animal practice.

Gayle joined TVMDL in 1976 as case supervisor and was promoted to Head of Diagnostic Services in 1980. That same year, he also earned his master’s degree in veterinary toxicology from Texas A&M. After eight years, Gayle was again promoted to Associate Agency Director for TVMDL while continuing to lead Diagnostic Services. He was selected as Executive Director and appointed to that role by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents in 2002 and served in that role until his retirement in 2007.

Dr. Gayle served a unique role for TVMDL.  The lab was one of the first diagnostic labs to employ a case coordinator to review lab results and consult with practitioners.  Dr. Gayle, while not the first to hold the role of case coordinator, truly laid the foundation for this service. As the caseload grew, so did the role of case coordinator. He and his staff were the face of the diagnostic lab, maintaining frequent contact with veterinary practitioners and ensuring lab results were interpreted to help arrive at a diagnosis.

As director, Dr. Gayle led the agency during several major animal and public health events: fallout from the 2001 anthrax attacks, the UK’s foot and mouth disease outbreak, and the first confirmation of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in the United States.  In response, the United States Department of Agriculture identified the need for a National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) to coordinate Federal laboratory capacity with the extensive infrastructure (facilities, professional expertise, and support) of State-supported laboratories. Twelve laboratories across the United States were selected to become part of the NAHLN and under Dr. Gayle’s leadership, TVMDL was selected as a founding NAHLN member.

Dr. Gayle secured funds for TVMDL to build the agency’s first biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory, a high containment laboratory dedicated to handling pathogens that may cause serious harm through inhalation. These include the pathogens that cause foot and mouth disease and classical swine fever, among others. Though they are rare, outbreaks of these high-consequence diseases would have a disastrous effect on animal health, the food supply, the movement of animals and animal products, and the overall agriculture economy. Thus having immediate access to a BLS-3 laboratory was key for TVMDL to stand ready to test samples during an outbreak. Under Gayle’s leadership, the College Station lab opened its BSL-3 laboratory in 2004 and introduced a mobile BSL-3 trailer in 2006 to expand its capacity.

Dr. Gayle was selected as President of the Texas Academy of Veterinary Practice in 1985 and as President of the Texas Veterinary Medical Association (TVMA) in 1996. He was recognized with the Distinguished Achievement Award from TVMA, the Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence for Professional Services, the Regents Fellow Service Award, TVMA President’s Award and the President’s Award from the Texas Academy of Veterinary Practice.

The agency’s legacy of client-focused service continued to grow under Dr. Gayle’s leadership. He led TVMDL through a time of uncertainty in the animal health industry and ensured TVMDL and the state were prepared to support livestock and companion animals in the event of a major disease outbreak.

Dr. Tammy Beckham served as the Director of the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory from 2008 – 2014.  Under her leadership, TVMDL completed the addition of a BSL-3 laboratory at its Amarillo location, constructed a new poultry laboratory at Gonzales, Texas, and received funding to design and construct a new laboratory and agency headquarters at College Station.  Beckham was a champion of collaboration and outreach, and during her tenure TVMDL became involved in numerous national and international training programs to strengthen veterinary diagnostic capacity in the US and abroad. TVMDL also increased its hands-on educational outreach to veterinary students in the form of elective courses and residency programs in diagnostic disciplines. Technology upgrades were introduced to TVMDL’s client reporting system and the agency quality assurance programs.

During a portion of her tenure at TVMDL, Dr. Beckham also served as director of the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases (IIAD), a part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Prior to being selected as Director of TVMDL, Dr. Beckham served as Director of the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, a part of USDA’s Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York. Her responsibilities included managing the diagnosis of animal diseases, overseeing diagnostic test development for a nationwide animal health diagnostic system, and coordinating efforts with the Department of Homeland Security, the National Animal Health Laboratory Network and other entities.

Beckham is a magna cum laude graduate of Auburn University, where she earned her doctor of veterinary medicine degree in 1998. She also holds a doctorate in biomedical science from Auburn, received in 2001, while she served as a captain in the U.S. Army. She served at the Army’s Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases in Frederick, MD., where she helped develop improved techniques for detecting deadly pathogens such as Ebola and Marburg viruses. Dr. Beckham is recognized as an international expert in the diagnosis of foreign animal diseases. She routinely acts as a subject matter expert at international meetings and maintains productive partnerships with international scientists and world reference laboratories.

She also served on many committees during her tenure at TVMDL, including the Institutional Biological Safety Committee for Texas A&M University, the Agriculture Sector Coordinating Council, the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine Executive Committee and the National Animal Health Laboratory Network Directors Committee.  Beckham was also co-chair of the Foreign and Emerging Disease Committee of the United States Animal Health Association (USAHA). She has authored numerous publications, including those appearing in the Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation, Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Journal of Comparative Pathology and Laboratory Investigation, among others.

Dr. Bruce Akey was appointed Director of TVMDL in fall 2014. As director, Dr. Akey is responsible for the executive operations of the agency, focusing on day-to-day management of the four laboratory locations. Dr. Akey also oversees the agency’s quality assurance program and provides leadership to TVMDL’s three resident directors, located at the agency’s other laboratory locations in Amarillo, Center and Gonzales.

A graduate of the College of William and Mary with a bachelor’s degree in biology, Dr. Akey also holds a master of science in parasitology from the University of Florida and a doctorate of veterinary medicine from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Akey is a nationally recognized leader in veterinary diagnostics. From 2006 through May of 2014, Dr. Akey was the assistant dean for diagnostic operations and the executive director of the Animal Health Diagnostic Center in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. He served three and a half years as assistant state veterinarian for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, was the chief of the Office of Laboratory Services at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for 13 years, and was in private clinical practice for 4 years prior to that.

A former co-chair of two committees of the United States Animal Health Association, Dr. Akey also served as president of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD) and was recognized by the organization with the E.P. Pope award for distinguished service in 2004 and lifetime membership in 2007. He has received several leadership and service awards from the AAVLD, the United States Department of Agriculture, Richmond Academy of Veterinary Medicine and the American Association of Food Hygiene Veterinarians.

Dr. Akey currently serves as co-chair of the AAVLD Government Relations Committee, is a member of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) Coordinating Council, co-chair of the NAHLN Methods Technical Working Group and a member of the NAHLN Information Technology Committee. In 2014, he was appointed as an adjunct clinical professor in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology at Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.