Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 5, 1991 TAG: 9104060390
SECTION: FOUNDERS DAY PAGE: VT-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"When our students leave here they have a license to do something that only 40 or 50 thousand other people in this country have a right to do," said Leib. "It's our job to ensure that they have the professionalism and competence to do the job right."
Make no mistake about it, Mike Leib is a demanding teacher. And busy - very busy.
Leib has just returned from a two and a half-week lecture tour of Europe, a whirl-wind trip which included 11 invited lectures at veterinary colleges and veterinary medical associations in Germany and Switzerland.
During the past 10 years, he has earned widespread respect for his work in veterinary gastroenterology. Leib's advice and frequently is sought by experts from around the nation.
He is equally serious about veterinary medical education, and his excellence in the classroom has been recognized by numerous college teaching awards, the national Norden Award for Excellence in Teaching, and this year, a prestigious Wine Award. He is also highly regarded for his instruction of fourth-year students, interns and residents in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, and he has developed one of the few graduate level courses in his department.
While he contends that "my reputation is tougher than I am," he does concede that his high expectations are intended to make his students "reach inside themselves to produce that little extra effort that makes a big difference.
"Teaching veterinary students is a little different from teaching students in other colleges at this university because we have complete control of the student from start to finish," he said. "We can't just be satisfied with how they perform in a course over a three-week period. We have got to be satisfied with what the entire `package' becomes."
Leib lives up to the same high standards he sets for his students and attributes much of the success he has attained at this point in his career to hard work.
His interest in veterinary medicine can be traced to his undergraduate days. While studying pre-med at Atlanta's Emory University, Leib and some friends found a stray dog and took it to a veterinarian. Impressed by the veterinarian who cared for the dog, he soon became interested in studying veterinary medicine.
After earning an undergraduate degree in biology from Emory, Leib enrolled in the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine, where he was awarded a D.V.M. degree in 1979.
Leib then spent two years working at Cobb Emergency Veterinary Clinic in Marietta, Ga., where his experiences treating parvo-virus, a highly infectious and lethal canine gastrointestinal disorder that raced through the nation's dog population about a decade ago, began to interest him in the field of gastroenterology.
In 1981, Leib undertook a residency in veterinary gastroenterology at Colorado State University's School of Veterinary Medicine at Fort Collins.
Following his residency, Leib accepted an assistant professorship in the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. He then successfully met the credentials and examination requirements of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, an organization that certifies internal medicine specialists.
Leib was promoted to associate professor in 1987, and has served as coordinator of medical services, chief of small animal medicine and deputy hospital director in the College's Veterinary Teaching Hospital. He currently serves as deputy department head in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences.
Leib also has developed a national reputation for his expertise in a diagnostic technique called endoscopy, where veterinarians can evaluate internal organs and remove biopsy specimens through a fiber optic cable.
by CNB