Rethinking Veterinary Education, Ripley’s Remarkable Recovery, and the Magic That Happens After Hours — The ANC May 2026 Newsletter
Two stories anchor the May newsletter. One is about a dog who survived something that probably should not have been survivable. The other is about an education system that veterinary medicine has accepted for decades — and why The ANC believes it is time to do better.
Ripley belongs to Dr. Melanie Kerschbaum, a veterinarian from Arkansas, who found her way to The ANC through a Facebook group called “Bad Ass Docs” after her dog chased an armadillo off a cliff and fractured her lumbar spine in one of the most severe L7 fractures the team has ever encountered. The vertebral body had essentially separated from the rest of the spine. Despite everything, Ripley had retained motor function and deep pain sensation. Dr. Kerschbaum believed it was worth trying. Five months later, Ripley is running, swimming, fetching, and living exactly the life she was built for. Her story, her imaging, and her owner’s own words as a fellow veterinarian are all inside.
Fred’s letter this month is the one he has been building toward for a while. Post-graduate veterinary education has not changed much in decades — conferences, lectures, a few pearls, and then back to practice. The ANC’s inaugural Veterinary Neurosurgical Workshop was built around the belief that it should be better. Neurologists from across the country and from Guatemala came not to watch, but to practice the way medicine is actually practiced. The connections that have continued long after everyone went home are the real measure of whether it worked.
This edition also features a deep dive into the Karl Storz VITOM exoscope and why 27x magnification has changed what surgery looks like at The ANC. Patient superlatives from overnight technicians Jamie and Casi remind us that the most meaningful care often happens in the quiet hours after the day team goes home. And the team spotlight celebrates an honorary ANC family member — Dr. Kaitlin Walker — arriving in St. Louis with a doctoral degree, a career at Barnes-Jewish, and a very good dog named Kona.
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