A Career in Veterinary Medicine: Not Even the Sky's the Limit

Not Even The Sky's The Limit continued
Egeenee Daniels, DVM (LSU 1986),
Director of Laboratory Animal
Medicine/Attending Veterinarian,
University of North Texas Health
Science Center
Dr. Egeenee Daniels received BS degrees
in engineering and animal science from
Southern University in Baton Rouge, La.,
before obtaining his DVM at LSU. He practiced
veterinary medicine for 18 months and started
his PhD in epidemiology before embarking
on his current career in laboratory animal
medicine.
In 1989, while still a PhD student, Dr. Daniels
was working with the lab animal residents at
the LSU SVM. In May of that year, he accepted
a position at the University of North Texas
Health Science Center in Fort Worth, Texas. The plan was to
work for a few years and then finish his PhD, but Dr. Daniels
never looked back. “I owe a big thanks to Dr. [Sheldon]
Bivin at LSU,” he said. “I was certain I would be a large
animal practitioner. I grew up in Mount Hermon, La., and my
grandfather had a large dairy farm in Washington Parish.
In my senior year of veterinary school, I got exposed to lab
animal medicine with Dr. Bivin. All of the residencies were
filled, but he invited me to work with the residents.”
Dr. Egeenee Daniels (LSU 1986) is the attending veterinarian for educational and
research institutions in Texas.
Dr. Rhonda Daniels, Egeenee’s wife, received her DVM from
the LSU SVM in 1990, and his brother, Dr. Shawn Daniels,
received his DVM from the LSU SVM in 1994. His two
children (ages 9 and 12) love animals. The Daniels family has
a ranch with more than 50 animals, including horses, cattle,
dogs, cats, fish, guinea fowl, and chickens, though Dr. Daniels
jokes that his veterinary bills are low.
Carol Walton, DVM (LSU 1987), Owner, Carol
Walton Expeditions
Dr. Daniels is also the attending veterinarian for the University
of Texas-Arlington, the University of Texas-Dallas, Texas
Christian University, and the Baylor Research Institute. “All
animals used in biomedical research are under my purview,”
he said. “If it deals with animals in research, I oversee it.”
“I would advise veterinary students to get as much exposure
to different career paths as possible,” added Dr. Daniels. “Lab
animal medicine was something I didn’t know existed until I
started veterinary school. We are involved in things that affect
human lives every day. Being on the cutting edge of research
and seeing the new science components is exciting. Not long
ago, I removed a liver from a pig, handed it to a surgeon, and
it was transplanted into a person who was then able to survive
another three days until a human liver became available. I
would do this job for free. I wake up every day wondering,
‘What am I going to do today?’”
Dr. Carol Walton has been leading natural history trips for
over 28 years to many different areas in the world. She grew
up in Panama and attributes this to her early love of the
tropical rainforest. She received a BS in zoology from LSU
before starting veterinary school.
After receiving her DVM, Dr. Walton had a relief practice for
a few years, then worked on a diabetes research project.
She eventually moved to Ecuador and lived and worked in
the Amazon rainforest, where she oversaw the building of a
scientific research station and was co-director of the station
for five years. In 1999, she moved back to the U.S. and
started her own wildlife tour company.
Through Carol Walton Expeditions, Dr. Walton organizes and
guides wildlife tours all over Africa, South America, the Arctic
and Antarctica, teaching people about nature and the wildlife
that lives there. She also works on Expedition cruise ships as
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