THOUGHTS from MIKE DARK

 

Over the course of my career in veterinary medicine, I’ve written a tremendous amount, as communication is one of the most important parts of our profession. Yet this one of the most difficult things I’ve had to work on. How can I give people an idea about who Sophie was and what she meant to all of us?

 

First of all, let me express my condolences to Sophie’s family. I know how difficult the last week has been for all of us, and we only had two and a half years to get to know Sophie. Her family must be feeling this tragedy that much more, and all of our thoughts are with them.

 

Sophie was an amazingly talented person. I’ve worked with a number of residents, but few have caught on to pathology the way Sophie managed to. The learning curve in pathology is more like a cliff than a hill, but Sophie scaled it more quickly than most people, myself included. When she was on a case, I never had to worry about how things were going to go, because Sophie was always reliable and trustworthy. She even put up with my numerous eccentricities with quiet good humor.

 

Humor was one of the most amazing things about Sophie. In a group of people, she’d start off being quiet, but within 20 minutes she’s be laughing so hard she couldn’t talk. My favorite memory of Sophie was one of the times a group of residents and pathologists went out to lunch. I can’t remember what we discussed, but Sophie started laughing, and then came “the noise”. When she really started laughing, Sophie would make a high pitched squeak, which would make everyone else laugh more, which made her squeak more. While we were in the elevator going back to our offices, I just said “Squeak!”, which not only made everyone laugh, but started another cycle of squeaks from Sophie.

 

As much as I miss Sophie’s quiet competence and sense of humor, I’m especially sorry of the impact her loss will have on the profession of veterinary pathology. During her time here, I had the opportunity to watch Sophie perform all three of the cornerstones of our profession – teaching, service, and research. In all three, she did an outstanding job. She was great in teaching students on the necropsy floor, as well as teaching in the systemic pathology laboratory. Her pathology abilities were top notch. She managed to participate in an extensive research project characterizing a new disease of aquatic animals, as well as publish two papers during her two and a half years here at UF. I think Sophie’s loss is a major blow to veterinary pathology and animal health. I know that her loss has left a huge hole in our pathology group that every one of us has felt every moment since last Monday afternoon.