It's been a wild couple of months for Chatham native and research veterinarian Dr. Annette Sysel.
At the end of September, Sysel was chosen as the recipient of the American Humane Association Hero Veterinarian Award.
"I still can't believe it," says Sysel. "There were so many incredible people doing wonderful things for animals, and I still find it hard to believe I was chosen as this year's recipient."
Sysel has been the president and chief veterinary officer of the Bauer Research Foundation in Vero Beach, Florida since 2009. She says trials on a new drug meant to treat cancer in dogs has gone extremely well. They hope to move on to human trials, but have hit a funding snag.
"Even though we have all the technology and all the tools available to get these therapeutic diagnostics to patients, we don't have the funding to do it."
That's part of the reason why Sysel was invited to speak on Capitol Hill in October. She presented in front of the Humane Bond Caucus, to show if they have the money to start human clinical trials, it could make a world of difference.
Sysel adds once they have the funding for the trials, they can begin meeting with the FDA to set up timelines for the completed tests.
