Dr. Katie Sheats Receives AAEP’s Distinguished Educator – Academic Award

Katie Sheats, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, FHEA, associate professor of equine primary care at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, received the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) 2024 Distinguished Educator – Academic Award for her innovative leadership that is transforming the education and training of veterinary students.  

The Distinguished Educator – Academic Award recognizes an individual who by her or his actions and commitment has demonstrated a significant impact on the development and training of equine practitioners. Dr. Sheats accepted her award Dec. 10 during the President’s Luncheon at the AAEP’s 70th Annual Convention in Orlando, Fla. 

Dr. Sheats received her veterinary degree in 2005 from North Carolina State University, where she subsequently completed a rotating equine internship, equine internal medicine residency and PhD in comparative biomedical science. She joined the university faculty as assistant professor of equine primary care in 2014. In addition to her teaching duties, she runs a successful lab and has served as primary advisor and committee member for numerous graduate students.  

As leader of the Equine Primary Care rotation, Dr. Sheats developed the school’s first formal distributive clinical education program. She partnered with local and regional practices to create an introductory “boot camp” to ensure participating students are prepared for what they will encounter in the field upon graduation, and she developed training and evaluation materials to support the partner practices in providing educational opportunities and feedback to the students.  

As co-coordinator for the third-year Equine Medicine and Surgery Course, Dr. Sheats has updated numerous lectures to focus more on equine primary care and introduced active learning methods to encourage in-person class attendance. Dr. Sheats has also created two new equine courses, one of which teaches unique aspects of husbandry and nutrition for less familiar species such as horses.  

Dr. Sheats is also coordinator for a new third-year preceptorship that provides a four-week experience in a veterinary practice or workplace setting to give students added clinical and real-world experience that reinforces core medical and surgical courses and prepares students for clinics and future careers. In addition, she teaches numerous lunch sessions on equine veterinary topics, and she regularly engages students with wet labs by taking first-, second- and third-year students on weekend farm calls for authentic experiential learning in equine primary care.  

“Dr. Sheats is an innovator and master educator whose research and work in veterinary education and curricular development has and will continue to shape the way that we train equine veterinarians at NC State,” said her nominator, Dr. Anthony Blikslager.  

About AAEP 

The American Association of Equine Practitioners, headquartered in Lexington, Ky., was founded in 1954 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the health and welfare of the horse. Currently, AAEP reaches more than 5 million horse owners through its over 9,000 members worldwide and is actively involved in ethics issues, practice management, research and continuing education in the equine veterinary profession and horse industry.