Smart Harvest expert wins prestigious vet of year award

Smart Harvest resident expert — Othieno Joseph — is this year’s winner of the prestigious ‘Veterinarian of the Year Award’.

Dr Othieno, who writes the popular Vet’s Viewpoint column received the award a week ago in Mombasa at a dinner hosted by the Kenya Veterinary Association (KVA).

Presenting the award, the association’s chair Dr Samuel Kahariri said Othieno won because of his consistent, outstanding, excellent, all round contribution to the profession and/or community over the past year.

“Pursuing communications has helped him package veterinary issues and he has been very active in sensitizing the public on a lot of veterinary issues,” he said.

The award is given to persons who have advanced the science and art of veterinary medicine while showing exemplary concern for, and commitment to, the welfare and humane treatment of animals.

Othieno was elated following the announcement that he was the winner.

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“Receiving this award is a very humbling experience for me. I am very grateful for my colleagues for this honour and for recognising my contribution to the profession,” he says.

He believes that what gave him an edge over other nominees is that he is among the very few veterinaries who have ventured into other professions.

“I have made a deliberate effort to always share in the public domain veterinary issues that are of help to the public. I am grateful also to The Standard for giving me the platform to communicate that important information,” he says.

But who is Dr Othieno?

Othieno is a veterinary doctor as well as a journalist. The 35-year old writer studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Nairobi and honed his writing skills while still a student.

“Veterinary medicine is a very intense course. There is a lot of reading and that means spending a lot of time in the library. Because of the stress and huge work load, actually some students drop out or defer,” says the father of two.

But for him, he chose a smarter way to cope with the pressure.

“To cope, I used to write in my free time. I noticed that vets tend to use complex terminologies which the lay man cannot understand. So as a writer, I did my best to break down complex concepts into simple components and also give my stories a human face. That way, it’s easier to read and digest,” he says.

While in campus, because of his passion in writing and prowess, he served as the editor of Vets Digest, a magazine that used to highlight happenings in the vet world in campus and nationally.

When he graduated in 2005, the university awarded him a scholarship to do a Masters in Communication. He later pursued a PhD in Agricultural Information and Communication Management.

The doctor is the Communication Officer at the Kenya Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Council. He also teaches Agricultural Journalism and Agricultural Public Relations and Agricultural Knowledge Management.

Previous winners of the award that was started in 2010 are Dr Alex Sabuni (2015) and Dr Benson Ririmpoi (2014).

Dr Kahariri also challenged other veterinarians to explore other areas of interest so that they can be all-rounded scientists.

“I always encourage my fellow vets to venture into other fields so that they can widen their world view and explore global opportunities. Just like vet medicine, every field is unique and has interesting aspects that are worth exploring and sharing.”