Dean Prof. Uwe Rösler welcomed the guests and introduced Prof. Dr. Dr. Markus Schick. The head of the Food Safety and Animal Health Department at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture gave a speech on "Veterinary skills in policy-making". Prof. Barbara Kohn, chair of the doctoral committee, then called up the doctoral graduates present individually, whom Prof. Rösler congratulated on stage and presented with a commemorative medal. The older guests of honor in the hall certainly also remembered this special moment, which was the 50th anniversary for them this year. They were also invited to the stage individually to receive congratulations and certificates. Among them was the former director of administration of our school, Dr. Christian Laiblin. The title of his doctoral thesis in 1974 was: "A contribution to the deep-freeze preservation of rabbit sperm".

Awards for Hannah Julia Stage and Christin Körsten

Two doctoral students received prizes for very good and impressive achievements. Prof. Jörg Aschenbach presented the Young Doctoral Talent Award from the Wirtschaftsgenossenschaft Deutscher Tierärzte e.G. and the Gesellschaft der Freunde und Förderer der Veterinary Medicine an der Freie Universität Berlin e.V. to Hannah Julia Stage for her outstanding work titled "Characterization of equine multipotent mesenchymal stem cells from adipose tissue and investigation of cardiomyogenic differentiation potential". Christin Körsten received the Eberhard Schein Prize from the Ernst Reuter Society for her dissertation "Vector Competence of German Mosquito Species for West Nile Virus and Usutu Virus and the Impact of Co-Infections". The laudatory speech was given by Prof. Dr. Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna.

The Jazz Trio GMT provided the musical accompaniment for this event.

Before inviting the guests to the buffet in the Forum, the Dean expressed his special thanks to the event organizer Christine Gaede (Doctoral Office) and her son, who once again actively supported her, as well as to Prof. Barbara Kohn, and presented them with colourful bouquets of flowers. Further thanks went to the Berlin Veterinary Society (BTG) and the Society of Friends and Sponsors of Veterinary Medicine at Freie Universität Berlin for their financial support of this event.

Thank you!