CONTACT:
Kim Ralston,Missouri Veterinary Medical Association
2500 Country Club Drive, Jefferson City, MO 65109
Phone: 573-636-8612 Email: kralston@movma.org
(February 7, 2025) – Dr. Mel Falk, Independence, Mo. was the recipient of the 2025 Veterinarian of the Year Award at the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association’s (MVMA) Annual Convention held January 30-February 2 at the Holiday Inn Executive Center, Columbia, Mo. Dr. Matthew Silvius, Riverside, Mo. presented the award.
The Missouri Veterinary Medical Association’s Veterinarian of the Year Award is the premiere recognition bestowed by the association. The award winner is determined annually by the MVMA Board members, who represent over 1,700 veterinary members of the MVMA in Missouri. The recipient of this highest honor is chosen based on their impeccable reputation as a skilled and knowledgeable veterinarian, their dedication and service to their patients and clients, their service as an integral participant in their community, the engagement and leadership in organized veterinary medicine, their mentorship to our future veterinarians, the admiration and respect held for them among their peers, and the positive impact they have had on the lives they have touched.
Dr. Falk graduated from Kansas State University in 1974. He practiced mixed animal medicine for a year before moving to Independence, Missouri where he worked as a small animal veterinarian and then built Hidden Valley Animal Hospital in 1993. He has since retired from active practice.
He is past president of the Missouri Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA). He has also served on several committees of the MVMA; including as the MVMA Political Action Committee Chairman where he helped greatly increase donations to the program. He was also a charter member of the first animal emergency clinic in Eastern Jackson County and on the executive board for several years.
Dr. Falk’s civic activities include volunteering as a nation officer of the YMCA’s Indian Guides, coaching many of his sons’ basketball teams, and continues to volunteer as elder and on the building committee at his church, Timothy Lutheran in Blue Springs, Mo. Dr. Falk enjoys traveling with wife, Koko, and spending more time with four sons and their families since retirement.
The Missouri Veterinary Medical Association is the society for veterinarians in the state, dedicated to maintaining the highest standards for professionalism and ethics in animal health care in Missouri. The association was founded to help the veterinarian better serve the welfare of animals and their owners.
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