Dr. Phil Bushby, DVM, MS, DACVS

Overview

Summary:

Phil Bushby is a 1972 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.

Phil is a Board-Certified Veterinary Surgeon who has served on the faculty at Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine since 1978. Although he retired from Miss State in 2014 he still holds the Marcia Lane Endowed Chair of Humane Ethics and Animal Welfare at Mississippi State University and works at the College part-time. His primary focus has been spay/neuter taking junior and senior veterinary students to animal shelters in north Mississippi providing basic wellness care and spay neuter services for animals eligible for adoption for over 30 years. The service significantly increases the adoption rates at the participating shelters, provides the students with an exceptional surgery experience and sensitizes the students to the plight of animals in shelters. His program was honored in 2012 to be a featured display in the Smithsonian Institute’s folk-life festival in Washington DC.

Dr. Bushby’s interest in shelter medicine and spay neuter dates back to his internship and surgical residency at the Henry Bergh Memorial Hospital of the ASPCA in New York City. He states that his primary goal is to make sure that the next generation of veterinarians understands the problem of overpopulation of unwanted dogs and cats and recognizes their role in assisting in addressing the problem.

Dr. Bushby served on the Board of Mississippi Spay / Neuter and previously served on the Board of PetSmart Charities, Inc., and the Board of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians. He was a member of the organizing committee for the specialty board in shelter medicine and received the ASPCA’s Henry Berg Award in 2008, the AVMA’s national Animal Welfare Award in 2012 and the Association of Shelter Veterinarians Meritorious Service Award in 2015. He was one of the authors of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians’ Veterinary Medical Care Guidelines for Spay Neuter Programs published in 2008 and revised in 2016. He was also one of the authors of Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters published by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians in 2010 and of the newly revised guidelines for standards of care in animal shelters submitted for publication in October 2022.

A strong advocate of spay / neuter including pediatric spay neuter, Dr. Bushby speaks and publishes extensively on the importance of spay / neuter, efficient spay / neuter techniques, and pediatric spay / neuter.

At present Dr. Bushby’s leads a partnership between the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine and the Oktibbeha County (Mississippi) Humane Society (OCHS) and acts as an advisor to the OCHS and the Starkville Animal Shelter on the expansion of spay neuter services in the region.

Education:

• Master of Science (M.S.), Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, 1976
• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.), Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 1972
• Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 1970