September 15, 2000

Beals retires; Texas
gains new state vet

There’s a changing of the guard at the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) as Dr. Terry Beals, Texas’ state veterinarian and the TAHC executive director, retires Sept. 1 to return to his little place in Oklahoma.

Taking on the reins of the state’s livestock health regulatory agency is Texas native Dr. Linda Logan-Henfrey, who in addition to extensive international experience, has served for the past four years as the national animal health program leader at the Maryland headquarters of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Ag Research Service (USDA-ARS).

Dr. Logan-Henfrey, who prefers to be called “Dr. Linda,” was selected by the TAHC’s 12 governor-appointed commissioners and will join the TAHC in mid-September. Dr. Beals will return to duty in October and November to assist her with the transition.

Since the mid-60s, Dr. Beals, a native Oklahoman, dedicated his career to public service, first as a field veterinarian for the USDA, then as a veterinary epidemiologist for the federal agency. He served as the USDA’s hog cholera epidemiologist for the Western U.S., and in Oklahoma, was the cattle brucellosis coordinator for several years.

For almost 10 years, Dr. Beals has headed the TAHC, achieving national recognition for leadership in state, national and international animal health programs.

To protect U.S. border states from tuberculosis-infected cattle, Dr. Beals and the state veterinarians of California, New Mexico and Arizona helped establish a binational committee with Mexico to set standards and monitor cattle tuberculosis eradication in that country. Mexican states must participate in tuberculosis eradication in order to export feeder cattle to the U.S. border states and at least 16 other U.S. states.

Furthermore, cattle brucellosis eradication in Texas has progressed dramatically during Dr. Beals’ tenure, with the state’s infected herd count dropping from 423 in August l991, to only three herds in August 2000.

Dr. Beals is also credited with establishing a Texas Johne’s Working Group, and the Texas Emergency Response Team (TERT), to fight foreign animal disease outbreaks and assist in livestock evacuation in natural disasters.

Dr. Logan-Henfrey has shared her expertise in livestock production, disease control and nutrition in Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and several other countries. In her work with the Ag Research Service, she has collaborated with researchers in Mexico, Central and South America, and Russia, and has become familiar with many agricultural industry groups and veterinary associations.

In addition to her veterinary medical degree from Texas A&M University, Dr. Logan-Henfrey earned a graduate degree in parasitology from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in comparative pathology from the University of California, Davis. Originally from San Angelo, Dr. Logan-Henfrey grew up on a ranch in Sonora, where her family raised cattle, sheep and goats, and poultry.