The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) honors John Thomas Vaughan, D.V.M., with the annual Distinguished Educator Award for advancing the equine veterinary profession through impactful teaching and mentorship. Dr. Vaughan of Auburn accepted the award during the Dec. 8 President’s Luncheon at the 55th Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.

For more than 40 years, Dr. Vaughan has been an instrumental figure in the development of equine veterinary students at Auburn University and Cornell University. A 1955 graduate of Auburn specializing in surgery, Dr. Vaughan became the sixth dean of Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine and in 2003 the namesake of the college’s large animal teaching hospital. An instructor of surgery and medicine, Dr. Vaughan’s students describe him as a challenging but amiable mentor whose instruction reaped great rewards throughout their careers.

Dr. Vaughan is a former president of AAEP and the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. He is the former chair of the council of deans of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges. Dr. Vaughan was selected as the Alabama Veterinary Medical Association's Veterinarian of the Year in 1985 and in 1994 received a Distinguished Service Award from the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors' Association.

The American Association of Equine Practitioners, headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, was founded in 1954 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the health and welfare of the horse.  Currently, the AAEP reaches more than 5 million horse owners through its nearly 10,000 members worldwide and is actively involved in ethics issues, practice management, research, and continuing education in the equine veterinary profession and horse industry.