He was instrumental in establishing the State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Auburn during his tenure as ALVMA president. He has served in many major animal health organizations, and in 1980 he received the ALVMA Service Award for his work as a liaison between the veterinary profession and the cattle industry.

In 1983, he was named the Alabama Cattleman of the Year, and in 1988 he was inducted into the Alabama Livestock Hall of Fame. In 1995 he was named recipient of the El Toro Award at the College of Veterinary Medicine for contributions to food animal health and organized veterinary medicine.

In addition to his practice of large and small animals, Dr. Killian has had extensive farming interests. For many years, he has conducted a commercial cattle farm of pure breed Limousin on his family farm, and in 1972, he was among the first to record Limousin cattle.

He has been recognized with leadership awards from the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, Alabama 4-H Clubs, and the Alabama Association of the Future Farmers of America.

Dr. Killian served in World War II and the Korean War, where he served stateside in Ohio as a captain in the Army Veterinary Corps.  One incident saw more than 30 percent of troops on sick call every day, so Dr. Killian led an investigation that found a milk supplier who was sending tainted milk to the Army. Facing threats from the man, including congressional intervention, Dr. Killian shut down the operation which resulted in the sick call rate dropping to one percent.

In Fort Payne, he has served as president and director of the Chamber of Commerce, and he has been a leader in the PTA and in the DeKalb County Cattlemen’s Association.
 

While at Auburn, he arranged for the university to become a regional center that would accept injured birds of prey, which was the beginning of the Southeastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center in 1977. He headed this program until his retirement, and he remains one of its strongest champions.

He has earned many honors, including the 1984 R.E. Peterson Award from the Society for Experimental Stress Analysis and the 1994 W. Kelly Mosley Environmental Award for his instrumental role with the Southeastern Raptor Rehabilitation Center. He also received the Auburn Veterinarian Service Award in 1978 and the President’s Award from the Alabama Wildlife Federation in 1987. He served as chair of the Avian Surgery Section at the 12th and 14th Annual Surgical Forum.

His primary interests have been orthopedic surgery, surgical anatomy, and exotic and wild animal surgery, as well as general surgery, neurosurgery, and orthopedic histopathology.

Dr. Milton has held memberships in the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, American Veterinary Medical Association, American Animal Hospital Association, American Association of Zoo Veterinarians, East Alabama Veterinary Medical Association, Phi Zeta, Sigma Xi, and numerous other associations.

He attended Mississippi State University for pre-veterinary training and then received his doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Auburn in 1967. He practiced in Vicksburg, Mississippi, after graduation, and then returned to Auburn as an instructor in the Department of Anatomy and Histology from 1968-1970. In 1970, he accepted an instructorship in the Department of Small Animal Surgery and Medicine and completed a residency and master’s degree in surgery in 1972. He advanced through the ranks to become a full professor in 1985.

Dr. Milton served as the principal investigator of numerous research projects, and he is nationally recognized for his contributions to scientific literature, to professional scientific audiences, and to commercial companies.
 

After graduation from Auburn, he practiced veterinary medicine for several years before returning to the academic environment and training in anesthesia at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He taught at the University of Missouri from 1970-1976, and in 1977, he moved to Cornell where served as a professor of anesthesiology, adjunct professor of anesthesiology at the Cornell Medical School, and member of the graduate faculty. Upon his retirement, he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, and built a new house there.

Dr. Short is the author of more than 300 publications, books or book chapters and abstracts. He has lectured nationally and internationally more than 500 times and he has reviewed innumerable manuscripts for publication. He has conducted research on most of the newer anesthetic drugs and medical conditions.

He was a founding member of the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists and served as its president in 1970. In addition to being a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, he has served on the AVMA Council on Biologic and Therapeutic Agents and the Council on Education. He has also belonged to local and state veterinary Medical Associations, and is a founding member of the Association of European Veterinary Anesthetists.

Before attending Auburn, he obtained is pre-veterinary degree in 1954 from the University of Tennessee. He also earned a master’s degree in physical biomedical electronics from Baylor in 1971; and a Ph.D. in biochemistry and pharmacy from Abo Akedemi University in Finland in 1991.

His honors have included the National Academy of Science Fellowship for Lecture Tour on Program of Exchanges with the Polish Academy of Sciences, 1972; National Institutes of Health Fellowship, 1965 1966; Norden Distinguished Teacher Award, 1978; elected to membership in the Association of University Anesthesiologists, 1991; and the Cycle Award, American Veterinary Medical Association, 1997.