March 2010: Brent R. Whitaker, DVM, Director of Animal Health at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and Assistant Professor part-time in Art as Applied to Medicine, is the recipient of the Frank A. Gunther, Jr. Award. This prestigious award is given to the outstanding member of the National Aquarium in Baltimore in recognition of their commitment to excellence, dedication to building professional relationships, and enthusiasm for establishing educational collaborative efforts.
As a specialist in a large variety of aquatic species, Brent has been able to offer stimulating projects that create real-life illustration experience for out graduate students. He is an excellent mentor and not only contributes the subject matter expertise but also has a thorough understanding of the effectiveness of good illustration in scientific publication. Dr. Whitaker’s initiative and leadership role in establishing this collaborative opportunity for our students to work with world-wide experts at the National Aquarium has also succeeded in advancing the mission of the National Aquarium in Baltimore’s scientific outreach for the past 20 years. It has provided an excellent learning experience for our students as well as unique visuals to help educate and publicize the Aquarium professionally.