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Each year, the Texas Veterinary Medical Foundation (TVMF) is proud to support a group of outstanding veterinary students and residents who are shaping the future of animal care across Texas.
Our scholarship and awards recipients are committed to making a difference in clinics, communities, and classrooms. With the support of generous donors, these future veterinarians can maintain focus on their education, practice and the impact they will make in the years ahead.
TVMF is excited to introduce this year’s scholarship and awards recipients and celebrate the passion and purpose they bring to the veterinary profession in Texas.
Francesca Weiher, Class of 2028, TTU-SVM
Hometown: San Antonio
What are your hobbies, passions or interests? I like to joke that my hobby is having hobbies, because it’s honestly easier to list the things I’m not interested in. At the heart of everything I do is a deep passion for caring for my community and the environment. I’m especially inspired by the One Health concept, the idea that humans, animals, and the environment are all interconnected, and I’m driven to help improve the systems we rely on so we can create healthier, more sustainable spaces for every living being.
Most of my hobbies pull me outdoors, whether I’m riding my horses, rock climbing, mountain biking, running, or capturing the world through nature photography. That love for movement and wild spaces has shaped a huge part of who I am. Even while balancing school, I pushed myself physically and mentally: I competed in my first HYROX and CrossFit competitions, ran my first marathon, and I’m now training for my second marathon and my first ultramarathon.
Because of this connection to the outdoors, I’m deeply committed to preserving as much wild space as possible. I truly believe that the health of our environment directly influences the health of our pets, our families, and the generations that come after us. Everything is interconnected and I want to be part of protecting that connection.
Describe your career goals and/or special interests within veterinary medicine. It’s hard to say exactly what my long‑term career goals are right now, because throughout my life and military service I’ve learned that I often end up where I’m needed most. I have a heart for all species and for many areas of veterinary medicine, but right now I feel especially called to support the overwhelmed animal shelters across the country. Shelters are doing everything they can with limited resources, yet they’re still facing an impossible burden of unwanted and abandoned animals. I want to stand beside them, help them, and work toward solutions that go beyond the heartbreaking reality of euthanizing millions of animals each year. My hope is that through community involvement, advocacy, and future reform, we can strengthen protections and improve legislation and regulations that truly support both shelters and the animals they serve.
At the same time, I’ve always envisioned continuing my military service by providing veterinary support to rural regions around the world and caring for the hardworking military service animals who serve alongside us. I’m confident I’ll find a way to weave both passions into my life. Ultimately, my goal is simple: to serve my communities, human, animal, and environmental, in whatever way I am needed most.
Describe the impact of receiving a scholarship from TVMF. This scholarship is significant to me for many reasons. While my primary focus is earning my DVM, I can’t ignore the challenges in my community or the support that animals and local shelters desperately need. I invest a great deal of my time and personal finances into helping both animals and people, so receiving this scholarship removes one major stressor from my life. By easing the financial burden of my education, it allows me to continue supporting the shelters and community programs I care so deeply about. In short, this scholarship doesn’t just help me, it helps me keep helping them.
What would you tell the donors that made your scholarship possible? Thank you so much for your generosity and support. Donor contributions, across all disciplines, activities, and organizations, are essential for creating real, lasting impact, and I’ve seen that firsthand. During our Christmas in the Park event, where we provided free veterinary care to members of the homeless community, every donation mattered. Whether someone gave five dollars, a bag of dog food, a collar, or anything else, each contribution made a meaningful difference and allowed us to serve more than 50 people and provide the supplies they needed to care for their pets.
That experience makes me even more grateful for your support of the TVMF scholarship. Your contribution goes far beyond helping a single student, it strengthens all the work I’m able to do in my community and allows me to extend my impact far beyond the classroom. Because of your generosity, I can continue serving the animals, shelters, and people who rely on that support. Thank you for believing in students like me and for investing in the future of our profession and our communities.
Anything else you want TVMF to know about you! I would also like to extend my deepest appreciation to the TVMF committee and board members. As a TVMA delegate, I’ve had the privilege of hearing firsthand about the incredible impact TVMF has had on the veterinary community across Texas, and I truly value your commitment and service to our profession. The support you’ve provided, not only to students, but also to communities affected by events like the Panhandle wildfires and the devastating Hill Country floods, is a powerful reminder of what it means to live in service to others. Your dedication inspires me, and I am genuinely grateful to be a recipient of your generosity.
Delaney Leibensperger, Class of 2028, TAMU-VMBS
Hometown: Jonestown, PA
What are your hobbies, passions or interests? In my free time, I enjoy reading, fishing, and binge-watching a good TV show. I also love playing golf and one of my bucket list goals is to play a course in every state. Outside of my hobbies, I spend most of my spare time working with local charities, such as my local VFW Auxiliary, to give back to my community.
Describe your career goals and/or special interests within veterinary medicine. While I am still exploring a specific career path in veterinary medicine, I have developed strong interests in both small/mixed animal general practice and small animal emergency medicine. In addition, I hope to continue working in wildlife rehabilitation, which I discovered during my undergraduate years at Penn State University, and to explore opportunities with organizations such as the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Describe the impact of receiving a scholarship from TVMF. As an out-of-state veterinary student, the financial demands of school can be significant. Receiving a scholarship from TVMF has helped relieve some of that burden, allowing me to focus more on my education and the hands-on experiences that are essential to becoming a well-rounded veterinarian. It has also given me the flexibility to continue pursuing opportunities I am passionate about, such as community involvement.
What would you tell the donors that made your scholarship possible? Thank you for your generosity and for supporting my education. As a first-generation college student, the financial challenges of pursuing a veterinary degree are significant, and your support truly makes a difference in my ability to continue this journey. It does not go unnoticed, and I am incredibly grateful. I hope to one day pay this support forward by giving back to my community and making a meaningful impact through my work in veterinary medicine.
Shay Barrett, Class of 2028, TTU-SVM
Hometown: Winona
What are your hobbies, passions or interests? I enjoy reading books in my spare time as well as spending time with my cats, boyfriend, friends and family whenever I get the chance to see them. I have also recently become a plant enthusiast and have a growing collection of indoor plants that I’m doing my best to keep alive. I enjoy my role as the events coordinator through SAVMA, especially because I get to give my fellow students a little break to do something enjoyable aside from study.
Describe your career goals and/or special interests within veterinary medicine. My current career goals are to move back home and join a clinic where I can provide my services to my hometown while also receiving valuable mentorship during my first years post graduation. I hope to work at a mixed animal practice seeing many different kinds of animals from small to large. I have a special interest in exotics and hope to gain more experience with them so that I can fill any gaps that may be prevalent in my hometown. My longterm goals are to eventually open my own clinic with the option of providing house calls as I am able to.
Describe the impact of receiving a scholarship from TVMF. The impact of receiving a scholarship from TVMF is huge. Not only am I honored to have been chosen as a recipient of the Dr. Gerome Memorial Scholarship, but this money will help to further my education and provide me more opportunities to gain experience in ways that I may not have been able to.
What would you tell the donors that made your scholarship possible? Thank you so very much for giving me this opportunity and assisting with the financial burden of veterinary school. I’m blessed to be able to further pursue my education and passion!
Alexis Tillett, TAMU-VMBS Class of 2027
Hometown: Whitewright
What are your hobbies, passions or interests? I am involved in several professional and service-oriented organizations here at Texas A&M, such as Collegiate Farm Bureau, Christian Veterinary Fellowship, and student chapters of both the American Association of Equine Practitioners and the American Association of Bovine Practitioners. In addition to participating in all the hands-on learning and community service opportunities these organizations offer, I volunteer with agricultural education events, youth livestock shows, and community outreach programs. Outside of academics, I enjoy reading, spending time outdoors with my dogs, riding horses whenever possible, and being with my family, activities that keep me grounded and connected to the rural lifestyle that I was raised to love.
Describe your career goals and/or special interests within veterinary medicine. My current career interests center on food animal and equine medicine, rural veterinary practice, and agricultural advocacy. Upon graduation, I plan to return home and practice as a large or mixed animal veterinarian, with a focus on serving the rural community that raised me. I hope to open a mobile clinic so I can travel directly to producers and provide on-site care to their livestock, horses, and companion animals. I want to work closely with farmers and livestock owners to keep them informed about disease prevention, control, and treatment, and I plan to continually learn new techniques and procedures to ensure that I am providing the highest quality of care. To make veterinary care more accessible, I intend to establish a “Pay It Forward” program to help cover medicine or procedures for stray animals or pets whose owners cannot afford care, and I plan to dedicate a portion of my practice to pro-bono or reduced-fee services.
Additionally, I hope to inspire the next generation of agricultural leaders by partnering with school agriculture programs to teach basic veterinary care to FFA and 4-H students. I want my clinic to serve as a place of education and opportunity for those interested in agriculture. I hope to provide scholarships to both high school students that need help acquiring FFA/4-H animal projects, as well as college students pursuing agricultural careers. The agricultural industry has deeply shaped my life, and through my work, I want to contribute to its preservation and growth.
Describe the impact of receiving a scholarship from TVMF. Receiving this scholarship means the freedom to focus entirely on the specialized skills required for rural veterinary medicine. Because of this support, I am able to prioritize unpaid clinical externships in food animal and equine medicine that are vital to my training but financially challenging to pursue. It means I can dedicate my mental energy to my coursework rather than the burden of mounting student debt. It is a reminder that while I am pursuing a rigorous degree here at Texas A&M, I am not doing it alone—I have a community of support behind me. Ultimately, this scholarship is an investment in my ability to hit the ground running upon graduation, allowing me to serve my community sooner and more effectively.
What would you tell the donors that made your scholarship possible? To the donors of this scholarship: thank you for believing in the importance of rural veterinary medicine. Your generosity directly supports my goal of returning to my hometown to provide essential care to cattle and horses. Because of your support, I can focus on my rigorous clinical training and externships that are vital to my development. I look forward to the day I can ‘pay it forward’ by serving my community and supporting the next generation of agricultural leaders, just as you have supported me.
Anything else you want TVMF to know about you! This scholarship holds a significance for me that goes far beyond financial support; it represents a full-circle moment in my journey, as I actually began my career as a technician under Dr. Eve Gerome, whose life and legacy this scholarship honors. Working alongside her provided invaluable hands-on experience and confirmed my passion for veterinary medicine. As one of the only veterinarians serving our rural community, Dr. Gerome taught me far more than technical skills; through her compassion and dedication to both animals and their owners, I learned what it truly means to serve a community through veterinary care. In a rural setting where trust and relationships matter deeply, she demonstrated the importance of empathy, integrity, and lifelong learning. Her mentorship helped shape my professional goals and continues to influence the kind of veterinarian I aspire to become.
Alexandra Isler, TAMU-VMBS Class of 2026
Hometown: Austin
What are your hobbies, passions or interests? I tend to orbit the edges of the natural world, somehow, I am almost always surrounded by animals or insects. Most days you can find me outside: hiking, riding horses, or deep in a cave with a headlamp and a sense of wonder. I love social dancing for the same reason I love fieldwork: it is a conversation without words. I write often, usually to make sense of things I don’t yet fully understand.
Describe your career goals and/or special interests within veterinary medicine. I have been commissioned as a Captain in the Army Veterinary Corps, where I hope to bridge clinical medicine and public health. My long-term goal is to become board-certified through the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and the American College of Veterinary Pathologists.
Much of my interest in public health has been shaped by hands-on work, whether assisting in arboviral surveillance at the Texas Department of State Health Services or collecting ticks for research projects, I have spent a great deal of time quite literally in the field, learning from the small things that carry large consequences. At its core, my work is guided by One Health: the belief that the health of people, animals, and the environment is inseparable, and that good medicine should reflect that.
Describe the impact of receiving a scholarship from TVMF. This scholarship made it possible for me to say yes to an experience that otherwise would have been financially difficult to justify. Through the CDC Epidemiology Elective Program, I relocated to Portland, Oregon for 6 weeks, where I worked alongside public health professionals on surveillance and field-based efforts. The support from TVMF did more than offset the cost of travel and housing, it gave me the freedom to fully engage in the work and to invest in the future of my career. It is difficult to overstate how meaningful that kind of support is at this stage of training.
What would you tell the donors that made your scholarship possible? Thank you, sincerely. Your support reaches further than a single student, it shapes the veterinarian I will become and the communities I wish to impact. Because of you, I was able to pursue work in public health that will carry forward into a career centered on prevention, preparedness, and service. It is a powerful thing to be invested in by those that believe in the future of the profession. I hope to honor your generosity not only through my work, but through the way I show up for the communities I serve.
Anything else you want TVMF to know about you! I believe veterinarians are steady pillars within their communities. Our work extends far beyond diagnosis and treatment: we are trusted to listen, to offer reassurance, to bring a sense of calm when things feel uncertain. Sometimes that looks like difficult conversations, and sometimes it is as simple as laughter in a room that needs it. That responsibility also carries into public health, where our role is more subtle but no less important. As I move forward in my career, I hope to embody both sides of that calling, to serve with compassion in individual moments, while also contributing to the broader systems that keep communities safe.
Dr. Meghan Watt, University of Florida 2022
Hometown: Ocala, FL
What are your hobbies, passions or interests? Outside of work I enjoy riding my two dressage horses, Invicto and Madrigal.
Describe your career goals and/or special interests within veterinary medicine. I am finishing my surgical residency in July of 2026. After residency, I have accepted a job as a small animal surgeon at Allied Veterinary Specialists in Jacksonville, FL. My special interests include minimally invasive surgery and fracture repair.
Describe the impact of receiving an award from TVMF. Receiving the Liska award for veterinary surgery is an honor and a reflection of the mentorship, guidance, and support that makes surgical training possible. It is deeply appreciated and serves as a reminder of the high standards that our profession strives to uphold.
What would you tell the donors that made your award possible? Thank you for your support of the next generation of surgery residents! Receiving an award is a big honor and greatly appreciated.
Elizabeth Rumfola, DVM
Hometown: Bueche, LA
What are your hobbies, passions or interests? In my limited free time, I enjoy baking and cooking. Combining the joy of creating something for others to enjoy with making tiny adjustments to a dish or baked good that comes together wonderfully is both a fulfilling and fun experience. It’s also a fun way to express creativity, feeding both the soul and the body.
Describe your career goals and/or special interests within veterinary medicine. My career goal is to join the academic veterinary profession to bridge my passions for educating students and serving the community. I have accepted a job as a food animal field services faculty member, which combines the joy of serving producers and owners with the opportunity to educate veterinary students.
Describe the impact of receiving an award from TVMF. To receive an award from TVMF is not only deeply meaningful but also significantly impactful.
What would you tell the donors that made your award possible? I cannot begin to tell you how much this award means to me. To be recognized in such a way is a deep honor that I will always cherish and value. Thank you so much.
Molly Wart, DVM
Hometown: Barrington, RI
What are your hobbies, passions or interests? In my free time, I enjoy sailing, reading, and playing pool.
Describe your career goals and/or special interests within veterinary medicine. I’m currently a third-year resident in emergency and critical care. I have a particular interest in neurological emergencies and sepsis.
Describe the impact of receiving an award from TVMF. I am deeply honored to have been selected for the Dr. Earl Waddell Award. Residency is a long and undeniably humbling time but it has also been an incredibly rewarding experience. I am grateful to the entire Texas A&M Veterinary team for their unwavering support these last three years.
What would you tell the donors that made your award possible? Thank you for your continued generous support of emergency and critical care residents. Your encouragement is a meaningful reminder of the vital impact our work has on the community.
If you are interested in establishing or contributing to an award or scholarship, please contact Casey McBee, TVMF Director of Development, at 512-452-4424 or cmcbee@tvma.org.