Dr. William and Denise Liska Establish
TVMF Award for Veterinary Surgery Excellence

Those with an industry-shaping legacy in veterinary medicine are dispersed across many generations, specialties and facets of the profession. We hold these people in high regard, know their names and recognize their contributions for decades. One such practitioner is Dr. William D. “Bill” Liska, DVM, DACVS, a small-animal surgery specialist who has dedicated his 50-year career to forever changing the trajectory of joint replacement in animals and, arguably, the entirety of veterinary surgical standards for excellence in specialty care.

In honor of Dr. Liska’s legacy, the Texas Veterinary Medical Foundation (TVMF) is proud to introduce the William and Denise Liska Award for Veterinary Surgery Excellence. This endowed award, established in 2024 by Dr. Liska and his wife, Denise, will recognize the exceptional merit and accomplishment in the study and practice of small animal veterinary surgery. Annual awardees will be small animal surgeons in training in Texas, including residents and American College of Veterinary Surgery (ACVS) Fellows in Training.

“Dr. Liska is a renowned surgeon and incredible asset to the veterinary industry in Texas and beyond,” TVMF President Dr. Tracy McAdoo said. “The Foundation is honored to hold this award in his name, ensuring a lasting legacy and perpetual impact for current and future generations of small animal surgeons.”

From humble beginnings, Dr. Liska was always surrounded by animals. He grew up on a farm in rural middle-America and watched his two brothers practice in large animal veterinary medicine. While young Bill was initially drawn to human medicine, he soon followed suit to obtain his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Iowa State University in 1973, ranked sixth in the class of 1966. He completed an internship and surgical residency at the Animal Medical Center in New York City in 1976 and then became board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1980. Until 1988, he practiced in Houston, where he founded one of the largest multidisciplinary veterinary specialty hospitals in the country.

“TVMA and the referring veterinarians of Texas have been incredibly good to me during the last 48 years,” said Dr. Liska when reflecting on his decision to move to Texas. “Without them, my aspirations to become a small animal veterinary surgeon would not have been fulfilled, and our specialty referral practice could not have been successful. I could never repay all the veterinarians that referred their best clients with beloved companions. Giving back is at least symbolic as a token and show of appreciation for which I will be forever grateful.”

Dr. Liska is well-known across the world for his contributions to small animal surgery over many decades and specifically for his canine and feline hip and knee replacement studies and procedure development. Known to follow every procedure through the duration of the animal’s life—more than 2,000 cases, including the late President George H.W. Bush’s beloved Ranger—Dr. Liska’s commitment to successful surgery and research is second to none.

“Expanding applications to be available for more animals is exciting,” Dr. Liska said. “For example, I asked about 20 years ago why we are offering total hip replacement surgery for large dogs like German Shepherds but not for small dogs and for cats. Today, dogs as small as 4.5 pounds and even cats are receiving hip and knee replacements all over the world.”Dr. Liska also is credited with expanding joint replacement surgery for end-stage arthritis in dogs decades ago, questioning why knee replacements are done more than 500,000 times per year in humans in the U.S. alone but not in animals.

“After much time spent during development, I traveled to Helsinki, Finland, in 2005 to do the very first total knee replacement on a client-owned, Finland National Champion moose hunting dog,” Dr. Liska said. “The procedure is now widely available, expanding and continues to be perfected. Incidentally, the dog returned to hunting, lived a great life with normal pain-free function, sired another national champion moose hunter and lived for seven more years until he died in old age.”

Dr. Liska has been awarded, among many things, the 1999 Companion Animal Practitioner of the Year and the 2009 Specialty Practitioner of the Year Awards from TVMA, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Practitioner Research Award in 2009 and, most recently, the 2024 Distinguished Career Achievement Award from TVMA.

The Liskas remember both the challenges and bliss of simultaneously starting a family and starting a lifelong pursuit in veterinary surgery.

“The start of a career after veterinary school focusing on veterinary surgery is not easy,” he said. “Surgery residents and surgery fellows in training must work long hours with low compensation and often are located far away from their original home and family because being selected into a program is highly competitive.”

This was a central motivation for establishing the TVMF Liska Award for Veterinary Surgery Excellence.

“We hope this award will be a bright spot as they proceed into their rewarding careers,” Dr. Liska said. “We also hope their mentors will have heightened awareness that TVMA and the Foundation work to help them as well.”

Dr. Liska is still incredibly active in the field through surgical services, mentoring, publishing, education and philanthropy. He founded Global Veterinary Specialists in 2014, and his impact through joint replacement surgery and orthopedics for dogs and cats continues in Texas, nationally and across the globe.

An avid mentor, Dr. Liska also led the charge to create the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS) Fellowship Programs, which serve to develop highly skilled surgeons who will become recognized experts and leaders in their specialized fields of training. There are currently four specialty tracks, including joint replacement, minimally invasive surgery, oral and maxillofacial surgery and surgical oncology. Fellows in training whose mentors also reside in Texas and are TVMA members will be eligible for the Liska Award.

“Dr. Bill Liska has unparalleled dedication and compassion for helping companion animals with hip disease live normal lives through joint replacement surgery,” said Sarah Israel, DVM, DACVS, ACVS Founding Fellow Joint Replacement Surgery, who was mentored by Dr. Liska. “Dr. Liska has been the single most impactful mentor in my surgical career with a focus on joint replacement surgery as well as my professional life, encouraging me to always put family first and build a strong surgery team. It is no surprise that he is continuing to support young veterinarians through scholarship for surgery excellence.”

“Mentoring young surgeons has been an exciting aspect of my career,” Dr. Liska said. “For me, mentoring has expanded to interns, residents and, for the last 15 to 20 years, to skilled board-certified surgeons that wanted to sharpen their joint replacement surgery skills. The self-gratification from mentoring is high, knowing that there are others to carry on the specialty in the future. Mentoring has also been very rewarding because it’s an opportunity for me to pay tribute to the great mentors that I had. Hopefully the surgeons that I’ve had the opportunity to mentor feel like I have contributed to their career.”

Alongside elevating industry standards for small animal surgery, Dr. Liska claims his greatest accomplishment is marrying his wife, Denise, more than 54 years ago. They married two weeks before his first year of veterinary school, completed a residency and moved across the country again from New York to Houston. He credits his wife for her unwavering commitment to their family, raising their three children and making his career possible. Today, the Liskas spend well-deserved time with their family consisting of three Aggie children, their spouses and seven beautiful grandchildren.

In establishing the award, the Liskas demonstrate a generous commitment to their veterinary family as well.

“We hope that this award will, in perpetuity, help young aspiring small animal surgeons as they strive to have long and extremely successful careers,” Dr. Liska said. “It is a pleasure to work with veterinarians from Texas and beyond. We encourage others to consider donating to the Foundation as an easy and simple ‘thank you’ for all that gets done by both TVMA and TVMF. Imagine where we would be if we did not have such a strong professional organization in Texas!”

And imagine where small-animal joint replacement surgery would be without the influence of Dr. Liska and the steadfast support of Denise! To contribute to the TVMF William and Denise Liska Award for Veterinary Surgery Excellence, honor Dr. Liska’s legacy and support future veterinary surgeons, visit www.tvmf.org/Donate or contact TVMF Director of Development Casey McBee at 512-452-4224. Every gift to the Foundation is tax-deductible and makes an incredible difference for our colleagues and future generations of veterinary medicine in Texas.