Endowment News
December 2021
12/3/21 — The inaugural annual Wheaten Health Newsletter issue was released today.
November 2021
11/15//21 — The SCWTCA Endowment Board is pleased to announce that Liz Jamiolkowski has been appointed as a Director on the Endowment Board. Here's a brief bio written by Liz to introduce herself.
"My husband Michael and I purchased our first Wheaten Terrier in 1984, and I have been showing and breeding Wheaten Terriers since 2003. I had a 41 year career with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, working in various capacities including Underwriting, Marketing and Sales.
My family has always been my number one priority and passion, but my passion for the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier isn’t far behind! I have learned so much and met the most wonderful friends along the way. I recognize the importance of health testing and using test results as a factor in making breeding decisions, while the pedigree provides the history and is equally important. We as breeders are fortunate to have so much health information available to us now to help us make educated breeding decisions. We need to rely on our mentors and long-time breeders to share their knowledge to those of us who are newer to the fancy. The work that has been done to create and populate databases is so important and I hope I can contribute to further strides in this area.
I have been an active member of the Delaware Valley Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier Club for 20 years and have served as past Secretary. I have been a SCWTCA member since 2015."
December 2020
12/02/20 — The SCWTCA Endowment Board is pleased to announce that Gerard Thompson has been appointed as a Director on the Endowment Board. Here’s a short bio written by Gerard to introduce himself.
“I purchased my first show dog in 1980, a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier (Ir.Ch. Newkilber Don Corleone, An.Ch. 1982 & 1983) “Rusty”. When I showed Rusty, I was ‘hooked’ on the sport and a few years later I acquired my foundation bitch Ria (Ir. Ch. Newkilber Autumn Sonata An.Ch.). From these two was born the Geragold kennel name and I went on to successfully show, breed and judge in Ireland and the UK.
In 1992 I moved to the United States to join my husband, Neil O’Sullivan, bringing with me Kiri (Geragold Tekiri). She became the foundation bitch of our Geragold kennel in the US. Since moving to the US, we have bred and shown many dogs to their championships.
I am licensed to judge ISCWT, Smooth and Wire Fox Terrier, Skye Terrier and Lakeland terrier at Championship level in Ireland and have judged at sweepstakes and matches here a few times — mostly in Great Danes. In our breeding program in Wheatens we cooperate with breeders in the UK, Finland, Germany and Australia all stemming from Newkilber and Geragold lines.”
October 2020
10/2020 — Meryl P. Littman, VMD, DACVIM, has tendered her resignation as a Director of the SCWTCA Endowment, Inc. After years of service to the breed, spearheading Wheaten research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Meryl retired from Penn but continued to serve us on the Endowment Board. As her retirement interests and activities have grown, she asked to take on an "on call consultant" role to the Board. With deep appreciation for her 4 years on our Board and some sadness too, the Board accepted her resignation. We will miss her but are grateful for all she has done and will continue to do for the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier.
February 2020
02/24/20 — The SCWTCA Endowment Board is pleased to announce that Janet Snoddy has been appointed as a Director on the Endowment Board. Janet bought her first Wheaten in 1997 and quickly became her breeder’s kennel help and began her education in the breed and AKC shows. She is a member of the North Texas Terrier Club, having served as the Past Education Program Chair, Past Organizer of Meet the Breeds, and Trophy Chair. Janet attended her first SCWTCA National Specialty in 2002. After joining SCWTCA, she has served on the AKC Marketplace Monitoring Committee to assist in the identification of compliance of all advertisers regarding SCWTCA membership and health testing claims. In 2019, Janet accepted the assignment to Co-Chair the 2020 National Specialty. Her mission is to continue the pursuit to improve the health and well-being of the breed. Janet is excited to assist the Endowment in its mission. We’re excited to have her aboard.
January 2020
01/24/20 — Pam Tinnelly was appointed Vice Chair of the SCWTCA Inc. Endowment Board. Pam has been on the Endowment Board since 2012 and served as Secretary. She also served as a Director on the SCWTCA Inc. Board of Directors from 2008-2012. Pam chaired both the 2012 and 2016 National Specialties, as well as serving on various committees.
01/15/20 — The Endowment Board is pleased to announce that Anna Marzolino has been elected Chair of the Endowment Board. Anna has been active in Wheaten Health problems for over 20 years. She began serving on the SCWTCA Health Committee in 2002. Anna was Chair of the Geriatric Project through Penn and worked on the Informative Family Project as well. Her work also included the development of Health Tracker and as a speaker at the Keystone Conference. Anna joined the Endowment in 2006 and later became Vice Chair under Carol Carlson. Anna’s passion and dedication will help lead the Endowment well into the future.
December 2019
12/03/2019 — The SCWTCA Endowment Board is pleased to announce that Pam Mandeville has been appointed as a Director on the Endowment Board. Pam is a long time Wheaten breeder and SCWTCA member. She served on many committees including the Code of Ethics Committee, Nominating Committee, and the Health Committee. Most recently she has been working on the Social Media Committee and the SCWTCA website team on the redesign of the health section as part of the move of scwtca.org to a new platform. Pam’s main work has been with the PLN DNA test. When Penn was ready to introduce this test, Pam ran the project from the SCWTCA side that was designed to roll it out to breeders and also obtain a large number of samples for Penn to do additional validation of the test. Pam’s committee created materials for owners and breeders on various aspects of testing. Pam has been a longtime supporter of the Endowment. She was instrumental on the roll out of the Endowment Database. Her knowledge of Wheatens and their health issues allows her to be a valuable asset as Director on the Endowment Board.
March 2018
Kathleen McIndoe has been appointed as a Director to the SCWTCA Endowment Board. Kathy is a long time Wheaten breeder and member of SCWTCA. Kathy has held many positions in SCWTCA including National Specialty Chair, Code of Ethics Committee Chair, and manager of the Stud Register. Kathy shepherded the SCWT Database to rollout and continues to manage it. The database collects health and pedigree information to help identify, track, and reduce incidences of health problems in SCWTs. Kathy’s knowledge and experience in Wheatens will serve as an asset to the Board.
The SCWTCA Endowment, Inc. Board of Directors has unanimously approved a donation of $2,500.00 to the Bartonella/Hemangiosarcoma research with Dr. Matthew Breen. The AKC will match this donation. Dr. Breen works with Dr. Edward Breitschwerdt, DVM, North Carolina State University.
This research will study the Prevalence of Bartonella infection in dogs with cardiac and splenic hemangiosarcoma. Hemangiosarcoma is an aggressive and common cancer in dogs. The cause of this disease is unknown. Bartonella causes vascular disease and a carrier state that would cause chronic inflammatory disease, both of which would cause splenic involvement.
Tremendous efforts are being made through research funded by CHF and its donors to gain a better understanding of the biology and progression of this disease with the goal to design new and effective approaches to treatment.
April 2016
In continuing support of the Meryl Littman Research Fund at PennVet, the Endowment donated $9,000.00 designated for Dr. Paula Henthorn's SCWT research.
December 2015
Dr. Meryl Littman, VMD DACVIM has been elected as a Director to the SCWTCA Endowment Board. For over 20 years, through her research, Dr. Littman has worked tirelessly on improving the health of the SCWT. Dr. Littman’s experience, expertise and love for the SCWT will make her a valuable asset to the Endowment Board.
In lending support for Dr. Paula Henthorn’s continuing genetic research work of the SCWT, the Endowment Board voted to reimburse the Trustees of the University of PA for the cost of her new freezer storing Wheaten DNA in the amount of $9,142.
The Endowment Board announces that the Fecal A1PI test kit is now available on the SCWTCA Endowment, Inc. website. The Endowment is providing the kits at cost.