Alumni Celebrate Stephen Safe’s Contributions

Group Pictures with Dr. Stephen Safe

Fifty-one former doctoral students of Dr. Stephen Safe came together from far as Otago, New Zealand, on Nov. 3 to celebrate the distinguished professor’s leadership and mentorship.

Safe, who has taught in the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) Department of Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology (VTPP) since 1981, was surprised with the celebration by the group, 15 of whom had arrived earlier that day for a Toxicologists in Global Health Research symposium.

The “mini-symposium” included talks on the frontiers of toxicological sciences, pathways to career development, and a panel of alumni.

“We invited Dr. Safe to join us at the George Hotel for dinner, not knowing that there was a surprise party waiting for him,” T. Annelise Nguyen, an associate professor of toxicology and director of the Veterinary Research Scholars Program for the Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology at Kansas State University.

Dr. Safe hugging his students

“He was completely surprised to see so many of his former students that night, especially those who have left toxicology-related field for alternative careers in law,” she said.

Following their dinner, alumnus Dr. Andrew Parkinson presented a photo book of 43 stories to Safe, and one by one, former students stood up and shared their stories of appreciation for his mentorship.

“The most touching moment was when Maen shared with us the reason for naming his son after Dr. Safe,” Nguyen said. “There were a lot of joy and love throughout the night.”

Maen Abdelrahim, who worked with Safe from 2000-2004 and is now an assistant professor of oncology at Houston Methodist Cancer Center, shared the following:

“Boss: There are a few people who had input in my career; however, there is only one man who had input on both my career and my life and it was you!

Group Picture with Dr. Safe

The kindness, the support and love that you and Lorna showed me was the reason behind my success and achievements.

I will never forget that Lorna bought me an ‘English as Second Language’ book so I could meet the requirements of Texas A&M when they held my registration for that stupid English test!

I will never forget that you are one of the few people who believed in me and supported me when I decided to go to the medical school, and you are the one who made it happened!

I named my oldest son after you to tell you how much I do appreciate you and I will never forget this name. It was a great honor to have been trained by you!”

To read more entries from the book, click here, and to see more photos from the event, visit the CVM Flickr page.

Expenses for the surprise party were sponsored by XPD Consulting.


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