John C. Godbold, Jr., DVM, Becomes an Honorary Member of the American Laser Study Club
John C. Godbold, Jr., DVM has become an Honorary Member of the American Laser Study Club (ALSC). Dr. Godbold received the prestigious Kumar Patel Prize in Laser Surgery at the ALSC’s second annual Symposium March 29-31, 2019, in Phoenix, AZ.
Dr. Godbold graduated with honors from Auburn University School of Veterinary Medicine in 1978. In 1980, he established Stonehaven Park Veterinary Hospital in Jackson, Tennessee where he practiced full time as a solo small animal practitioner for 33 years. Dr. Godbold currently works full time with Stonehaven Veterinary Consulting, teaching and assisting colleagues and working in the development of new technologies.
Since 1999, Dr. Godbold has pursued a special interest in the use of light-based modalities in small animal practice. He has extensive experience with surgical and therapeutic lasers, developed new surgical and therapeutic techniques, and assists equipment manufacturers with the development of new laser and light-based technologies.
In 2016 Dr. Godbold expanded his interest to include digital thermal imaging and worked in depth in the development and delivery of educational content about thermal imaging and its application in veterinary practice.
Dr. Godbold published numerous papers, articles, and chapters about the use of lasers in small animal practice. His publications have appeared in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Clinician’s Brief, Laserpoints, The Feline Patient, Laser Surgery in Veterinary Medicine, The Integrative Veterinary Care Journal, and the Newsletter of the Veterinary Surgical Laser Society. He also published the internationally distributed Atlas of CO2 Laser Surgery Procedures in 2002, with a new edition each year since. In 2009, Dr. Godbold published the Atlas of Class IV Laser Therapy – Small Animal, also updated with a new edition each year. He is a co-editor and a chapter contributor of the textbook Laser Therapy in Veterinary Medicine – Photobiomodulation, 2017, Wiley.
Dr. Godbold is a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the American Institute of Medical Laser Applications, the Companion Animal Health Veterinary Advisory Board, the Digatherm Veterinary Medical Advisory Board, and the American Academy of Thermology.
In high demand as a continuing education speaker, Dr. Godbold has led over 600 laser workshops, wet-labs, and continuing education meetings throughout North America and in over 25 countries around the world.
About the Kumar Patel Prize in Laser Surgery
The Kumar Patel Prize in Laser Surgery was named after C. Kumar N. Patel, PhD, MSc, the inventor of the carbon dioxide laser, which has become the most popular soft tissue surgical laser across all specialties of human and veterinary medicine. The Kumar Patel Prize is awarded based on the merits of the recipient’s contribution to the science, education and the practice of laser surgery.
About the American Laser Study Club
The ALSC was created to fill the void in the current laser dentistry and laser surgery education (i.e., the physics of laser-tissue interaction, such as absorption, scattering, ablation, coagulation and hemostasis, soft and hard tissue ablation, laser safety, etc.) and help Physicians, Dentists, Veterinarians, and Practice Staff Members to excel at efficient and safe application of laser energy in everyday practice. ALSC has designed its curriculum based on the peer-reviewed physics reviews on the foundations of laser-tissue interaction and laser surgery, the detailed physics of soft tissue ablation and coagulation with a laser beam and hot tip (non-laser) devices.