LSU Vet Med's Class of 2026 Just Crossed the Stage. Here's Who They Are.

On May 15, the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine held its 50th annual commencement ceremony, conferring 128 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees. The milestone marked half a century of graduating veterinarians from the only veterinary school in Louisiana, sending a new class into practices, internships, and residencies across the country and beyond.

Dean Oliver A. Garden presided over the ceremony, with commencement remarks delivered by Ashley Stokes, DVM, PhD, LSU alumna and current dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. Executive Vice President and Chancellor James Dalton conferred the degrees. Alysia Cannon, newly minted DVM and outgoing Student American Veterinary Medical Association president, closed the ceremony she had helped lead as a student leader throughout her four years.

A Class That Went Everywhere

The Class of 2026 is heading in every direction the profession offers. Small animal general practice. Emergency medicine. Equine. Mixed animal. Exotics. Zoo and wildlife medicine. Pathology residencies. Laboratory animal medicine. Public health. Rehabilitation and integrative medicine. One graduate is heading to Auckland, New Zealand. Several are staying in Louisiana to serve the communities they came from. Others are dispersing to Texas, California, New York, Colorado, and beyond.

The range reflects something important about what modern veterinary education produces: not a monolith of small animal general practitioners, but a profession with genuinely diverse career trajectories being pursued by people who showed up with a specific vision and left with the credentials to chase it.

Many Standouts From the Class

Baylee Weems and Madison Vicknair both served as student caretakers for Mike VII, LSU's live tiger mascot, during 2024 and 2026. It is a role that requires more than novelty. It requires clinical competence, reliability, and the kind of trust a veterinary school extends carefully.

Emma L. Stanley completed a dual DVM/Master of Public Health degree and is heading into public practice, a career path that places veterinary training directly at the intersection of animal and human health systems.

Alexandra Daverede published a pathology case report in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association as lead author before graduation and will begin a pathology residency at the University of Mississippi.

Rhiannon Eileen Ballard-Davis earned acupuncture certification in both small and large animal, completed the Summer Scholars program, and is heading to New Zealand to practice rehabilitation and integrative medicine. She graduated with Dean's List honors and multiple scholarships.

Daniela Isabel Saade Rampolla authored a peer-reviewed publication in the Journal of Veterinary Ophthalmology, presented at the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists Conference, and will begin a rotating internship at the University of Florida.

Alysia Cannon, who closed the ceremony as the class speaker, was also the SAVMA president, a DVM Program Ambassador, and the recipient of the Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association Outstanding Student of the Year award and the Merck Animal Diversity Scholarship. She is heading into small animal emergency medicine in Shreveport.

The Profession They're Joining

128 new DVMs entering practice in 2026 join a profession that is simultaneously understaffed in rural and large animal sectors, expanding in specialty and emergency medicine, reckoning with burnout and workforce sustainability, and standing at the center of global conversations about zoonotic disease, food security, and One Health.

They are entering that profession having spent four years preparing for it, and from the looks of this class, more than a few of them are doing so with publication credits, leadership experience, specialty certifications, and a clear sense of where they want to make their mark.

Congratulations to the LSU Vet Med Class of 2026.

TAGS: commencement, graduation, LSU, Class of 2026, DVM, veterinary education, new graduates, career, veterinary school