Dr. Wilkie was born in Toronto, Canada and obtained his D.V.M. degree in 1984 from the University of Guelph, Canada. He spent one year at the University of Pennsylvania as an intern and in 1985 came to The Ohio State University to begin a 3-year residency and Masters degree in comparative ophthalmology. He received both his Masters degree (MS) and ophthalmology specialty boards (ACVO) in 1988. He was hired in 1988 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences at The Ohio State University, was promoted to Associate Professor and then to Professor of Veterinary Ophthalmology. He served as the Department Chair of Veterinary Clinical Sciences from 2015-2018. In addition, Dr. Wilkie served a Professor in the College of Medicine at The Ohio State University. He is currently Professor Emeritus at The Ohio State University.
Dr. Wilkie has trained 21 residents who are Board Certified in the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists or the European College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists and 3 Diplomates in Japanese Comparative Ophthalmology. In addition, Dr. Wilkie has provided advanced training in ophthalmology to 20 graduate students and over 34 veterinarian ophthalmologists from 12 countries.
Dr. Wilkie is author of 105 articles, 104 abstracts and 49 textbook chapters, and serves as a research consultant to numerous national and international research facilities. He has served as an editor of several textbooks and is currently a reviewer for 25 Veterinary and Human ophthalmology and research journals and serves on the Editorial Board of 9 Veterinary and Human ophthalmology and research journals. He is the past chairperson of the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists, Examination Committee and Past-President for the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists. In addition, Dr. Wilkie has served on the Editorial Review Board of Veterinary Ophthalmology since 2003 and as the Editor-in-Chief for the journal of Veterinary Ophthalmology for past 15 years. He is an international speaker having presented seminars in the USA, Canada, Japan, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Great Britain, Russia, Slovenia, Finland, Ireland, Taiwan, Thailand, China, Portugal, Switzerland, Israel, Slovakia, Hungary, South Korea, Romania and the Czech Republic. Dr. Wilkie is a respected teacher both at the University and internationally. He has twice been nominated for the Norden Distinguished Teacher Award and for the Merck/AgVet Award for Creativity in Teaching. He received the Omega Tau Sigma Alumni Gamma Award in 2000, the Dr. Charles W. Fox Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2012, and the National Gamma Award for Distinguished Service in 2014 at Ohio State University. He was awarded the North American Veterinary Conference - Equine Speaker of the Year Award in 2013. He has been twice nominated for the AAVC Faculty Achievement Award (2016/2017) and received this award in 2017. He received the Ohio State Veterinary Medicine Alumni Society Recognition Award (2019) and the Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine Distinguished Alumni Award (2021). He was awarded Professor Emeritus status at The Ohio State University in 2018 and Emeritus Diplomate, ACVO status in 2022. In 2023 the title of Doctor Honoris Causa was conferred to Dr. Wilkie by The Senate of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest.