Bellwether 94 | Fall/Winter 2020-21

PIVOTING WITH PURPOSE

farm to table in a pandemic fighting another public health crisis campaign update the power of penn vet transforms clinical care

CLINICAL CARE, RESEARCH, AND EDUCATION

During Crisis

THE MAGAZINE OF PENN VET

Photographer Gregg Fidler visited our two campuses, where he documented (from a safe distance) our frontline staff and essential workers. His photographs capture Penn Vet’s tenacity during the early days of the pandemic. We’re proud of our Penn Vet students, clinicians, researchers, and other personnel who answered the call, and continue to rise to the daily challenge. On the cover, Ryan Hospital’s Clinical Receptionist Victoria Green . This page, New Bolton Center’s Billy Smith , Associate Professor of Medicine in Field Service.

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Photo

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Clinical Care, Research, and Education During Crisis

Rising to the challenge of a global crisis across Penn Vet’s three pillars

14 Farm to Table in a Pandemic

One end of the food supply chain to the other, the veterinary purview during a pandemic

20 Fighting Another Public Health Crisis

Penn Vet joins a nation in mourning and responds to cries for racial justice

The Power of Penn Vet Transforms Clinical Care

Visionary leadership gift supports new clinical skills center at New Bolton Center

Read Bellwether online at: repository.upenn.edu/bellwether

Please note that photos of people without masks are pre-pandemic. The content of this magazine is current as of November 1, 2020.

First Up...

LOVE PRODUCED THIS MAGAZINE

I ventured into the office in September, seven months after last setting foot in Penn Vet. It was a quintessential autumn day on a University campus. But Penn’s campus was a smaller version of itself; the City of Philadelphia was a smaller version of itself; and I was a smaller version of myself.

Trying to keep up with the pandemic’s relentless pace of work, caring for my elderly mother, and grappling with the nation’s searing, scorched-earth rhetoric had taken a toll on me. I was off my game and I had a magazine to produce. I hoped getting back to campus would clear my head.

Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence streamed through my buds as I entered Locust Walk. And there it was: LOVE. As they do, a toddler was playing on the iconic sculpture with his father. In that affectionate moment — on a powerful concept — I found the clarity to move this Bellwether forward. Touch and togetherness — we’ve missed both so much during this cruel year.

Philadelphia’s Public Art Director Margot Berg once said Robert Indiana’s piece “represents the best of Philadelphia.” To me, it represents unity and hope, the best of Penn and Penn Vet.

Inspired by love (and LOVE ), this issue was created at dining room tables and home desks. It’s dedicated to Penn Vet’s brilliant students, visionary scientists, compassionate veterinarians, and amazing staff.

I hope you enjoy it.

MARTIN J. HACKETT, EDITOR mhackett@vet.upenn.edu

In 1999, the University of Pennsylvania installed Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE sculpture. Over the past two decades, it has become a symbol of hope, unity, and community.

To anyone who has been entrusted with their care, there are no ordinary horses. That’s why at New Bolton Center, exceptional care has always been the norm. From diagnosis to outcome, your horse’s care is in the hands of dedicated clinicians who excel in every specialty.

To make an appointment, call 610-444-5800 or visit us online at vet.upenn.edu/newboltoncenter

EDITORIAL

Editor

Martin J. Hackett

Contributing Editor and Writer

Sacha Adorno

Writers at Large

Katherine Unger Baillie, Martin J. Hackett, Hannah Kleckner Hall, Kristin Sanderson

Contributing Writer

Curt Harler

Class Notes Editor

Shannon Groves

Production Manager

John Donges

DESIGN

Designer

Anne Marie Kane, Imogen Design

Photographers at Large

John Donges, Hannah Kleckner Hall

Contributing Photographers

Gregg Fidler, Lisa Godfrey

Visual Contributor

Hannah Kleckner Hall

ADMINISTRATION

Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine

Dr. Andrew M. Hoffman

Interim Associate Dean, Institutional Advancement

Wylie Thomas

Communications Director

Martin J. Hackett

Director of Annual Giving

Mary Berger

Director of Alumni Relations

Shannon Groves

Directors of Development

Margaret Leardi (New Bolton Center)

Helen Radenkovic (Philadelphia)

CHANGE OF ADDRESS

Sarah Trout

Office of Institutional Advancement

School of Veterinary Medicine

University of Pennsylvania 3800 Spruce Street Suite 151E, Philadelphia, PA 19104

strout@vet.upenn.edu 215-746-7460

None of these articles is to be reproduced in any form without the permission of the School. ©Copyright 2020 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. The University of Pennsylvania values diversity and seeks talented students, faculty, and staff from diverse backgrounds. The University of Pennsylvania does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, color, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, or status as a Vietnam Era Veteran or disabled veteran in the administration of educational policies, programs or activities; admissions policies; scholarship and loan awards; athletic, or other University administered programs or employment. Questions or complaints regarding this policy should be directed to: Executive Director, Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Programs, Sansom Place East, 3600 Chestnut Street, Suite 228, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6106 or by phone at 215-898-6993 (Voice) or 215-898-7803 (TDD).

BY SACHA ADORNO

Clinical Care, Research, and Education During Crisis

Clinical Care

PIVOTING TO HELP AND HEAL

Pandemics don’t stop puppies. Playful as ever, they still get injured, sometimes enough for an emergency room visit. That’s where Jared Von Arx and Brad Windhauser found themselves in one late night in early June, after their four-month-old French Bulldog Scarlett took a tumble.

“She yelped, we scooped her up, and drove right to Penn Vet,” said Von Arx. “We know Ryan Hospital well from our other dogs.”

But the couple’s experience was different this time. A nurse met them in the driveway to take Scarlett into the hospital for a clinical assessment. The dog’s owners waited in the parking lot.

“After that, all communication was via phone,” said Windhauser.

Scarlett captivated her caregivers when the puppy arrived at Ryan Hospital during the height of the COVID-19 stay-at-home period.

Over five days in March, the hospital pivoted from full-service to limited urgent and emergency cases only.

“Despite the pandemic, our committed and dedicated caregivers have never lost focus on our oath to heal and protect animals.”

DR. MICHAEL MISON, RYAN HOSPITAL’S CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER

FIVE DAYS TO CHANGE

The socially distant protocol was one of many designed to mitigate COVID-19 risks for Penn Vet clients and caregivers. Over five days in March, the hospital pivoted from full-service to limited urgent and emergency cases only.

Dr. Michael Mison, Ryan Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, explained, “We depopulated our personnel and patient population, created and adapted public health guidelines to keep everyone safe and maintain a 24/7 operations, defined ‘essential’ on-site services, implemented curbside triage, and adopted a work-from-home framework and telehealth consultations.”

Scarlett, who’d fractured her left humeral condyle, didn’t notice the changes, but her owners did. “We appreciated the concern for everyone’s health.” said Von Arx. “The process and communication were excellent, even at a distance.”

SHIFT IN BUSINESS, COMMITMENT TO CARE

The Frenchie’s case was one of a limited number in June after the hospital temporarily shifted its business model to allow for fewer cases.

“The pandemic forced us to prioritize refining and improving our operational processes to ensure efficiency in the face of limited work force,” Mison said. “We’ve implemented changes as needed, then used data-driven feedback to adjust policies and procedures. Long term, these changes will help with overall productivity once we are back to being fully staffed.”

As for Scarlett, within 18 hours of being injured, the puppy had surgery to pin the fracture. She went home after a brief hospital stay.

Said Mison, “Despite the pandemic, our committed and dedicated caregivers have never lost focus on our oath to heal and protect animals.”

JOLENE’S JOURNEY

While Scarlett was on the road to recovery, Jolene, a 600-pound pig, was just beginning her journey.

Jolene — named for the Dolly Parton song — started to show signs of unsteadiness in June. By early July, her owners and regular veterinarian had tried numerous medications to no avail.

“We couldn’t figure out what was going on and needed a diagnostic tool that would accommodate an animal her size,” said Wendy Smith, owner of Jolene and the Odd Man Inn Animal Refuge. “I called all over the country until a veterinarian in Michigan told me about New Bolton Center’s robotic CT system.”

A potential hitch: The Odd Man Inn is in Washington State. Getting to Pennsylvania, an arduous trip in normal times, would be even harder during a pandemic. “We didn’t give it a second thought,” said Smith. “Within a day of talking to New Bolton Center, we had the trailer packed and Jolene’s livestock papers ready. My husband, Josh, headed out with our girl on the 4th of July.”

BUSINESS NOT AS USUAL

Stopping only to rest, man and pig arrived at New Bolton Center two days later. They found, like its Philadelphia counterpart, the hospital was not operations as usual.

In March, New Bolton Center shifted to a “limited clinical status,” offering appointments and procedures only for conditions that would negatively impact the welfare of an animal if left untreated. Additionally, it implemented socially distant drop-offs and pick-ups and set up outdoor areas for waiting clients. It also launched a free telemedicine service to support referring veterinarians.

“Our goal to always provide an exceptional level of care is now layered with a dual priority of keeping our clients, community, and patient care teams safe from the coronavirus,” said Dr. Barbara Dallap Schaer, New Bolton Center’s Hospital Director. “We provided veterinary care for emergency and urgent cases throughout the most restrictive phases of the pandemic and have now returned to normal operations. And our telehealth service has helped bridge distances created by social isolation. The service has enabled clients and veterinarians to feel connected even when we’re physically separate.”

HEALING A PIG’S PAIN

When they arrived at the hospital, Josh sat in his truck while a caregiver team unloaded Jolene. He went to find a home base for his Pennsylvania stay, and a team of New Bolton Center clinicians and nurses attended to Jolene. Using the hospital’s robotic CT technology, they diagnosed discospondylitis, a vertebral infection causing bone remodeling and swelling that pressed on the pig’s spinal cord. Surgery wasn’t required, but rest and medication were. She spent a few weeks at New Bolton Center before traveling back.

Recalled Smith, “Jolene was so well cared for by a large and loving team of nurses and doctors — it was worth the long trip!”

Many of Jolene’s large and loving team joined the 600-lb pig for a group photo before the animal’s discharge.

“The COVID-19 environment has really challenged us to rethink patient care and create new ways to interact with our clients.”

DR. BARBARA DALLAP SCHAER, NEW BOLTON CENTER’S HOSPITAL DIRECTOR

Leaving a postapocalypticlike scene, labs have been empty of people for much of 2020.

Research

PAUSING RESEARCH FOR THE GOOD OF ALL

What is it like to curtail research across more than 40 research centers and laboratories? “Devastating,” said Dr. Phillip Scott, Vice Dean for Research & Academic Resources. “There’s no other way to put it.”

In mid-March, Penn Vet, in collaboration with public health officials and the University, made the difficult decision to shut down research School-wide.

“We had exceptions, but they were rare,” Scott said. “For example, anyone engaged in COVID-19 research or maintaining critical research reagents was provided access to their labs, although only one person at a time.”

The immediate and swift action was taken for students, staff, and faculty. The School’s concern was protecting people from a contagious virus, while supporting them as they acclimated to working at home, in many cases with children and families.

Functionally, this meant closing all non-diagnostic laboratories and centers to staff. Work has continued via video teleconferencing as much as possible, and many researchers are using the time at home to write. But, said Scott, nothing can replace being in the lab with your colleagues: “It is those informal interactions that are often the most important, and they just are not happening. And, of course, new research essentially was frozen.”

FROM CRISIS TO COEXISTING

Compounding the devastation was the length of the closure. “We knew COVID-19 would require a drastic response like this,” said Scott. “But we had no idea how long it would last.”

As days turned to weeks and weeks to months, Penn Vet, like other Penn schools, carefully monitored the pandemic’s evolution and state and local responses. In May, the School slowly began planning to safely resume research.

A Penn Vet Research Restart Team of research faculty and administration developed a Research Restart Plan. The three-phased approach meets requirements outlined by the University’s Research Resumption plan: Phase I allowed for increase in priority research with limited personnel; Phase II saw expansion in research operations and personnel populations; and Phase III is to be a return to full research operations, with new awareness and hygiene practices and telework whenever possible. Social distance and new sanitization policies are part of all three phases. As of publication, the School was in Phase II, and it is unknown when it will get to Phase III.

“People want to be productive; they want to get back to their labs. We want them back, and we want to help them as they deal with realities of new family demands. There’s a lot of rebuilding to happen. We’ll get there.”

DR. PHILLIP SCOTT, VICE DEAN FOR RESEARCH & ACADEMIC RESOURCES

PEOPLE FIRST

Preparing for full-scale resumption of research has its challenges. At the beginning of the pandemic, the School was in crisis response mode. Today, with COVID-19 persisting and the pandemic having paused research for most of the last nine months, “we have so much to consider: the lost time for critical studies, the careers of our younger researchers, the fact that so many of our community are now called to be teachers for young children at home,” said Scott.

Supporting the people behind research remains paramount, especially graduate students, postdocs, and faculty in the early stages of their careers. With Penn, the School is developing new supportive resources to help with childcare, stress, and career advancement — for example, the University has extended the tenure clock for junior faculty.

“We’re picking up again, but it’s not going to be easy,” said Scott. “People want to be productive; they want to get back to their labs. We want them back, and we want to help them as they deal with realities of new family demands. There’s a lot of rebuilding to happen. We’ll get there.”

Carry on with COVID-19 Research

While some studies closed down, others ramped up, particularly COVID-19 activities with the potential to make an immediate impact on the pandemic.

Among the many studies related to SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes the disease COVID-19

— Dr. Andrew Vaughan, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Sciences, and Dr. Montserrat Anguera, Associate Professor in the same department, are partnering with Dr. Susan R. Weiss, Professor of Microbiology at Perelman School of Medicine, to explore a curious feature of COVID-19 disease: the fact that more men than women become severely ill and die.

And Dr. Ronald Harty, Professor of Pathobiology and Microbiology, who has expertise in analyzing antivirals for diseases like Ebola and Marburg virus, is collaborating with other scientists to determine whether compounds developed to target other diseases may lessen the severity of COVID-19 infections.

Anguera, Harty, and Vaughan, are among seven Penn Vet researchers to receive COVID-19 Pilot Awards from the Penn Vet COVID Research Innovation Fund.* The Fund, provided with critical start-up support through a generous gift from Vernon and Shirley Hill, will bolster Penn Vet’s rapidly expanding research and response program to fight the novel coronavirus.

“Penn Vet is a key part of the biomedical community at Penn. We are leveraging our unique and collective expertise in pathogenrelated research, infectious disease, and translational medicine to fight this pandemic,” said Dr. Phillip Scott, Vice Dean for Research & Academic Resources. “The COVID-19 Research Innovation Fund is affording us the agility to make immediate and significant strides toward solving this public health emergency.”

*See more about Vaughan, Anguera, and Harty’s work at Penn Today: penntoday.upenn.edu/news/comingtogether-solve-many-scientific-mysteries-covid-19 . More about The COVID Innovation Fund: www.vet.upenn.edu/ research/news-events-conferences/research-press-release/ seven-penn-vet-researchers-receive-covid-19-pilot-awards

Education

TEACHING AND LEARNING TRANSFORMED

At the beginning of March, Penn Vet was education as usual with students and faculty out and about in classrooms and shared spaces. Four weeks later, the School’s Kennett Square and Philadelphia campuses were veritable ghost towns, open only to urgent client cases and closed to any on-site academic activities as everyone hunkered down to teach and learn at home.

The School’s COVID-19 response for teaching and learning began on March 9, when the Inaugural Strategic Response Team gathered to discuss a path forward for clinical and pre-clinical education. In the immediate days following, teaching faculty and instructors prepared for online learning that would last for the remainder of the spring semester.

“While the changes were swift and fluid, we didn’t actually change our teaching model overnight,” said Dr. Kathryn E. Michel, Associate Dean of Education. “We did what the rest of the University did when we had to make the switch in less than a week: we employed emergency remote teaching. In other words, we lectured online using Zoom.”

By the end of March, all Penn Vet classes were virtual, and clinical year students had transitioned from in-hospital rotations to Penn Vet’s Cyber Clinic. This innovative, online clinic experience fulfilled intramural rotations and externships for students about to graduate: “We decided to take a practical and appropriate approach, focusing on the things students need to know and be able to do in primary care practice,” Michel told Penn Today in April.

“It took some time to get used to everything shifting so drastically,” said Dr. Patrick Pilon, ‘V20. “The School really supported us in making the transition to a virtual clinic practice. Penn Vet students know we’re heading into an unpredictable world, and this experience has been a great real-world grounding in how to adapt in crisis and consider the role technology can play in veterinary medicine.”

A MATTER OF DAYS, WEEKS, AND MONTHS

All told, the School adapted in a matter of weeks to present previously hands-on labs material virtually and design its Cyber Clinic. “But it wasn’t until the end of the spring semester that we really took a big step back with an eye to enhancing the delivery of our curriculum for the fall,” said Michel.

Throughout June and July, Michel and Mary Bryant, Assistant Dean of Students and Admissions, along with course organizers, faculty, staff, and Penn Vet’s Department of Information Technology redesigned the fall curriculum. The result is a program reimagined for online classes, laboratories, and small groups.

“Our hybrid approach is optimized for online delivery and offers a combination of asynchronous and synchronous content delivery, as opposed to simply giving traditional 50-minute lectures via Zoom,” said Michel.

BACK TO SCHOOL IN A NEW NORMAL

When students returned to school in September, it was to a School transformed: public and classroom spaces have new capacity limits, and many have been repurposed as quiet study or workspaces for students. Other areas have been designated as research and break spaces for anyone working on campus. And with the exception of a few practical exams, all tests are taken online.

Courses requiring hands-on activity — such as anatomy labs and clinical and surgical skill trainings — are conducted in small cohorts, while clinical rotations are back to in-person on a modified basis.

“The upside of this experience is that it has allowed us to pilot some things we had envisioned for our new curriculum,” said Michel. “This includes adding a new Patient Care and Clinical Skills rotation at both teaching hospitals, expanding use of prosections for teaching anatomy, using virtual microscopy to teach histology, revising the parasitology and microbiology labs, and deliberately using a ‘flipped classroom’ design, which encourages active learning. Over the past few years, we have also been preparing to launch an integrated two-year core pre-clinical curriculum in fall 2021, and, against all odds, we are still on track to accomplish this plan.”

Michel added that none of this would be possible without an all-hands-on-deck effort. “This entire experience, from March to now, has taken patience, ingenuity, and flexibility,” she said. “The only reason we’ve been able to do it is because everybody has pulled together. We’re going to come out of this and realize just how resilient and creative we can be.”

Classroom and shared spaces have been redesigned to prevent close contact when people are working or studying on campus.

FARM TO TABLE IN A PANDEMIC

By: Sacha Adorno, Curt Harler, Hannah Kleckner Hall, and Katherine Unger Baillie

Caring for a cow with uterine prolapse requires teamwork. The physicality and teamwork it demands — one person to position the animal, another to supply tools and equipment, sometimes a third to assist — makes it nearly impossible to do while social distancing. At the beginning of the pandemic, large animal veterinarians had a tough choice: maintain strict social distances or work as safely as possible with dairy and beef farmers to help their cows.

“From the get-go we knew on the food animal side that we would have to continue to interact daily with our clients,” said Dr. Billy Smith, Associate Professor of Field Medicine. He and his colleagues on New Bolton’s Center Field Services team serve a clientele that includes regional farmers. “They rely heavily on our input and our work to maintain normal food production. We must continue to be a part of their businesses.”

As human health care workers put their well-being at risk to care for COVID-19 patients, veterinarians have also put themselves out there to ensure animals remain in good health.

FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER

For large animal veterinarians at New Bolton Center, particularly those looking after food animals like cattle and pigs, maintaining a regular workflow during the COVID-19 crisis has been essential to sustaining the food supply chain.

Throughout the pandemic, their caregiving has been supported by Penn Vet scientists performing vital diagnostics and monitoring to identify diseases and other disruptive impacts on animals across Pennsylvania. And other Penn Vet faculty have been exploring the consumer side and how perceptions of food security are shifting in a world changed by the novel coronavirus.

“COVID-19 emerged from animals, which underscores the importance of veterinary health in protecting not only animal health, but also human health and well-being,” said Dr. Gary Althouse, Penn Vet Associate Dean of Sustainable Agricultural and Veterinary Practices. “We are part of a system that is essential to supporting the food supply chain. Even as we focus on human health care, we cannot disregard the importance of continuing activities and its supportive infrastructure that maintain a safe and secure food supply.”

PANDEMIC PANTRIES

At the end of the food supply chain, consumers’ concerns fed the headlines for months. People faced long lines and empty shelves at grocery stores, where, anecdotally, animal products like eggs and meat were among the staples. Outbreaks of COVID-19 at meat processing plants inspired fear the disease might influence food availability. And there were the jokes and worries about gaining the “Quarantine 15.”

Dr. Zhengxia Dou, Professor of Agricultural Systems, studies food system efficiency and food waste. From the outset, she wanted to understand how COVID-19 shutdowns impacted food consumers.

“I began wondering how the pandemic was affecting people’s perceptions as well as experiences at the consumer end about food availability and household food security.” she said. “In America we produce a lot of food and export a lot of food. I would assume that most people never worried

about whether there would be a food shortage. I wondered whether the pandemic would affect that perception.”

She was also curious about how the pandemic changed people’s food behavior and dining routines: “My assumption was that during the most intense period of social isolation, people would have more time to cook and eat together with families. And I expected they’d be eating healthier.”

Turning curiosity into action, she conceived of a consumer survey. Margy Lindem, the School’s librarian, suggested expanding the idea into an interdisciplinary project. Dou launched the web-based survey in April with her Penn Vet colleagues Dr. David Galligan, Marilyn M. Simpson Endowed Professor, and Dr. Darko Stefanovski, Associate Professor of Biostatistics, as well as Dr. Paul Rozin, Professor of Psychology, from the School of Arts & Sciences, and Dr. Ariana Chao, Assistant Professor of Nursing at Penn Nursing.

Milking cows, as at Marshak Dairy, can be compatible with social distancing practices.

“The survey shows many people are more aware now of the preciousness of food. When the world goes back to ‘normal’ I hope people have learned this lesson and keep this awareness to reduce the amount of food waste.”

DR. ZHENGXIA DOU, PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS

Open for a few weeks, the survey inquired after participants’ grocery shopping habits and experiences, household food security (or lack of), food use — whether they feel the pandemic changed their consumption or wastage of food — as well as family dynamics around meals. Questions were also asked about weight loss and gain.

The survey queried 1,547 U.S. (from 705 zip codes) and 1,732 Chinese (from 30 out of 34 provincial districts) households. The results — The COVID-19 Pandemic Impacting Household Food Dynamics: A CrossNational Comparison of China and the U.S. — were recently published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (Land, Livelihoods and Food Security section). Both cohorts reported increased efficiency in use of food, families spending more time cooking and eating together, and more prudent use of food with less waste. Findings also showed food purchasing patterns shifted from frequent trips to the store to dramatic increases in online ordering.

Respondents in the U.S. indicated increased concern about food security and supply post-pandemic breakout, both at the national and household level and especially among people with lower incomes or those who had lost jobs in the crisis.

Surprising Dou, the Chinese cohort showed no change in attitude or confidence after the pandemic breakout. “The Chinese cohort was dominated by young adults and they are not fully independent yet,” she explained. “Many returned home during the pandemic and their parents were the ones focused on food.”

Interestingly enough, for all the talk about the Quarantine 15, “only around two percent of our U.S. respondents reported gaining more than 10 pounds, despite experiencing considerable emotional stress and a general decrease in physical exercise,” said Dou.

Looking ahead, Dou sees hope: “The survey shows many people are more aware now of the preciousness of food. When the world goes back to ‘normal’ I hope people have learned this lesson and keep this awareness to reduce the amount of food waste.”

TRACKING NON-COVID-19 CONCERNS

While consumers are most concerned with COVID-19, other diseases remain a threat to farmers, veterinarians, and agriculture officials. Scientists at Penn Vet and partnering institutions continue to keep tabs on them to ensure farm animals remain healthy.

remained steady. Tests looked at everything from the fallout from a recent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenzas that affected turkeys in South Carolina to surveillance for salmonella in eggs.

Murphy said that although many of the diagnostic tests rely on the same products used to diagnose COVID-19, so far there hasn’t been a shortage of supplies.

“There’s been all this talk about the economy and jobs in agriculture being under threat,” Murphy said. “I really feel that the best thing is for us to keep doing what we do best. It’s what we’re trained to do and what we’re here for.”

To communicate some of the diagnoses that PADLS produces, as well as to share self-reported disease outbreaks, New Bolton Center employs another tool to promote early detection and control.

New Bolton Center’s Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System (PADLS), a three-part laboratory with locations at Penn State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, has worked throughout the pandemic to ensure animal diseases are identified and handled in a timely fashion.

As other labs around the University ceased in-person operations, Dr. Lisa Murphy, Director of PADLS at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center, and her colleagues established a rotating work schedule to enable PADLS staff to conduct vital diagnostic and surveillance tests while adhering to PPE use and social distancing practices.

“We have more than 30 full-time employees and every single one of them has been coming in every week,” said Murphy. “They understand what we do is so critical to our clients, critical to our animals, and to the food system.”

While the caseload of tests stemming from Ryan Hospital and New Bolton Center slowed somewhat when services reduced, external test submissions

Under the direction of Assistant Professor of Clinical Production Medicine Dr. Meghann Pierdon, Penn Vet’s Pennsylvania Regional Control Program for Swine Disease is one of the largest initiatives in the country intended to track and manage costly diseases that can severely impact pig farms.

Developed to focus on porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome, the program also tracked an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus from 2013 to 2015. Using geographic information systems technology, Pierdon corresponds with swine and poultry farmers and veterinarians across the state to pinpoint where diseases occur and help them understand when to take measures to prevent disease spread.

Pierdon has also found herself assisting federal and state officials as well as farm operators in thinking about the possible ramifications of COVID-19.

“People are worried about the continuity of being able to process animals through the food supply chain,” she said, noting that farmers are concerned their workforce could suffer from the disease, or are concerned that an oversupply of animals could go

Top: Dr. Lisa Murphy and PADLS have hardly slowed during the pandemic. Bottom: Dr. Meghann Pierdon continues critical surveillance of swine and poultry disease in Pennsylvania from home.

to waste with schools and restaurants shut down and not receiving their normal supplies of meat.

“Our program helps bring together the appropriate people to talk about keeping things moving in the right direction and what we should be thinking about next.”

HEALTHY HERDS

While the main New Bolton Center hospital is closed to all but emergency and provider-toprovider telehealth consultations, COVID-19 restrictions haven’t significantly altered Penn Vet’s Field Service work with livestock.

The biggest challenge has been staggering schedules to enable social distancing. “On the food animal side, we’re continuing to work as normal,” said Dr. Mike Kristula, Section Chief of the Field Service.

Veterinarians in the Field Service have become de facto public health workers, advising farmers on how to reduce the risk that their own employees would become sick.

“Informally, we’ve been talking with farm workers about the obvious things like social distancing and washing your hands, but also about not going anywhere other than the grocery store, and not having friends over,” said Kristula, who also provides guidance in Spanish, the first language of many farm employees.

VIRTUAL VISITS

When in-person visits aren’t possible, the Field Service team used telehealth, led by Dr. Olivia Lorello, Assistant Professor of Clinical Equine Field Service. Virtual visits with referring veterinarians, clients, or herd managers might even include conducting ultrasounds or obtaining radiographs that are read by New Bolton Center’s radiology team.

“We’re trained to go to the animal and do as much as we can hands-on,” said Lorello, “but there is a lot that you can do virtually, especially with the imaging.

If you’re getting the same, very high-quality images and still have the specialist on the other end giving expert guidance, that’s a great way to provide care without exposing so many people to one another.”

The Field Service, Swine Outreach teams, and other specialists have utilized telehealth for problems of lameness, umbilical cord hernia or infections, respiratory disease, biosecurity, and herd health assessments in farm animals.

“This is filling an important gap not only in getting the correct diagnoses for the animals to provide treatment going forward,” said Smith, “but also, as an academic institution where we train students, we’re giving our residents the clinical caseload they need to gain experience and get credentialed.”

PROMOTING RESILIENCY

This focus on maintaining healthy, skilled practitioners as well as healthy herds traces back to New Bolton Center itself, where hospital operations have continued for emergency cases.

In addition, Althouse, who focuses on swine reproduction to ensure consistent breeding herd results from the start, has used his oversight at New Bolton Center to reallocate staff time. To continue the operations of the campus’s Marshak Dairy, the Swine Teaching and Research Center, and New Bolton Center’s farm operations, staff scheduling and other COVID-19 preventive practices were designed to mitigate the risk of disrupting livestock operations in the event that someone gets sick.

“Our efforts start from the very beginning of the food supply chain, ensuring inputs are consistent and high quality, and go all the way to the farm, ensuring animals are being raised in a manner that promotes good welfare for them, and for those people who raise them,” he said. “We’re fortunate to have a very efficient and productive animal industry in the United States, and we’re proud to play a part in helping it weather this challenge.”

The Power of Penn Vet

LEADERSHIP GIFT FOR GAIL P. RIEPE CENTER FOR ADVANCED VETERINARY EDUCATION

By: Kristin Sanderson

Co-Chair of

In July, Penn Vet announced a $5 million leadership gift from Gail P. Riepe, CW’68, and Jim Riepe, W’65, WG’67, HON’10.

The gift is the largest of its kind to New Bolton Center and will be used to build a new clinical skills center on the Kennett Square campus.

“We are extremely grateful to the Riepes for their inspiring leadership and transformative philanthropy that will advance the future of veterinary education at Penn,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann. “As co-chair of The Power of Penn Vet Campaign and a member of the Penn Vet Board of Advisors, Gail Riepe holds a deep commitment to the tradition of excellence in education, advanced clinical care, and innovative research that are hallmarks of Penn. The new Gail P. Riepe Center for Advanced Veterinary Education will provide the facilities and tools essential for the development of clinical skills and ensure that Penn continues to prepare exceptional veterinarians and clinicians.”

Gail P. Riepe, CW’68

The Power of Penn Vet Campaign

The Riepe Center will be the first dedicated classroom building at New Bolton Center. Plans include a multimodal flex space with fully integrated technology to accommodate all learning formats — from remote instruction to live demonstrations to group work. Today’s increasingly connected world demands powerful capabilities to interface with scholars and practitioners and the Riepe Center will address that need for Penn Vet students and faculty.

High-fidelity veterinary simulators bridge the gap from classroom to clinic and expand the abilities for students to gain important hands-on experience, competence, and confidence on the trajectory to treating patients.

Every Penn Vet student participates in a large animal rotation at New Bolton Center, and fourth year VMD students spend most of their time there working side by side with the faculty and residents. New Bolton Center also serves on a national scale as an industry hub and host of professional gatherings for legislators, farm bureaus, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

“In making this gift, we want to support students and provide the very best experience for them. The work of preparing tomorrow’s veterinarians is so incredibly important,” explained Gail Riepe. “Investment in students pays such wonderful dividends when Penn graduates bring their knowledge and skills to veterinary practices near and far. We hope that others will join the call to help Penn Vet fully realize

t Dr. Kathryn Wulster and students view radiographs (x-rays) taken of the simulation model in the background. One of the model’s legs contains material of similar density and composition to bone. This allows students to practice taking radiographs without having to use a live teaching horse.

its vision and the importance of a new clinical skills center at New Bolton.”

“Penn Vet has a long history of innovative educational and training opportunities, having created the majority of specialties in veterinary medicine,” said Dean Andrew Hoffman. “The new Gail P. Riepe Center for Advanced Veterinary Education will provide truly state-of-the-art simulators and models in flexible spaces. These facilities will serve to engage and inspire veterinary students, veterinarians in specialty training, and Penn Vet alumni for years to come, offering them opportunities to develop new competencies and master new skills. The Riepe Center, therefore, represents a cornerstone of lifelong learning for Penn Vet students and alumni. Gail’s and Jim’s generous support will have a burgeoning, positive impact on the quality of clinical service delivered by our graduates in their communities throughout the Commonwealth and beyond.”

Together with additional philanthropic support, the Riepe gift will help establish a clinical skills lab and acquire more life-size simulation models to provide limitless training akin to actual patient interactions, including catheter placements, suturing techniques, blood draws, and more.

The Riepes’ leadership gift toward the new clinical skills center supports the overarching goals of The Power of Penn Vet Campaign: to reimagine academic programs, to provide greater opportunities for experiential learning, and to transform clinical care.

IN THE OFFICE WITH Shelley

Rankin

PROFESSOR OF MICROBIOLOGY AND HEAD OF DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES

By: Sacha Adorno

Dr. Shelley Rankin sees a silver lining in the dark cloud of COVID-19: “During my 30-year career, I’ve been at the intersection of animal and human diseases, studying Salmonella then staph infections and antibiotic resistant bacteria. Obviously, COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease, so, aside from the very real and devastating impact on public health, it’s an interesting moment for science that looks at infectious disease. And I’ve been very busy.”

Working from her Ryan Hospital office most of the year, Rankin has been running the Microbiology diagnostic lab, designing a new research study to understand more about the virus in pets, and tracking existing research about animals who test positive. “Recently, I’ve written many angry letters and responded to a lot of media inquiries about flawed preprint studies.” The truth, she added, is that very little is known about the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, between pets and their owners, and much more robust research is needed.

She hopes to advance global knowledge on the subject and has enlisted Elizabeth Lennon, Pamela Cole Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, and Stephen Cole, V’15, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, in the first known community prevalence survey of COVID-19 in animals. They’ll test 1,500 dogs and cats initially in the hopes of filling cavernous gaps in current information about how animals acquire and transmit the virus that causes COVID-19.

With typical wit, Rankin shares the backstories of objects in her Ryan Hospital office.

1. Conference and concert badges. These are souvenirs from conferences around the world and VIP concert packages from the Fillmore Philadelphia theater. They remind me of gatherings or concerts I’ve been to — LCD Soundsystem was the best show I’ve ever seen, and the pass brings it all back.

2. “Essentials of academia.” Mugs for coffee. Wine glasses for happy hour. A soup bowl, because eating from a can is wrong. The candy machine was a gift so my office can have candy on hand without us having to reach into a shared bowl — even before COVID-19 all the hands in one bowl was gross. All of these, including the hidden bottle of triple sec, are essentials for academia.

3. Lipstick mirror and Old McDonald. I frequently apply lipstick. For a time, I shared an office with Tom Nolan [Director of the Clinical Parasitology Laboratory]. His wife, Linda, a microbiologist at Penn Medicine, visited our office regularly, and we’d chat for hours. She made me this cat mirror for lipstick application. It’s so pretty, I can’t bear to hang it. The framed card was a given to me when I celebrated 15 years at Penn Vet. It coincided with the point in my career when I decided I couldn’t be the microbiologist for both the large and small animal hospitals at Penn Vet. The card went right into the frame marking two milestones!

4. Spotted dick, plastic poop, champagne cork. Nikki Mason [The Paul A. James and Charles A. Gilmore Endowed Chair Professorship within the Department of Clinical Sciences and Advanced Medicine] bought me the “insta”-spotted dick pudding when I landed an office in Ryan Hospital after splitting time between Philadelphia and Kennett Square for years. I don’t have the heart to eat it. It’s five years old and probably petrified at this point. I spent the first ten years of my career at the Scottish Salmonella Reference Laboratory in Glasgow. One thing that you do to diagnose Salmonella infection is record what poop looks like. This poop is conference swag.

The champagne cork is a remnant of the bottle we opened when Stephen [Cole] obtained his faculty position in early 2020. He’s an incredibly talented educator, mentor, and veterinary microbiologist. I was thrilled when he was hired.

5. Powerful! Instead of making a New Year’s resolution, I pick a word that becomes my mantra or touchpoint for the year. “Powerful” had an unexpected manifestation this year because of the way the pandemic unfolded. As a representative of Penn Vet and the science of microbiology, I have a unique power right now to help address and educate people about One Health. I feel more powerful at this stage in my career than I did when I chose the word at the beginning of the year. That’s the purpose of this annual exercise.

6. Art. (a) This is the tower of the University of Glasgow, my alma mater. My mother gave it to me when I moved to the U.S. in 1999. (b) Stephen gave me this when I hired him. I like to tease him that I gave him a faculty position and he gave me an E. coli print.

1. 2.

4.

5.

6a.

6b.

NAVIGATING CYTOKINE STORMS

By: Katherine Unger Baillie

WHILE COUNTLESS MYSTERIES REMAIN REGARDING COVID-19, SOME CLINICIANS AND SCIENTISTS HAVE COME TO BELIEVE THAT SOME OF THE WORST EFFECTS OF THE DISEASE—FROM RESPIRATORY DIFFICULTIES TO ORGAN DAMAGE— ARE THE OUTCOME OF A CYTOKINE

STORM, AN ONSLAUGHT OF IMMUNE ACTIVITY THAT VEERS OUT OF CONTROL, CAUSING SERIOUS HARM OR EVEN DEATH.

With a mutual interest in immunology — both its helpful and harmful aspects — Dr. Christopher Hunter, Mindy Halikman Heyer President’s Distinguished Chair of Pathobiology at Penn Vet, and Dr. Nilam Mangalmurti, Assistant Professor of Medicine and attending physician at the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM), found they had a lot to discuss after colleagues introduced them two years ago. Their shared interest has gained a new relevance during the pandemic, and they recently teamed up to write a primer on cytokine storms for the journal Immunity . Here they answer questions about what they’ve learned.

Q: How do you define cytokine storm and sepsis?

Hunter: Everyone has cytokines circulating in their bodies; that’s a normal part of the immune response. But when that response overshoots where it should be to clear an infection, that’s where it becomes pathological and is considered a “storm.” And it doesn’t have to be an infection that triggers it. It could be that something turns on a T cell by mistake, it could be an autoimmune response, or it could be a treatment that boosts the immune response to cure cancer.

Mangalmurti : Sepsis is now defined as an abnormal host response to a pathogen, whether it’s bacteria, virus, parasite, or fungi. Most people should be able to clear the pathogen and return to a normal state. Sepsis is a dysregulated response where there is not necessarily a return to normal. In sepsis, the response is often characterized by a hyperinflammatory and an immunosuppressive response happening at the same time.

Hunter: A cytokine storm can be part of that. The question is, “At what point does cytokine activation become pathological?”

Q: How is what we’re seeing with COVID-19 confirming or changing what we understand about cytokine storms and how to address them in patients?

Mangalmurti: One thing that was very clear to us after the first week of seeing COVID-19 patients was that most who came into the ICU with organ failure clearly had a condition that seemed to predispose them to vascular injury: obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, age, a history of vascular disease, or clots. And that was striking because it’s not something we usually see in most other forms of sepsis, or other forms of acute respiratory distress syndrome.

That got us thinking about innate immunity in the vascular compartment and whether this virus had a penchant for the vasculature. Maybe there’s a way to use what we know about this relationship with the vasculature to design and use more targeted anticytokine therapies.

Hunter: From my perspective it’s exciting to think about targeted therapies that are already available, like antibodies to cytokines that are already used in the clinic; maybe they could be repurposed and used in this setting. But we really need large clinical trials to assess whether our excitement about some of these approaches is meaningful and valid.

Q: Your work seems to underscore the value of collaboration across fields.

Hunter: Absolutely. Nilam has worked on sepsis and has been seeing sepsis patients for a long time. She’s dealing with really sick patients who have a lot going on. Basic scientists tend to want to simplify and reduce things. And you’ve got to meet somewhere in the middle, I think, for complex diseases. Penn is a really good place to do that, at PSOM, CHOP, and Penn Vet.

For a longer interview, see the Penn Today story: penntoday.upenn.edu/news/navigating-cytokine-storms

 An immune response can be helpful, harmful, or somewhere in between, in COVID-19 and many other medical conditions.

PENN VET ANNOUNCES TIMELY DUAL DEGREE PROGRAMMING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

With this school year, Penn Vet launched two distinctive dual degree programs with the Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) and School of Arts and Sciences.

The new dual degrees, the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (VMD) – Master of Social Work (MSW) and the VMD – Master of Environmental Studies (MES), will prepare multidisciplinary veterinarians to assume leadership roles within the environmental, social services, and public health sectors.

VMD-MSW

The training of veterinarians in human health care and social services, which Penn Vet deems “One Health in Practice,” is a nascent approach to achieve health care equity and access for vulnerable or underserved human populations.

The VMD-MSW can be completed in six years and prepares students for the growing field of veterinary social work, an emerging subsector of veterinary medicine.

Training in social work enables veterinary medical professionals to better navigate human wellness triggers – such as emotional stress brought on by bereavement – and provide the needed support to clients or colleagues. With training, rural and NGO veterinarians who work with underserved agricultural communities can identify and facilitate health care access for farming clients, their families, or migratory workers.

VMD-MES

Wildlife habitat and biodiversity, domestic animals, food production, humans, and the environment, are all inextricably linked through One Health. As evidenced by COVID-19, compromised environmental health is often a contributing factor to the spillover of viruses or other pathogens from animals to humans. Toxic minerals, chemicals, soil destruction, and climate change, erode the health of natural habitats for animal populations, and disproportionally impact vulnerable human populations.

Designed to be completed in five years, the VMD-MES prepares veterinarians to develop a deeper understanding of the environmental context and related human dimension that drives animal population health.

MORE TO COME

In 2021, Penn Vet will announce additional new dual degrees with Penn’s Graduate School of Education, the School of Nursing, and the Carey Law School.

CREATING FARMS OF THE FUTURE

PENN-LED SYMPOSIUM HOSTED DISCUSSIONS

ABOUT SUSTAINABLE, REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

Penn Vet has wrapped an exciting new collaboration with PennPraxis, the community engagement arm at Penn’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design.

Over six weeks this fall, the inaugural Farm of the Future symposium explored the advantages, challenges, and opportunities surrounding animal agriculture and food production systems within Pennsylvania, the surrounding region, and across the United States.

During seven two-hour individual virtual sessions, the free-to-the-public Symposium delivered practical, applicable insights from a cross-section of experts and thought leaders, including agriculture industry innovators, farmers and other agricultural producers, ecologists, and landscape architects, as well as industry advocates and policymakers.

Speakers discussed a broad range of topics pertinent to farming practices, such as agribusiness economics

and profitability, food security and urban wellness, water and natural resource management, on-farm biodiversity, pasture and nutrient management, rotational grazing, and beyond.

Ultimately, conversations will serve as a bedrock for designing an interdisciplinary, living farm of the future model to be built on Penn Vet New Bolton Center’s nearly 700-acre campus in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Once established, the model operation will be a critical tool for advancing environmentally and economically sustainable farming practices, while simultaneously serving as a regional resource for producers to gather more on-farm information to aid in their decision to incorporate these practices into their own agribusiness operations.

The series ran September 30-November 18, 2020.

WENDY J. GRUBBS

Penn Vet is delighted to welcome Wendy J. Grubbs to the Board of Advisors. Grubbs brings more than 30 years of extensive experience in legal, governmental, and corporate positions, including serving as Special Assistant to the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, and Managing Director of Citigroup.

A 1986 graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Law, Grubbs is the founder of the Wendy B Ranch Rescue Foundation, which promotes the adoption of senior dogs, and the spaying and neutering of all pets.

Currently, Grubbs lives in Oxford, Maryland, and manages the foundation and a family office.

A Heart Full of Love

Mookie loved chasing trains, going for long walks, and running after frisbees. When he was nine years old, the Shih Tzu was diagnosed with mitral valve disease (MVD). Ryan Hospital’s Cardiology Service cared for him with monitoring and medication until he passed away at age 16. After he died, Mookie’s owner Wendy Daughenbaugh created a fund at Penn Vet to honor the sweet boy’s indomitable spirit and help other dogs with MVD.

THE MOOKIE MVD FUND

The Mookie MVD Fund supports the School’s Cardiology Service in its quest to understand the biomechanics of MVD, improve treatment via medication and diet modification, and develop new echocardiographic techniques to better diagnose and assess the severity of the disease. Penn Vet is the birthplace of specialized veterinary cardiology and is proud to lead the way in finally solving the mysteries of MVD, the most common acquired heart disease in dogs.

FACULTY & STAFF UPDATES

Gustavo Aguirre, VMD, PhD , published Becker D, Niggel J, Pearce-Kelling S, Riis RC, and Aguirre GD, “Optic Nerve Hypoplasia in Miniature Poodle Dogs: A Preliminary Genetic and Candidate Gene Association Study,” Veterinary Ophthalmology , 2020, 23: 67–76 (PMC6980232). He also published Iwabe S, Dufour VL, Guzmán JM, Holle DM, Cohen JA, Beltran WA, and Aguirre GD, “Focal/Multifocal and Geographic Retinal Dysplasia in the Dog—In Vivo Retinal Microanatomy Analyses,” Veterinary Ophthalmology , 2020, 23: 292–304 (PMC7071990); Krishnan H, Diehl K, Stefanovski D, and Aguirre GD, “Vitreous Degeneration and Associated Ocular Abnormalities in the Dog,” Veterinary Ophthalmology , 2020, 23: 219–24; Gardiner KL, Cideciyan AV, Swider M, Dufour VL, Sumaroka A, Komáromy AM, Hauswirth WW, Iwabe S, Jacobson SG, Beltran WA, and Aguirre GD, “Long-Term Structural Outcomes of LateStage RPE65 Gene Therapy,” Molecular Therapy , 2020, 28: 266–78 (PMC6951840); Garafalo AV, Cideciyan AV, Heon E, Sheplock R, Pearson A, Yu CW, Sumaroka A, Aguirre GD, and Jacobson SG, “Progress in Treating Inherited Retinal Diseases: Early Subretinal Gene Therapy Clinical Trials and Candidates for Future Initiatives,” Progress in Retinal and Eye Research , 2020 (in press);

Appelbaum T, Santana E, and Aguirre GD, “Critical Decrease in the Level of Axon Guidance Receptor ROBO1 in Rod Synaptic Terminals Is Followed by Axon Retraction,” Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science , 2020, 61(3): 11; Smith SM, Holt E, and Aguirre GD, “Conjunctival Staining with Lissamine Green as a Predictor of Tear Film Deficiency in Dogs,” Veterinary Ophthalmology , 2020, in press.

Daniel Beiting, PhD , published Berry ASF, Johnson K, Martins R, Sullivan MC, Farias Amorim C, Putre A, Scott A, Wang S, Lindsay B, Baldassano RN, Nolan TJ, and Beiting DP, “Natural Infection with Giardia Is Associated with Altered Community Structure of the Human and Canine Gut Microbiomes,” mSphere , 2020, 5:e00670-20, https://doi. org/10.1128/mSphere.00670-20. He also led the first DIYtranscriptomics course. This virtual course teaches students how to analyze RNA-seq data using command-line tools, with an emphasis on best-practices for transparent and reproducible data analysis in the R/ bioconductor environment.

William Beltran, DVM, PhD , presented IC-100: Potential Treatment for RHO-adRP at the IVERIC bio R&D meeting in San Francisco, on January 14, 2020. He published Dufour VL, Cideciyan AV, Ye GJ, Song C, Timmers A, Habecker PL, Pan W, Weinstein NM, Swider M, Durham AC et al, “Toxicity and Efficacy Evaluation of an Adeno-Associated Virus Vector Expressing CodonOptimized RPGR Delivered by Subretinal Injection in a Canine Model of X-linked Retinitis Pigmentosa,” Human Gene Therapy , 2020, 31(3-4): 253–67 (PMC7047101). He also published Dufour VL, Yu Y, Pan W, Ying GS, Aguirre GD, and Beltran WA, “In-vivo Longitudinal Changes in Thickness of the Postnatal Canine Retina,” Experimental Eye Research , 2020, 192:107926. He also published Song C, Dufour VL, Cideciyan AV, Ye GJ, Swider M, Newmark JA, Timmers AM, Robinson PM, Knop DR, Chulay JD, Jacobson SG, Aguirre GD, Beltran WA, and Shearman MS, “Dose Range Finding Studies with Two RPGR Transgenes in a Canine Model of X-Linked Retinitis Pigmentosa Treated with Subretinal Gene Therapy,” Human Gene Therapy , 2020, 31(13–14): 743–55.

FACULTY & STAFF UPDATES CONTINUED

Stephen Cole, VMD, MS, DACVM , published “SODAPOP: A Metacognitive Mnemonic Framework to Teach Antimicrobial Selection,” with coauthors Dr. Shelley Rankin (Pathobiology) and Dr. Emily Elliott of Penn’s Center for Teaching and Learning. In addition, Cole was awarded honorary mention in the COVID Creations Contest for his “Bug of the Week” teaching tool from VetMedAcademy.org.

Julie Ellis, PhD , published Diamond AW, McNair DB, Ellis JC, Rail J-F, Whidden ES, Kratter AW, Courchesne SJ, Pokras MA, Wilhelm SI, Kress SW, Farnswroth A, Iliff MJ, Jennings SH, Brown JD, Ballard JR, Schweitzer SH, Okoniewski JC, Gallegos JB, and Stanton JD, “Two unprecedented auk wrecks in the northwest Atlantic in winter 2012/13,” Marine Ornithology, 2020, 48: 185–204.

Julie Engiles, VMD, DACVP , presented a virtual seminar for the C.L. Davis & S.W. Thompson Foundation in May 2020 comparing pathology and molecular mechanisms of spontaneous and experimental models of equine laminitis.

Sarah Friday, DVM , received the 2020 Penn Vet Class of 2020 Philadelphia Intern Award.

Hannah Galantino-Homer, VMD, PhD, DACT , published GalantinoHomer H and Brooks SA, “Genetics and Signaling Pathways of Laminitis,” Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice , 2020, 36(2): 379–94, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. cveq.2020.04.001, PubMed PMID 32654786.

Dave Galligan, VMD, MBA , earned the University of Pennsylvania’s Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Oliver Garden, BVetMed, PhD , is helping establish the Veterinary and Comparative Clinical Immunology Society (http:// www.vccis.org/). He chairs the European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Clinical Studies Foundation (https://www. ecvim-ca.org/ecvim-clinicalstudies-fund), and is working with a Dutch team on filing for foundation status. He chairs the review process for three programs of grant proposals: Established Investigator Award, Purine Resident Research Award, and ESVE Pilot Research Award. In addition, Garden has published Wu Y, Chang YM, Polton G, Stell AJ, Szladovits B, MacFarlane M, Peters LM, Priestnall SL, Bacon NJ, Kow K, Stewart S, Shama E, Goulart MR, Gribben J, Xia D, and Garden, OA, “Gene Expression Profiling of B Cell Lymphoma in Dogs Reveals Dichotomous

Metabolic Signatures

Distinguished by Oxidative Phosphorylation,” Frontiers in Oncology , 2020, 10: 307, https:// doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2020.00307 [IF 4.14]; Stark AK, Davenport ECM, Patton DT, Scudamore CL, Vanhaesebroeck B, Veldhoen M, Garden OA, and Okkenhaug K, “Loss of PI3K Activity in Regulatory T Cells Leads to Neuronal Inflammation,” Journal of Immunology , July 1, 2020, 205(1): 78–89, https://doi. org/10.4049/jimmunol.2000043 [IF 4.72]; and Ambrosini YM, Borcherding DC, Seo Y-J, Segarra S, Glanemann B, Garden OA, Neuber S, Muller U, Dang VD, Borts D, Atherly T, Willette A, Jergens AE, Mochel JP, and Allenspach K, “Treatment with Hydrolyzed Diet Supplemented with Prebiotics and Glycosaminoglycans Alters Lipid Metabolism in Canine Inflammatory Bowel Disease,” Frontiers in Veterinary Science , 2020, in press [IF 2.14].

Nancy Gartland, MS, EdD , received the 2020 Penn Vet Class of 2023 Laboratory Teaching Award.

Deborah Gillette, DVM, PhD, MsEd , received the 2020 Penn Vet Class of 2022 Laboratory Teaching Award.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Urs Giger, DrMedVet , received the 2020 International Canine Health Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was organized by the Kennel Club Charitable Trust and underwritten by a major gift from Vernon and Shirley Hill.

Dr. Andrew Higgins, Chairman of the ICHA panel and trustee of the Kennel Club Charitable Trust, which runs the awards, said: “We are delighted to honour Urs Giger with the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his long history of contributing to and influencing veterinary medicine.”

Fuyu Guan, PhD , has been promoted to Research Professor of Equine Forensic Chemistry. In announcing Guan’s promotion, Dr. Katrin Hinrichs said, “His contributions have brought PETRL to the forefront in the area of equine forensic chemistry.”

Karina Guziewicz, PhD , presented Developing Transformative Therapies for Retinal Diseases at the IVERIC bio R&D meeting in San Francisco, on January 14, 2020, and BEST1 Related Retinal Diseases: Lessons from Naturally Occurring Canine Model and Development of AAV-Mediated Gene Therapy as part of the IVERIC bio Virtual Lecture Series on April 23, 2020.

Ronald Harty, PhD , published Han Z, Ruthel G, Dash S, Berry CT, Freedman BD, Harty RN, and Shtanko O, “Angiomotin Regulates Budding and Spread of Ebola Virus,” Journal of Biological Chemistry , June 19, 2020, 295(25): 8596–601, https://doi. org/10.1074/jbc.AC120.013171. He also published ShepleyMcTaggart A, Fan H, Sudol M, and Harty RN, “Viruses Go Modular,” Journal of Biological Chemistry , April 3, 2020, 295(14): 4604–16, https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc. REV119.012414. He also published Han Z, Dash S, Sagum CA, Ruthel G, Jaladanki CK, Berry CT, Schwoerer MP, Harty NM, Freedman BD, Bedford MT, Fan H, Sidhu SS, Sudol M, Shtanko O, and Harty RN, “Modular Mimicry and Engagement of the Hippo Pathway by Marburg Virus VP40: Implications for Filovirus Biology and Budding,” PLOS Pathogens , January 6, 2020, 16(1): e1008231, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. ppat.1008231.

Rebecka Hess, DVM, MSCE , published O’Kell AL, Wasserfall CH, Henthorn PS, Atkinson MA, and Hess RS, “Evaluation for Type 1 Diabetes Associated Autoantibodies in Diabetic and Non-diabetic Australian Terriers and Samoyeds,” Canine Medicine and Genetics , 2020, 7(10), https:// doi.org/10.1186/ s40575-020-00089-5.

Michaela Kristula, DVM , received the House Officer Mentoring Award, given to a faculty member who has demonstrated dedication and compassion in mentoring House Officers.

Charlotte Lacroix, DVM, JD , is a founding board member of the newly formed Veterinary Virtual Care Association (VVCA). This global nonprofit association is dedicated to developing best practices for delivering virtual care for animals, defining quality standards and protocols for practicing virtual care, sharing experiences among practice teams, engaging with virtual care providers, and advocating for policies in support of quality virtual care.

Mary Lassaline, DVM, PhD, Diplomate ACVO , was appointed Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology in the Department of Clinical Sciences and Advanced Medicine.

FACULTY & STAFF UPDATES

Brandon Lawson, BS , a research assistant in the Garden and Luo Immune Regulation Laboratory, authored his first publication (pending submission), a minireview of chimeric constructs of neurotransmitter receptors. Outside of the lab, Lawson partnered with ASAP Philadelphia to coach after-school public forum debate at G.W. Childs School in Point Breeze.

Sue Lindborg, CVT, BS , retired from New Bolton Center after forty years of providing teaching support and doing research in the Department of Clinical Studies.

Daniela Luethy, DVM , received the Academic Staff House Officer mentoring award, given to an academic staff member who has demonstrated dedication and compassion in mentoring House Officers.

Jim Marx, DVM, PhD, DACLAM , had an ASLAP grant to host two veterinary students interested in Laboratory Animal Medicine, which unfortunately had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. In discussing ways to provide the students with some lab animal experience, he came to appreciate how much informal education was done by just casually discussing various topics with the students in our offices. Based on this, he organized the ASLAP Office Chats for vet students in laboratory animal

medicine. Approximately twenty vet students interested in lab animal medicine participated in ten one-hour sessions presented by lab animal clinicians.

Nicola Mason, BVetMed, PhD , was promoted to Professor of Medicine.

Megan McClosky, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM) was promoted to Assistant Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine and Extracorporeal Therapies.

Kathryn McGonigle, DVM, MPH , received the 2020 Penn Vet Class of 2020 Philadelphia Teaching Award.

Kathryn Michel, DVM, MS, MSED , was appointed to the Educator and Faculty Development subgroup within the AAVMC Competency-Based Veterinary Education (CBVE) Working Group. Known as the Catalyze subgroup, it is one of three major components of the CBVE operations plan, with the goal of supporting faculty and curricular development by providing resources to enhance veterinary education.

Michael Mison, DVM, Dipl. ACVS , received the Zoetis Distinguished Veterinary Teacher Award.

Keiko Miyadera, DVM, PhD , published Miyadera K et al., “Intrastromal Gene Therapy Prevents and Reverses Advanced Corneal Clouding in a Canine Model of Mucopolysaccharidosis I,” Molecular Therapy , June 3, 2020, 28(6): 1455–63, https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ymthe.2020.04.004. This new publication was on the cover of Molecular Therapy .

Megan Murray, VMD , received the 2020 Penn Vet Class of 2020 Philadelphia Resident Award.

Cris Navas, DVM , and the New Bolton Center Cardiology and Ultrasound Group organized an Equine Cardiology virtual research retreat in June 2020. Fifty researchers and scientists from eight countries met virtually over three days. Twenty-one abstracts were presented and each day breakout groups discussed topics related to Equine Cardiology. The presence of clinicians, researchers, internists, sports medicine specialists and cardiologists brought different perspectives and robust dialogue. Potential collaborations and calls for action were generated, particularly involving the development of standards for equine ECGs, echocardiography, and exercise associated deaths and injuries. The group hopes to expand activities in equine

Alumni Achievement Award

Katrin Hinrichs, DVM, PhD , Chair of the Department of Clinical Studies at New Bolton Center, received UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine’s Alumni Achievement Award on May 21, 2020. The award is the highest honor bestowed to alumni for their outstanding personal and professional contributions to veterinary science. Dr. Hinrichs was recognized for her “expertise as a clinician-scientist and reproductive biologist exemplifying all attributes of a true academician. Her pioneering work in the development, application and use of innovative procedures for oocyte management, storage, transport, survival and viability changed the way equine reproduction is practiced worldwide.”

cardiology research. A summary of the retreat will be published in Equine Veterinary Journal in the fall as a science in brief report. The retreat was generously supported by Boehringer Ingelheim, Beaufort Cottage Educational Trust, and Gaeltec. In addition, with the support of the New Bolton Center Hospital and Department of Clinical Studies at New Bolton Center, Navas, Claire Underwood, and Olivia Lorello launched the New Bolton Center Telehealth Service to help veterinarians during the COVID-19 pandemic; its long-term mission is to improve animal health, foster a team approach to medicine, and create new learning opportunities for veterinarians and students worldwide.

Rose Nolen-Walston, DVM , received the CS-NBC Teaching Excellence Award, given to an outstanding full-time faculty member who has demonstrated a sincere and high level of interest in performing and advancing instruction in the professional student curriculum at Penn Vet. She also received the 2020 Penn Vet Class of 2023 Lecture Teaching Award.

Kyla Ortved, DVM, PhD , published Beste KJ, Ortved KF, Rossignol F, and Ducharme NG, “Transendoscopic Axial Division of Epiglottic Entrapments Using a

Silicone-Covered Hook and Diode Laser in 29 Horses,”

Veterinary Surgery , 2020, 49: 131–37. She also published PetersKennedy J, Lange CE, and Ortved KF, “Aural Plaques and Invasive Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Associated with Equus Caballus Papillomavirus 4 (EcPV4) in a 28-Year-Old Thoroughbred Gelding,” Veterinary Dermatology , 2020. She also published Chapman HS, Gale AL, Dodson ME, Linardi RL, and Ortved KF, “The Effect of Autologous Platelet Lysate on the Differentiation Potential of Equine Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells,” Stem Cells and Development , 2020, 29: 144–55. She also published Brown K, Davidson EJ, Ortved KF, Stefanovski D, Ross MW, Wulster KB, and Levine DG, “Long-Term Outcome in Horses Undergoing Interspinous Ligament Desmotomy for Overriding Dorsal Spinous Processes,”

Veterinary Surgery , 2020, 49: 590–99. She also published Haughan J, Jiang Z, Stefanovski D, Moss KL, Ortved KF, and Robinson MA, “Detection of Intra-Articular Gene Therapy in Horses Using Quantitative Real Time PCR in Synovial Fluid and Plasma,” Drug Testing and Analysis , 2020.

FACULTY & STAFF UPDATES

Cynthia M. Otto, DVM, PhD , presented Working with Working Dogs at the Wallis Annenberg Petspace Leadership Institute Retreat; Searching for Answers: How Detection Dogs Help Solve Important Research Questions, the keynote address at Janssen Pharmaceuticals; Canine Sports Medicine at SCIVAC Rimini, Italy (virtual); and The Scent of COVID19: How Dogs May Help in Rapid Screening at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory COVID/SARS CoV2 Rapid Research Reports. She published Kybert N, ProkopPrigge K, Otto CM, Ramirez L, Joffe E, Tanyi J, Piltz-Seymour J, Johnson ATC, and Preti G, “Exploring Ovarian Cancer Screening Using a Combined Sensor Approach: A Pilot Study,” AIP Advances , 2020, 10, 035213, https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5144532; Essler JL, Wilson C, Verta AC, Feuer R, and Otto CM, “Differences in the Search Behavior of Cancer Detection Dogs Trained to Have Either a Sit or Stand-Stare Final Response,” Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 2020, https://doi.org/10.3389/ fvets.2020.00118; and Niedermeyer GM, Hare E, Brunker LK, Berk RA, Kelsey KM, Darling TA, Nord JL, Schmidt KK, and Otto CM, “A Randomized Cross-Over Field Study of Pre-Hydration Strategies in Dogs Tracking in Hot Environments,” Frontiers in Veterinary Science , 2020, https:// doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00292.

Mark Oyama, DVM, MSCE , was named the Charlotte Newton Sheppard Endowed Chair of Medicine. He also received the 2020 Penn Vet Class of 2021 Philadelphia Teaching Award.

Dipti Pitta, BVSc, MVSc, PhD , received the Zoetis Research Excellence Award.

Courtney Pope, VMD , received the Boucher Award. Selected by the graduating veterinary class, the award is given based on teaching skills as recognized by the senior class; knowledge in the candidate’s area of expertise for their level of training; responsiveness to the needs of the students, including willingness to participate in off-hour seminars, discussions and teaching sessions; and dedication to New Bolton Center and to the veterinary profession.

Jenni Punt, VMD, PhD , received a Penn Undergraduate Research Mentorship award for summer 2020 to support two Penn students to join a group of ten high school, undergraduate, and Penn Vet students in the CANIINE Project (for Cancer, Immunity, Infection, and Education). Now in its second year, the project engages students in original research on the immune response of Penn Vet canine patients. This year students Zoom in every day from Delaware, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to

make new discoveries using original research generated by undergraduates in Penn’s Bio425 course.

Patrick Reilly, Grad Dip. ELR , graduated with distinction in the first US-based course in Equine Locomotor Research from the Royal Veterinary College of London. He received an award for outstanding research project on the influence of horseshoes and surfaces on mid-stance hoof angle.

Alexander Reiter, DrMedVet, Dipl. AVDC, EVDC , gave feline and canine dentistry courses for the Improve International organization in Kusatsu, Japan, in January 2020. He became an expert peer reviewer for the American Kennel Club (AKC) Canine Health Foundation in April 2020. He published EberspächerSchweda MC, Schmitt K, Handschuh S, FuchsBaumgartinger A, and Reiter AM, “Diagnostic Yield of MicroComputed Tomography (Micro-CT) Versus Histopathology of a Canine Oral Fibrosarcoma,” Journal of Veterinary Dentistry 2020, 37: 14–21. He also published Reiter AM, “Effects of Diets, Treats, and Additives on Periodontal Disease,” Today’s Veterinary Practice January/ February 2020: 23–26. He was the section editor and author/ co-author of fourteen chapters on dentistry and oral surgery in L

Cohn and E Cote (eds.), Clinical Veterinary Advisor , 4th ed., 2020. He was the co-author, with MM Soltero-Rivera, of “Diseases of the Oral Cavity and Salivary Glands,” in D Bruyette (ed.), Clinical Small Animal Internal Medicine , 2020: 533–46.

Dean Richardson, DVM , received the Robert Whitlock Award, given to the faculty member who has demonstrated the most dedication to mentoring young faculty.

Mary Robinson, VMD, PhD, DACVCP , published Moss KL, Jiang Z, Dodson ME, Linardi RL, Haughan J, Gale AL, Grzybowski C, Engiles JE, Stefanovski D, Robinson MA, and Ortved KF, “Sustained Interleukin-10 Transgene Expression Following Intraarticular AAV5-IL-10 Administration to Horses,” Human Gene Therapy , 2020, 31: 110–18, https://doi.org/10.1089/ hum.2019.195. She also published Morgan J, Ross M, Levine D, Stefanovski D, You Y, Robinson MA, and Davidson E, “Effects of Acepromazine and Xylazine on Subjective and Objective Forelimb Lameness,” Equine Veterinary Journal , December 20, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1111/ evj.13225. She also published Guan F, Fay S, Li X, You Y, and Robinson MA, “Identification of Ex Vivo Catabolites of Peptides with Doping Potential in Equine Plasma by HILIC-HRMS,” Drug Testing and Analysis , February 25, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1002/dta.2781. She also published Haughan J, Jiang Z, Stefanovski D, Moss KL,

Ortved KF, and Robinson MA, “Detection of Intra-Articular Gene Therapy in Horses Using Quantitative Real Time PCR in Synovial Fluid and Plasma,” Drug Testing and Analysis , March 4, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1002/ dta.2785.

Dieter Schifferli, PhD, DrMedVet , published Wu Y, Hu Q, Dehinwal R, Rakov AV, Grams N, Clemens EC, Hofmann J, Okeke IN, and Schifferli DM, “The Not So Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Differential Bacterial Adhesion and Invasion Mediated by Salmonella PagN Allelic Variants,” Microorganisms , 2020, 8(4): 489, https://doi.org/10.3390/ microorganisms8040489, PMID 32235448.

Deborah Silverstein, DVM , DACVECC, presented a virtual lecture at Brazilian Emergency and Critical Care Veterinary Conference in July 2020. She published Wolf JM, Stefanovski D, and Silverstein DC, “Retrospective Evaluation of the Influence of Azotemia on Plasma Lactate Concentrations in Hypotensive Dogs and Cats (2008–2018): 337 cases,” Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care , June 2020, 30(3).

Devon Simone, LVT , received the 2020 Penn Vet Class of 2020 NBC Nursing Award.

Michelle Strolle, CVT , received the 2020 Penn Vet Class of 2020 Philadelphia Nursing Award.

Corinne Sweeney, DVM , joined the Board of Directors of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (RCI) as Immediate Past-Chair in June 2020. RCI is composed of governmental regulators of horse and greyhound racing in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad-Tobago, and the Equestrian Club of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Charles Vite, DVM, PhD, Dipl ACVIM (Neurology) , published Yoon SY, Hunter JE, Chawla S, Clarke DL, Molony CM, O’Donnell PA, Bagel JH, Kumar M, Poptani H, Vite CH, and Wolfe JH, “Global Central Nervous System Correction in a Large Brain Model of Human Alpha-mannosidosis by Intravascular Gene Therapy,” Brain , July 2020, 143(7): 2058–72, https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/ awaa161. He also published Bradbury AM, Bagel JH, Nguyen D, Lykken E, Pesayco-Salvador J, Jiang X, Swain GP, Hendricks IJ, Miyadera K, Hess RS, Ostrager A, ODonnell P, Sands MS, Ory DS, Shelton GD, Bongarzone ER, Gray SJ, and Vite CH, “Krabbe Disease Successfully Treated via Monotherapy of Intrathecal Gene Therapy,” Journal of Clinical Investigation , 2020, 130(9) 4906–20, https://doi.org/10.1172/ JCI133953. He also published Corado CR, Pinkstaff J, Jiang X, Galban EM, Fisher SJ, Scholler O, Russell C, Bagel JH, ODonnell PA, Ory DS, Vite CH, and Bradbury AM, “Cerebrospinal Fluid and Serum Glycosphingolipid Biomarkers in Canine Globoid Cell Leukodystrophy,” Molecular

FACULTY & STAFF UPDATES

and Cellular Neuroscience , January 2020, 102: 103451; Sidhu R, Kell P, Dietzen DJ, Farhat NY, Do AND, Porter FD, Berry-Kravis E, Vite CH, Reunert J, Marquardt T, Giugliani R, Lourenço CM, Bodamer O, Wang RY, Plummer E, Schaffer JE, Ory DS, and Jiang X, “Application of N-palmitoyl-Ophosphocholineserine for Diagnosis and Assessment of Response to Treatment in Niemann-Pick Type C Disease,” Molecular Genetics and Metabolism , 2020, 129: 292–302, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ymgme.2020.01.007; and Kao ML, Stellar S, Solon, E, Lordi A, Kasica N, Swain G, Bagel JH, Gurda BL, and Vite CH, “Pharmacokinetics and Distribution of 2-hydroxypropyl- β -cyclodextrin Following a Single Intrathecal Dose to Cats,” Journal of Inherited Metabolic Disease , 2020, 43(3): 618–34, https://doi. org/10.1002/jimd.12189.

P. Jeremy Wang, MD, PhD , received the 2021 Society for the Study of Reproduction Research Award.

Brittany Watson, VMD, PhD, MS, DACVPM , was appointed Associate Professor of Clinical Shelter Medicine. She presented Community Engagement and Adapting to the Time of COVID-19 at the ASPCA Cornell Maddie’s Shelter Medicine

Conference in July 2020 and High Quality, High Volume Spay/ Neuter (HQHVSN) at the Association of Charity Vets Conference in February 2020. She published Stavisky J, Watson B, Dean R, Merritt BL, Van Der Leij RWJR, and Serlin R, “Development of International Learning Outcomes for Shelter Medicine in Veterinary Education: A Delphi Approach,” Journal of Veterinary Medical Education , (in press). She also published Perley K, Burns CC, Maguire C, Shen V, Joffe E, Stefanovski D, Redding L, Germanis L, Drobatz KJ, and Watson B, “Retrospective Evaluation of Outpatient Canine Parvovirus Treatment in a ShelterBased Low-Cost Urban Clinic,” Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care , March/April 2020, 30(2): 202–8, https://doi. org/10.1111/vec.12941. She also published Edgerton EB, McCrea AR, Berry T, Kwok JY, Thompson LK, Watson B, Fuller EM, Nolan TJ, Lok JB, and Povelones M, “Activation of Mosquito Immunity Blocks the Development of TransmissionStage Filarial Nematodes,” PNAS , February 18, 2020, 117(7): 3711–17, https://doi.org/10.1073/ pnas.1909369117.

Nicole Weinstein, DVM , received the 2020 Penn Vet Class of 2022 Lecture Teaching Award.

John Wolfe, VMD, PhD , led a team that successfully applied a gene therapy platform to completely correct brain defects in a large animal model of a human genetic disease. The study was published in the journal Brain . https://www.vet.upenn. edu/about/press-room/pressreleases/article/ getting-gene-therapy-to-the-brai

Julia Ying Wu, PhD , firstauthored two manuscripts: “Immunoregulatory Cells as Potential Biomarkers in Myasthenia Gravis” and “MyeloidDerived Suppressor Cell and Regulatory T cell Frequencies in Canine Myasthenia Gravis—A Pilot Study,” are in review at Frontiers in Neurology and Veterinary Journal , respectively. Wu shared data and insights with a team of young researchers in Jenni Punt’s CANIINE Virtual Summer Research Program. Lawton Chiles High School junior Surabhi Kumar, Penn undergraduate Carly Seligman, and rising second year Penn Vet student Reshmi Sensharma analyzed Wu’s data generated from canine myasthenia gravis patients. Sensharma presented the team’s results at the 2020 National Veterinary Scholars Symposium, which was held virtually in August. Wu is affiliated with the Garden and Luo Immune Regulation Lab.

GRANTS

Gustavo Aguirre, VMD, PhD , received a $87,181 grant from the Poodle Club of America for Genetic Test Development for Inherited Eye Diseases in Poodles. The grant spans from January 2020 to July 2021.

Montserrat Anguera, PhD , received a $505,000 grant from the NIH-NIAID for COVID-19 Related Research to Investigate Whether the X-Linked Gene ACE2 Escapes X-Chromosome Inactivation in Human and Mouse Alveolar Type 2 Cells. Her collaborator is Andrew Vaughan.

Dan Beiting, PhD , received a $275,000 grant through a sponsored research agreement with Astarte Medical to support the loading of microbiome datasets from term and preterm infants into the MicrobiomeDB database and to develop analytic tools to interrogate these data. The grant spans from June 23, 2020, to July 31, 2022. He received an additional $301,126 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for Ensuring Access and Effective Use of Clinical and Epidemiological Datasets, to develop web-based tools that allow users to carry out crossdatabase queries between MicrobiomeDB and related clinical, epidemiological, and genomic database resources. In addition, this award supports the development of data visualization and statistical tools

for interrogating longitudinal microbiome datasets. This grant spans from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2022. His collaborator for these two grants is David Roos, Department of Biology. Beiting also received a $30,000 grant from PennMed’s Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics and the Program in Comparative Animal Biology to facilitate studies on the interactions between bacteria, metabolites, and host immune signaling in a three-dimensional in vitro model of the intestinal epithelium. The grant spans from February 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021. His collaborator is Sara Cherry (PennMed).

William Beltran, DVM, PhD , received a $500,000 grant for annual direct costs from the Foundation Fighting Blindness for Penn Large Animal Model Translational and Research Center. The grant spans from July 2020 to June 2025.

Stephen Cole, VMD, MS, DACVM , received a $33,220 grant from the PSOM McCabe Fund for Tracking Resistance to Antimicrobials in Canine Environments (TRACE): A Pilot Study to Investigate Contamination of Dog Raw Food Diets with ESBL and CarbapenemResistant Enterobacteriaceae. The grant spans from August 2020 to July 2021.

Julie Engiles, VMD, DACVP , received a $4,960 grant from the Pennsylvania Animal Health and Diagnostic Commission for a retrospective analysis of fatal West Nile virus encephalitis in Pennsylvania horses from 2009 to 2019 and correlation with climate, human, and avian disease. The grant spans from January 2020 to December 2020. She is affiliated with New Bolton Center Pathology/PADLS. Her collaborators are Jolie Demchur, Heather Clarke, and Betsy Schroeder.

Karina Guziewicz, PhD , received a $228,509 grant from IVERIC bio SRA for Preclinical Assessment of IC-200 AAV-BEST1 Vector in WT Retina. The grant spans from January 2020 to November 2020. She also received a $206,431 grant from IVERIC bio SRA for AAV-hBEST1-Mediated Disease Reversal in cBest-Heterozygous Model. The grant spans from March 2020 to March 2022. She also received a $201,250 NIH/NEI R21-Y2 (EY029826) grant for the Role of a Novel Scaffold Protein in Mediating RPE Phagocytosis of Photoreceptor OS. The grant spans from March 2020 to February 2021. She also received a $54,880 grant from the NYEE Foundation, Icahn School of Medicine, New York, for Imaging Mass Spectrometry (IMS) for Characterization of cBest Molecular Signatures. The grant spans from January 2020 to January 2021. She is collaborating with Dr. RT Smith’s lab.

GRANTS

Ronald Harty, PhD , received a $275,000 NIH R21-EY-031465 grant for Predicted Role of Ebola VP40-Host Interactions in Ocular Pathology and Persistence. The grant spans from April 2020 to March 2022. His collaborator is Dr. Dongeun Huh, Penn Bioengineering.

Jie Luo, PhD , received a $150,000 grant from the Transdisciplinary Awards Program in Translational Medicine and Therapeutics for developing antigen-specific immunosuppressive treatment strategies for myasthenia gravis by adoptive transfer of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) regulatory T cells, leveraging a rodent model of the disease that his team has developed. Myasthenia gravis is characterized by weakness and rapid fatigue of any of the muscles under a patient’s voluntary control. MG is caused by antibody-mediated autoimmune responses to muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Current treatment is an arduous process involving attempts to control the progression of the disease and decrease the symptoms, often fraught with undesirable side effects. The grant spans from February 2020 to January 2022. Luo is affiliated with the Garden and Luo Immune Regulation Laboratory. His collaborator is James Riley.

Leonardo Murgiano, PhD , received a $46,504 grant from the Collie Health Foundation for Molecular Mapping and Characterization of the Genetic Modifier Associated with Collie Eye Anomaly. The grant spans from July 2020 to December 2022. He is affiliated with the Aguirre lab.

Cris Navas, DVM , received a $30,233 grant from the Thomas B. McCabe and Jeannette E. Laws McCabe Fund for Injury Prevention in Equine Athletes through Mobile Health and Data Analytics. The goal of this research is to set the foundation for a program to prevent injuryand exercise-associated deaths using an innovative approach that combines rider-friendly fitness trackers and data science. His collaborator is Mutian Niu.

Kyla Ortved, DVM, PhD , received a $119,160 grant from the Clinical and Translational Science Award One Health Alliance for Development of an Injectable Hydrogel for Sustained Release of Extracellular Vesicles as a Treatment for Posttraumatic Osteoarthritis. The grant spans from 2020 to 2022. Her collaborators are Tom Schaer and Jason Burdick. She also received a $11,750 grant from the Raymond Firestone Trust of the University

of Pennsylvania for Characterization of Extracellular Vesicles in Synovial Fluid of Horses with Naturally Occurring Osteoarthritis. The grant spans from 2020 to 2021. She received an additional $11,800 grant from the Raymond Firestone Trust of the University of Pennsylvania for Characterization of the Immunomodulatory Properties of Equine Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles. The grant spans from 2020 to 2021.

Cynthia M. Otto, DVM, PhD , received a $494,400 NIH grant for Platelet Factor 4, KKO and Heparins in NETosis in Sepsis. The grant spans from May 10, 2020 to April 30, 2025. Her collaborators are Deb Silverstein, Katie Mauro, and Morty Poncz (CHOP). She also received a DHS/Battelle Memorial Institute subcontract from a $267,573 grant for Behavioral Characterization of Explosives Detection Dogs for Selection of Positive and Negative Traits. The grant spans from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021. Her collaborator is James Serpell. She also received a $242,246 grant from Wildlife Futures/Pennsylvania Game Commission for A Proof of Concept: Are Detection Dogs a Useful Tool to Screen WhiteTailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Feces for CWD? The grant spans from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021.

Mark Oyama DVM, MSCE , received a $160,311 R01-HL107904-09 grant for Affordable Delivery of Human Therapeutics Proteins Bioencapsulated in Plant Cells. The grant spans from September 1, 2020 to August 31, 2022. His collaborator is Henry Daniell.

Jenni Punt, VMD, PhD , received an $11,000 grant from Penn’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, providing stipends for two Penn undergraduates and a small supply budget. The grant spans from May 2020 to August 2020. Her collaborators are John Wagner and Jean Scholz.

Mary Robinson, VMD, PhD, DACVCP, received a $881,000 grant from several private donors to establish the Racehorse Medication Research Fund, which will enable the study of the effects of furosemide and bisphosphonates on bone using a PET scanner coupled with CT scanning and biomarkers. The grant spans from August 2020 to August 2022. She is affiliated with the Penn Vet Equine Pharmacology Laboratory and the Penn Vet Extracellular Vesicle Core Facility. Her collaborators are Dr. Kathryn Wulster, Dean Andrew Hoffman, Dr. Kyla Ortved, Dr. Cristobal Navas de Solis, Dr. Claire Underwood, Dr. Virginia Reef, Dr. Darko Stefanovski, Dr. Rachel Derita, Dr. Joanne Haughan, Dr.

Youwen You, Dr. Jinwen Chen, and Dr. Zibin Jiang. www.vet. upenn.edu/about/press-room/ press-releases/article/a-tipping -point-for-catastrophic-injuries-inracehorses-penn-vet-researchersseek-answers-in-novel-interactionstudy.

Kotaro Sasaki, PhD, MD , received a $131,223 RFA #67-80 grant from the 2018 Health Research Formula Fund for Development and Maturation of Male Germline Stem Cells. The grant spans from June 1, 2019 to May 31, 2023. His collaborator is Sandra Ryeom.

Deborah Silverstein, DVM, DACVECC , received a $9,320 grant from the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care for Establishment of a Reference Interval for Thiamine Levels in Healthy Dogs and Evaluation of the Prevalence of Absolute Thiamine Deficiency in Critically Ill Dogs With and Without Sepsis Using HighPerformance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The grant spans from August 2020 to August 2021. Her collaborator Noa Berlin of Tufts University.

Andy Vaughan, PhD , received a five-year, $250,000 direct-peryear grant from the NIH/NHLBI to address the hypothesis that inactivation/ablation of ectopic SCCs will promote the resolution of dysplastic remodeling and reduce chronic Th2-biased inflammatory disease, but may also increase susceptibility to pathogens controlled by Th2

responses following influenza infection. The major aims to address this hypothesis are to ascertain the effects of SCC presence and specific SCC-derived signals on epithelial progenitor cells (fate and proliferation) during repair, and determine whether the development of SCCs impacts Th2-mediated inflammatory disease (asthma) or parasitic protection. Completion of this project will validate SCCs as important drivers of pulmonary disease and will also facilitate identification of specific SCC effector pathways that could allow for preservation of hostprotective benefits while attenuating their contribution to pathology.

Charles Vite, DVM, PhD, Dipl ACVIM (Neurology) , received a five-year $2,273,837 direct costs NIH R01 NS115869-01A1 grant to optimize the transduction of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum and transduction of the brain stem using adeno-associated viral vector serotypes. The hope is to attenuate clinical dysfunction and pathology in cats with Niemann-Pick disease type C1 disease and to translate this therapy into children. He also received a five-year $3,242,134 NIH-R01 NS115869 grant to investigate optimized techniques to deliver a membrane-bound protein to the lysosome to treat NPC disease. His collaborator for both grants is Steven Gray of the University of Texas Southwestern.

COMMENCEMENT

ON APRIL 15, DEAN ANDREW HOFFMAN

ANNOUNCED PENN VET’S 2020 COMMENCEMENT WOULD BE VIRTUAL. THIS IS ONLY THE SECOND TIME IN THE SCHOOL’S HISTORY THAT ITS PUBLIC COMMENCEMENT FORMAT CHANGED IN SUCH A RADICAL WAY. THE FIRST WAS IN 1776, WHEN PRUDENTLY AND COMMENDABLY, THE SCHOOL HELD A PRIVATE CEREMONY ON “ACCOUNT OF THE PRESENT UNSETTLED STATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.”

“I know you will do great things, because as the coolest, baddest, grittiest, and most prepared for anything class of veterinary students in the history of the world, you will strive to be the best veterinarians... And if you’re lucky, you can combine all of those things and have a most rewarding career.”

DEAN ANDREW HOFFMAN

class of 2020

“We didn’t pick this field because it’s easy or brings fame and glory. We did it to be of service to others. And we do not serve alone... Penn Vet prepared us for almost anything, including global pandemics... The School also provided us with a fantastic network of support for the rest of our lives... As your class president, my final ask of you is to keep this network strong and active.”

PATRICK “PI” PILON, V’20, SAVMA CLASS PRESIDENT

STUDENT

Kathleen Lenehan Kalbian, V’22 , attended the 2020 American Association of Swine Veterinarians national conference in Atlanta. She presented her summer research, “Impact on Piglet Behavior After Use of Flunixin Meglumine at Time of Castration” in the oral presentation competition and was awarded an Elanco Veterinary Student Scholarship. She is affiliated with the Penn Vet Swine Teaching and Research Center. Her collaborator is Dr. Meghann Pierdon, Assistant Professor, Clinical Production Medicine.

Lindsay Martin, V’22 , completed a four-week externship at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel Island in Southwest Florida. She triaged and cared for sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife through evidence-based conservation medicine and a focus on One Health. As an extern, she provided medical treatments as well as proper husbandry and environmental enrichment to aquatic and terrestrial reptilian, avian, and mammalian species.

Victoria Leopardi, V’23 , worked in the Garden and Luo Immune Regulation Laboratory as the NIH/Boehringer Ingelheim Summer Research Program student. She presented a poster on “Infectious Disease in the Etiology of Myasthenia Gravis: A Systematic Review” at the National Veterinary Scholars Symposium.

A GIFT WITH THE POWER TO HEAL

Our animals sustain us in so many ways, providing companionship, affection, and devotion. By lovingly remembering your pet, you can make a difference in the lives of many animals and families.

With a $500 gift, your personalized inscription will be displayed on the Ryan Hospital’s Always in My Heart pet memorial donor wall for at least one full year. As an added remembrance, you’ll also receive a keepsake photo frame, with your special inscription included on the back. Your gift will benefit animal care at Penn Vet’s Ryan Hospital, which treats beloved pets of all kinds.

With your support, Penn Vet will continue to provide compassionate care, pursue groundbreaking research, and teach our students to carry on a tradition of veterinary excellence.

MAIL THIS FORM AND YOUR PAYMENT TO:

Penn Vet’s Ryan Hospital 3800 Spruce Street, Suite 172E, Philadelphia, PA 19104

Name

MARC VALITUTTO, V’06, VIRUS HUNTER

WILDLIFE VETERINARIAN HELPS IDENTIFY SIX NOVEL CORONAVIRUSES IN MYANMAR BATS

By: Sacha Adorno

Sure, the COVID-19 crisis is, to quote everyone, “unprecedented.” But unexpected? Not exactly. COVID-19 caught most of us off guard, but it was a pandemic waiting to happen for Marc Valitutto, V’06, and others studying emerging infectious diseases with pandemic potential.

“It’s a tragedy we knew was coming,” said Valitutto. “One Health scientists have seen the writing on the wall since the 2003 SARS outbreak.”

HUNTING IN BAT CAVES FOR ONE HEALTH

Valitutto has a bird’s-eye view of looming public health crises as a senior field veterinarian for EcoHealth Alliance, a global environmental health nonprofit organization. Before this, he was wildlife veterinarian for the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Global Health Program and Global Lead for the USAID PREDICT-Myanmar project, which aimed to better understand how diseases, such as Zika, Ebola, and coronavirus, are transferred among people and animals.

“Breakouts like COVID-19 are one of the reasons this project existed. Our goal was to essentially find problems before they get out and into the world,” he explained.

Until federal funding was cut for both Smithsonian programs earlier this year, Valitutto spent considerable time in Myanmar conducting emerging infectious disease surveillance.

Donning full PPE — Tyvek suits, goggles, hoods, feet covering, and double gloves — in humid weather of above 110 degrees Fahrenheit, he and his team traveled across the country testing bats and other wildlife. “Somedays after hours in a dark airless cave filled with rats and snakes, I’d ask ‘why am I doing this?’”

His answer was always One Health.

CULTIVATING A SAFE HUMAN/ ANIMAL COHABITATION

“Disease and wildlife surveillance is more important than ever. The world’s population has grown exponentially,” Valitutto said. “All these people need resources. They need food. They need farmland. They need livestock. They need places to live. This has massive impact on land and resources.”

Marc Valitutto, V’06

Dr. Marc Valitutto and team outfit an Indian flying fox bat with a tracking collar to help them monitor where people and animals interact.

“Breakouts like COVID-19 are one of the reasons this project existed. Our goal was to essentially find problems before they get out and into the world.”

MARK VALITUTTO, V’06, VIRUS HUNTER

As nations create room for more people and tap into earth’s existing resources, humans and animals — especially wildlife once left to a people-free existence — are increasingly living closely together. Added Valitutto, “Animals that have lived with viruses and adapted to them are now coming into contact with humans and livestock. This creates greater risk for exposure and amplification of disease among populations new to the viruses.”

Disease hunting was a slice of the PREDICT program. Valitutto’s team also trained Burmese veterinarians and local health officials to prevent, detect, and control zoonotic infectious disease.

Even before that, Valitutto had to build their trust: “It’s easy for a Westerner to come into an impoverished nation and say, ‘You need to do this, this, and this.’ But it’s not going to be effective if local communities aren’t engaged and on board.”

Trust-building takes time. Valitutto remembers one Myanmar monk guarding a bat cave. “We spent months just talking with him and understanding his concerns. After learning he was fearful of venomous snakes, we bought him a snake hook on Amazon — that did the trick.”

PREDICT’s work in Myanmar paid off: Valitutto and others discovered six novel coronaviruses in bats. Currently, there’s no evidence the viruses threaten human health, but research continues. “Discoveries like this underscore the need for this work,” he said.

A DREAM COME TRUE

It’s work that Valitutto dreamed of as a kid. He started working at zoos at age 15 and has never really stopped.

When he wasn’t on the trail of emerging diseases for PREDICT, Valitutto conducted health studies of giant pandas. As COVID-19 took root in China, he was in Chengdu exchanging medical knowledge with local veterinarians to enhance the care and health of captive and wild pandas.

“I love pandas, but I really enjoy virus surveillance,” said Valitutto. “The impact feels greater. I’m able to use my Penn Vet training to share knowledge with people in developing nations and have a worldwide impact.”

CLASS NOTES

1950s

Larry Soma, V’57 , and longtime colleague Charlie Short, DVM, published “Beginnings of a Specialty: The Creation of the American College of Veterinary Anesthesia” in the June 2020 issue of Veterinary Heritage, Bulletin of the American Veterinary Historical Societ y.

1980s

David Galligan, V’81 , received the University’s Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Abby Maxon Sage, V’87, MS, Diplomate ACVIM, Jennifer Fuhrman LaPlume, V’94 , and Anna Russau, V’03 received the 2020 Virginia Veterinary Service Award for their work in the formation and management of the Virginia Veterinary Equine Welfare Resource (VVEWR). They created VVEWR in response to the need for improved equine welfare resources in Virginia. Currently, Sage is a staff veterinarian with the Office of Veterinary Services in the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. LaPlume and Russau own and operate solo equine ambulatory practices— Ragged Mountain Equine Services and Warrantor Horse Works, respectively—in central Virginia.

1990s

Donna Dambach V’90 , Senior Vice President of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Sana Biotechnology, is now a member of the Board of Trustees at Morris Animal Foundation. Morris Animal Foundation, headquartered in Denver, is one of the largest nonprofit foundations in the world dedicated to funding studies to improve and protect the health of companion animals and wildlife.

2000s

Surell Levine, V’09 , developed a cat wrap that acts like a baby swaddle, applying uniform constant pressure to calm the animal, and has access points for common vet procedures, such as X-rays, ultrasounds, vaccines, and more. She has been selling the Calm & Cozy Cat Wrap for a few months and is getting great feedback from customers and vets across the country.

2010s

Kathryn Bach, V’13 , joined the faculty at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in July. She will be teaching in the pre-clinical curriculum and helping organize the Summer Dairy Institute, an advanced training program for prospective dairy veterinarians.

Erin Luley V’14 , married Jon Hartzler in State College, Pennsylvania, on October 26, 2019. Several Penn Vet alumni attended, including Lester Griel, V’65, Allie Neely, V’14, Alex Ciuffitelli-Dzema, V’14, and Ben Ouyang, V’14.

IN REMEMBRANCE 1940s

Robert Leighton, V’41 , passed away on January 22. He served two years in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps during World War II. From 1944 to 1956, Leighton was chief of surgery at what is now the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ Angell Animal Medical Center–Western New England in Springfield, Massachusetts. He then moved to New York City to be chief of surgery at what is now the Animal Medical Center. An innovative surgeon, Leighton designed surgical instruments and orthopedic implants fabricated by his father, a machinist, including the Leighton shuttle pin for stabilizing distal ulnar fractures. In 1965, Leighton joined the veterinary faculty at UC-Davis. He was instrumental in establishing the American College

of Veterinary Surgeons as a charter member that same year. He taught veterinary surgery and provided orthopedic surgical care at UC-Davis until his retirement as a professor emeritus in 1982.

Roy DeBenneville Bertolet, V’46 , passed away on April 14. He worked at Dr. Rau’s veterinary office right out of school, then opened his Somerton Veterinary Hospital, where he cared for many beloved pets until his retirement in 1984. He was a retired colonel in the U.S. Army.

1950s

Sidney Flaxman, V’52 , passed away on April 27. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, Flaxman practiced large and small animal medicine for over 48 years, first in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and then in the Plymouth Meeting area.

Paul Husted, V’53 , passed away on January 3. Husted had a long career with the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Veterinary Service. He was commissioned first lieutenant 1954 and retired with rank of colonel in 1975. His assignments included Veterinary Service, USAF Hospital, Wiesbaden, Germany; Chief of Veterinary Services, USAF Hospital, Loring Air Force Base, Maine; Chief of Veterinary Services, Military Working Dog Procurement and Training Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas; and Chief of Veterinary Services, USAF Hospital, Clark Air Base, Philippines. Husted received three Air Force commendation medals and the Legion of Merit. After his

military service, Husted worked at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Department of Clinical Sciences. He did a residency in Small Animal Medicine and then became Assistant Professor, Administrative Head of Small Animal Medicine Service, working in that capacity until 1989.

Joseph Slick, V’53 , passed away on April 26. A veteran of World War II, he served as a photographer and at one point was the private photographer for General Dwight D. Eisenhower during his visit to Panama. Slick was honorably discharged on September 20, 1946. In 1954, he opened Pennridge Veterinary Hospital for large and small animals in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, where he would practice for 57 years. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association and later served as its president. He was the founding president of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Historical Society.

George Orthey, V’58 , passed away in August. Orthey served in the U.S. Army and was stationed in the Panama Canal zone, where he operated an Army jungle animal zoo. Subsequent stations included Puerto Rico, Washington DC, Texas, Hawaii, South Korea, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. He was awarded the Legion of Merit in 1982. He retired as a full colonel from the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps in 1982. Orthey was a professional luthier who

hand-crafted his own instruments. A renowned expert on autoharps, he created harps for such legends as June Carter Cash and held an annual gathering of autoharp enthusiasts on his farm.

Frederick Rude, V’58 , passed away on April 23. He practiced veterinary medicine in the Kensington section of Philadelphia for more than 50 years at his veterinary clinic, Dr. Rude’s Animal Hospital. He was named Veterinarian of the Year and was featured in a radio call-in program about pet health. He was instrumental in bridging the gap between practicing veterinarians and the academicians at Penn. He welcomed veterinarians from the University to moonlight at his practice as well as aspiring veterinarians at all levels to gain experience there. He invited veterinary students to his home and established a radiology continuing education group for practicing veterinarians. While his practice was primarily small animals, he treated the occasional elephant when the circus came to town. Rude was president of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association and an officer in the American Animal Hospital Association.

CLASS NOTES

IN REMEMBRANCE

1960s

Paul M. Herr, V’60 , passed away on July 21. After serving as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, he was a large animal veterinarian for 40 years, working with Salisbury Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania and surrounding communities at Gap Veterinary Associates.

L. N. Dougherty, V’62 , passed away on June 27. Prior to vet school, he served in the U.S. Army Infantry in Korea and was honorably discharged with the rank of technical sergeant. Upon his return from Korea, he began teaching agricultural education at Elkland High School. Dougherty began his veterinary career in Oxford, Pennsylvania, focusing on the care of dairy herds. In 1971, he established Crest View Animal Clinic in New London, serving large and small animals until his retirement in 1997. In 1984, he was honored with the Centennial Award of Merit from the School.

Jan Bergeron, V’66 , passed away on March 8.

Sarah Anne Bingel, V’67 , passed away on May 8. A renowned veterinarian and researcher, she will be lovingly remembered for her strong will, her dedication to animals, and her love for her

family. Following graduation, she worked in private practice and for the Bide-A-Wee Association in New York until 1975. She entered the program for veterinary pathology in the Department of Comparative Medicine at the Washington State University and received a PhD in 1981. From 1981 to 1990 she served as a research associate and Assistant Professor in the Department of Comparative Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. From 1990 until her retirement in 2008 she worked as a veterinary pathologist in the Departments of Comparative Medicine and Pathology at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She volunteered for many years as a trained den leader for the Boy Scouts of America. She competed in agility competitions with her border collies; one of them was certified by the Alliance for Therapy Dogs, and they volunteered at children’s charities in Hendersonville, North Carolina, including St. Gerard House, which treated children with autism, and Helping Hands Development Center, which treated children with various disabilities. Bingel is survived by her two sons, two granddaughters, and a sister. Donations may be made to the World Wildlife Fund in her name.

John L. Thomas, V’69 , passed away on June 7. He was the owner and operator of the Mount Nittany Veterinary Hospital until his semi-retirement in 2009. He helped establish and worked for the Allegheny Spay and Neuter Clinic/Animal Welfare Council of the Alleghenies of Woodland.

1970s

Glenn Brewer, V’73 , passed away on July 2. He opened his veterinary practice, Airport Animal Hospital, in Warwick, Rhode Island, during the blizzard of 1978, and continued there through January 2017.

Robert Hull, V’73 , passed away on August 14. He owned and operated the Middle Road Animal Clinic in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, for over 40 years.

George Farnbach, V’74 , passed away on April 26. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and worked for over 20 years as a senior web developer at Independence Blue Cross in Philadelphia. He earned VMD and PhD degrees from Penn in neurology and molecular biology.

Emily Walder, V’77 , passed away on December 22, 2019.

2000s

Keith Zimmerman, V’03 , passed away on July 13 after a yearlong illness. His life was filled with dairy cows, children, hard work, and the desire to do right and support justice.

SEND US YOUR NEWS

Penn Vet graduates achieve remarkable successes every day. Whether you have a new address, are moving forward in your career, announcing an addition to the family or honoring the life of a fellow alumnus, Alumni Relations wants to hear about it.

Please share your news! Visit the Alumni page of the Penn Vet website, email your news to the alumni office at grovessh@vet. upenn.edu, or write to us at Alumni Relations, Penn Vet Alumni Office, 3800 Spruce Street, Suite 172E, Philadelphia, PA 19104. We may edit submissions due to space considerations.

PENN VET ALUMNI BOARD

Throughout Penn Vet’s rich history, alumni have been influential ambassadors for the school, helping to preserve history, share memories, and shape Penn Vet’s legacy. Over the years, vibrant leaders have represented the alumni voice and demonstrated the value and impact alumni can have by staying connected. They’ve played a vital role in keeping alumni informed, developing programming, and creating a broad network of alumni support of the School and its mission.

As alumni engagement grows and progresses with the School, Penn Vet has transitioned the Dean’s Alumni Council into an Alumni Board, a volunteer leadership board with 25-25 alumni, including six officers nominated by the Alumni Board.

The officer structure consists of a president and five vice-presidents who will help lead alumni initiatives around specific areas of focus. The officers are:

• Nathanael Oster, V’12, President

• Lindsay Shreiber, V’91, Vice-President of Alumni Engagement and Giving

• Heather A. Berst, V’00, Vice-President of Lifelong Learning

• Lisa Brody, V’16, Vice-President of Clinical and Professional Networking and Externships

• Liz Bales, V’00, Vice-President of Entrepreneurship and Business

• Felix Vega, V’85, Vice-President of Diversity and Inclusivity

The Alumni Board is also seated with emeritus members whose voices continue to play an important role.

The Alumni Board’s mission is to work closely with the Dean and the Office of Alumni Relations on various projects to connect alumni, students, and the public to the Penn Vet community for the purpose of engagement, ambassadorship and mentoring.

If you are interested in learning more about the alumni board, or how to get involved, please visit www.vet.upenn.edu/ people/alumni/ or contact the Office of Alumni Relations.

Robert R. Marshak, DVM, DACVIM

1923-2020 . DEAN EMERITUS, 1973-1987

At press time, we were notified that Dr. Robert R. Marshak, the School’s ninth dean from 1973 to 1987, died on October 20 at age 97. During his 14-year tenure as dean, he stewarded the School through a period of sweeping change, innovation, and investment.

“Dean Marshak’s accomplishments as dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine are surpassed only by his unwavering love and dedication to our community,” said Andrew Hoffman, Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine. “He worked tirelessly to redefine the veterinary profession and he is unquestionably the ‘Father of Veterinary Clinical Specialties.’ On behalf of the entire School, we extend our deepest sympathy to his wife Margo, and to his sons William, John, and Richard Marshak, and Derrick Marshall.”

“Bob’s brilliance and innovation were palpable,” said Joan C. Hendricks, VMD, PhD, who served as the School’s twelfth dean from 2006 to 2018.

“Throughout my time at Penn, the professoriate was proud of what was accomplished under his leadership. He transformed the profession and remained both proud and passionate about quality veterinary science training throughout his life.”

“Bob was a gifted leader who played a seminal role in transforming the quality of animal health care and modernizing veterinary medicine not only at Penn, but for the profession of veterinary medicine across the globe”, said Alan M. Kelly, BSc, BVSc, PhD, who served as the School’s eleventh dean from 1994 to 2005. “He is fondly remembered for his dazzling accomplishment, but also for his compassion, and boundless generosity. We all loved him.”

A 1945 graduate of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Marshak joined the School’s faculty in 1956 as professor. Two years later, in 1958, Marshak was appointed Chair of the Department of Medicine. As department chair, Marshak addressed the great disparity between programs for clinical studies in medical schools and those in veterinary schools.

In 1973, University President Martin Meyerson appointed Marshak Dean of the School. As Dean, he oversaw the construction of the School’s small animal hospital; enhancements and additions to Widener Hospital at New Bolton Center; as well as the building of the C. Mahlon Kline Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Center. Under his leadership, the School also garnered an international reputation in comparative medical research. He introduced a core-elective curriculum, and launched the Program of Aquatic Animal Medicine in 1976, as well as the Center for Interactions of Animals and Society in 1979.

Marshak served on the editorial boards of several journals, and he held numerous veterinary association leadership roles. He was a prolific investigator, publishing scientific papers on bovine leukemia, metabolic diseases, and leptospirosis.

The School has established the Dr. Robert Marshak Memorial Fund in his honor. If you would like to make a gift, please contact Margaret Leardi at mleardi@vet.upenn.edu, or 610-925-6180.

To read more about Dr. Marshak’s legacy, and to leave a remembrance or a condolence, please go to www.vet.upenn.edu/about/who-we-are/ dr.-robert-marshak-in-memoriam

DR. JAMES (JIM) BUCHANAN, DVM, MMS

Dr. James (Jim) Buchanan, DVM, MMS, passed away on July 20, in Philadelphia. Dr. B, as he was affectionately known to his colleagues and students, was a charter member of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Specialty of Cardiology. Along with distinguished colleagues, including Drs. David Detweiler, Don Patterson, and David Knight, Buchanan was integral in establishing veterinary cardiology as the scientific discipline we know today.

In the 1960s, Buchanan was part of Penn’s Comparative Cardiovascular Studies Unit, one of the first organized bodies to study cardiac disease in companion animals in collaboration with colleagues in the human medical community. One Health was clearly a philosophy championed by Buchanan decades before it became de rigueur in academic circles. But Buchanan was not only a brilliant medical cardiologist: in a union of expertise so rarely seen in medical circles, he was also a very accomplished cardiovascular surgeon. He performed the first artificial pacemaker implantation in a client-owned dog in 1967 and was instrumental in developing surgical techniques to address various congenital cardiac defects in dogs.

Buchanan’s accomplishments also included development of the radiographic vertebral heart size measure, which continues to be used to this day. Although Buchanan retired from academia in 1996, he spent the next 25 years continuing to mentor, teach, and serve as a role model for many.

He was particularly generous and gracious to trainees and residents. Indeed, he hosted many board reviews, his last in 2013 being attended by over 30 residents from all around the world. His digitized collection of

angiograms, electrocardiograms, pressure tracings, and case material is an invaluable teaching tool that he made freely available to all.

All through Buchanan’s retirement years, his friends and colleagues at Penn Vet continued to seek his advice on a routine basis, especially in regard to congenital defects such as pulmonic stenosis and abnormalities of the aortic arch.

Buchanan was a giant among our colleagues, a mentor to many, and a friend to all who met him. He is survived by his wife Marolyn, his four children, and his three grandchildren.

ROSELYN J. EISENBERG, P h D

Roselyn J. Eisenberg, PhD, of Haddonfield, New Jersey, passed away weeks from her 80th birthday. Eisenberg earned her PhD before the University of Pennsylvania and her AB from Bryn Mawr College. She completed her post-doctorate at Princeton University before being hired by the University of Pennsylvania as a microbiologist, and later served on the faculty at the School of Veterinary Medicine. She earned a worldwide reputation for her groundbreaking virology research on herpes simplex virus, in the lab she led for decades with Dr. Gary H. Cohen. She was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association of the Advancement of Science. She served on the editorial board of the Journal of Virology and authored over 260 articles. As a woman in science, who also chose to have children, she overcame significant hurdles early in her career. She was presented with an award by Penn’s Women’s Center for serving as a role model, based particularly on the gender-discrimination claim she brought and won early in the days of Title VII. She retired from academe in 2017, after the death of her husband of 56 years, William V. Eisenberg. She is survived by her two children, Jeff Eisenberg and Ruth Anne Robbins.

JOHN GEARHART, P h D

John D. Gearhart, 77, James W. Effron University Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) and former director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM), died May 27.

Gearhart earned his BS in 1964 from the Pennsylvania State University and his MS in 1966 from University of New Hampshire. He earned his PhD in genetics and development from Cornell University in 1970.

He became an Associate Professor of Anatomy at the University of Maryland before moving to Johns Hopkins University, where he taught from 1980 to 2008. His research focused on the role of genes in regulating the formation of human tissues and embryos, especially in causing mental retardation.

In 2008, Gearhart was appointed Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) University Professor. He became the James W. Effron University Professor and Director of the IRM. His appointment was jointly shared between PSOM and the School of Veterinary Medicine. From 2009 to 2015, he also served as a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at PSOM. He was instrumental in founding the International Society for Stem Cell Research.

BARRY STUPINE, MBA

Barry Stupine, MBA, former Associate Dean at Penn Vet, died May 6 at his home in Rydal, PA. He was 78.

Stupine earned his MBA from George Washington University and his BS from Temple University. He served as Assistant Executive Director at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania from 1969 to 1971. He went on to spend seven years at the Medical College of Pennsylvania before returning to Penn in 1978 as Director of the School’s small animal hospital. He later became Associate Dean for Administration in 1987, and in 1991, he was named Penn’s Interim Vice president for Human Resources while continuing his veterinary school roles. He also served as Special Assistant to Penn’s Executive Vice President from 1992 to 1994.

“I took him to Harrisburg,” said former Dean Alan M. Kelly, BSc, BVSc, PhD, who served as the School’s eleventh dean from 1994 to 2005. “His facility with numbers and sharp political instincts were critical in defending the School’s budget and securing our State Appropriation.”

“Barry was a creative visionary,” said Karen Fishman, manager of Administration and Finance at the School’s Department of Clinical Sciences and Advanced Medicine. “His leadership style helped create the environment in which we all work, which helps to explain the longevity of employment of so many of us.”

Stupine was involved in several animal-related non-profit organizations including the Pennsylvania SPCA and the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society. The Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association

presented Stupine with a Certificate of Honorary Membership in recognition of his lifelong commitment to animal welfare. He was a consultant to Hebrew University in Jerusalem; consultant to the U.S. Department of Health Institutional Review Board; and he advised the City of Philadelphia’s Hiring Review Board. He was President of the Abington School Board; Founding President of the Freire Charter School Foundation; President of Old York Road Temple–Beth Am; and a board member of the Albert Einstein Society.

Stupine is survived by his wife, Susan Rosenberg Stupine; sister, Sharla Feldscher; son, Jeffrey, V’10; daughter, Erika Yablonovitz, C’95, GEd’96; and three grandchildren.

The Barry Stupine VHUP Staff Award has been established to recognize workplace excellence in his honor. To make a gift in Barry’s memory to support the award, please send your check to The Office of Institutional Advancement, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3800 Spruce Street, Suite 151E, Philadelphia, PA 19104. Checks should be made payable to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. Please indicate Barry Stupine Award on your check. To make a gift by credit card, please contact Helen Radenkovic at hrad@upenn.edu, or 215.898.2029.

To read more about Stupine’s contributions to Penn Vet, and recollections from his former colleagues, please go to www.vet.upenn.edu/stupine.

All events are virtual, unless otherwise noted. For more information and registration for the First Tuesday Lecture series, please visit https://nbcftl20.eventbrite.com.

APRIL

06

DECEMBER

01

FIRST TUESDAY LECTURE

Neonatal Care

JANUARY 04

FIRST TUESDAY LECTURE Ophthalmology

MARCH 02

FIRST TUESDAY LECTURE

Radiology CT & PET Scan

FIRST TUESDAY LECTURE Laminitis MAY 06 FIRST TUESDAY LECTURE Field Service, Acupuncture in the Field 14-15

ALUMNI WEEKEND & REUNION (Format TBD) 17 V’21 COMMENCEMENT (Format TBD)

PET MEMORIAL PROGRAM

PENN VET ALUMNI, HONOR YOUR PATIENT BY PARTICIPATING IN THE PENN VET PET MEMORIAL PROGRAM

Established in 1982, Penn Vet’s Pet Memorial Program helps practitioners show compassion for their clients who have recently lost a beloved pet, while providing an important contribution to Ryan Hospital. The program provides financial support for the treatment and care of Penn Vet’s animal patients.

COST

• $150 for a pack of 12 cards

• 10% discount on your order of 3 packs or more

• $15 per card if we mail the cards for you

• 50% discount on your order of 10 packs or more, plus the option of sending a monthly recurring gift for payment

For more information and an order form, visit www.vet.upenn.edu/pet-memorial-program or call 215-898-1480.

Last Word

Momma Minnie

Minnie arrived at New Bolton Center as a “healthy companion” for her sick cria. Alpacas are particularly prone to the ill effects of stress, and hospital caregivers took special care of Minnie to ensure her baby’s hospitalization didn’t affect mom’s health. Present but never disruptive, Minnie, who remained well, allowed the New Bolton Center care team to treat the cria. Said Dr. Michelle Abraham, Assistant Professor of Clinical Critical Care Medicine, “Whenever I evaluated the cria, I found myself having conversations with Minnie. She always had this ‘I’m interested and curious and understand everything you say’ look on her face.”

3800 Spruce Street, Suite 151E

Philadelphia, PA 19104-6044

United Way of Greater Phila. & So. NJ: #50178

Our mission is to train the next generation of leaders who will advance well-being and health care outcomes in animals, ensure global health, bolster sustainable agriculture, and create and support new interdisciplinary career paths.

Titus and Mink Cloud