Bellwether 97 | Spring/Summer 2022

Strong Starts

a heart start for Milkshake olive, the tiny little fighter morgan agnew, v’13 the rewards of small animal reproductive care

Abigail Seeley, V’24 , drove by farms all the time while growing up in rural Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. But she first became interested in regional and international agriculture as an undergraduate at Penn State University. Today, Seeley is excited for all Penn Vet’s curriculum and extracurriculars offer. “From an immersive surgery experience — both at New Bolton Center and through the School’s shelter medicine program — to learning how to be a good global citizen through Penn Vet’s ‘One Health’ vision, I’m gaining the experience I need to be an exceptional veterinarian in the future,” she said.

Dear Penn Vet Community,

Animals are vital to our survival. Take for example pollinators, which range from bees to hummingbirds, bats, geckos, and even marsupials! They are essential to flowering plant and crop reproduction. In the United States alone, pollinators contribute $24 billion to the economy — they are “essential workers” for the world’s vast array of ecological and agricultural systems. The well-being of insect and animal pollinators could not be more crucial than it is right now, given the threats of climate change and environmental degradation. But how do the veterinary profession and Penn Vet address these daunting problems?

For guidance, we can look to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which provide a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future” (https://sdgs.un.org/goals). As a school, we are well-positioned to contribute to these SDGs. In fact, Penn Vet is leaning solidly into one of our most sweeping tenets: to ensure global health and bolster sustainable agriculture.

“ONE KEY CONTRIBUTION OF VETERINARIANS TO SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IS THE ADVANCEMENT OF HUSBANDRY PRACTICES THAT MAXIMIZE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH.”

DEAN ANDREW HOFFMAN

One key contribution of veterinarians to sustainable agriculture is the advancement of husbandry practices that maximize reproductive health. Reproductive sciences continue to be an extraordinary strength here at Penn Vet. We have New Bolton Center’s Hofmann Center for Animal Reproduction and the Reference Andrology Lab; our pediatrics and medical genetics services at Ryan Hospital; our nationally renowned theriogenology residencies; and groundbreaking research on everything from human germline development to the cellular and molecular underpinnings of cancer.

In this issue, we feature the pioneering reproductive research of Jeremy Wang, which has unveiled fundamental mechanisms in meiosis and pregnancy, and introduce you to Katrin Hinrichs, Harry Werner Endowed Professor of Equine Medicine, who has advanced game-changing reproductive technologies in the horse. Their studies extend the long tradition at Penn Vet of research in reproduction and genetics pioneered by Ralph Brinster, Richard King Mellon Professor of Reproductive Physiology and National Medal of Science awardee, who discovered spermatogonial stem cells 50 years ago, and the core technologies of transgenics 40 years ago. Brinster’s work continues to fuel translation, including the first transplantations of a genetically engineered pig heart or kidneys into humans, in January 2022.

Clearly Penn Vet researchers and clinicians are problem solvers, changing the world one discovery, one treatment, at a time. We congratulate our pioneers in pediatrics, and in reproductive biology and genetics. We look forward as they unveil the mysteries of early-stage human and animal development, bolster fertility and pregnancy, and enable a multitude of unfathomable new applications. We are so grateful to the School’s alumni, Board of Advisors, and friends for their enduring support and enthusiasm; and we look forward to sharing this journey with you, starting with the collection of articles herein.

EDITORIAL

Editor

Martin J. Hackett

Contributing Editor and Writer

Sacha Adorno

Writers at Large

Katherine Unger Baillie, Martin J. Hackett

Class Notes Editor

Shannon Groves

Faculty | Staff Notes Editor and Production Manager

John Donges

DESIGN

Associate Creative Director

Hannah Kleckner Hall

Designer

Anne Marie Kane, Imogen Design

Illustrator

Jon Krause

Photographers at Large

John Donges, Gayle Joseph

Contributing Photographer

Lisa Godfrey

ADMINISTRATION

Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine

Andrew M. Hoffman, DVM, DVSc, DACVIM

Associate Dean of Institutional Advancement

Hyemi Sevening

Chief Communications Officer

Martin J. Hackett

Director of Alumni Relations

Shannon Groves

Director of Annual Giving

Mary Berger

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 151 E, Philadelphia, PA 19104 strout@vet.upenn.edu 215-746-7460

The Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine

None of these articles is to be reproduced in any form without the permission of the School. ©Copyright 2022 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).

Andrew M. Hoffman, DVM, DVSc, DACVIM

First Up...

MAYBE SHE’LL STAY. MAYBE SHE WON’T.

A teenage impulse of mine nudged my family into unexpected, unconditional love.

I stood in a dirt driveway with my friends surveying “free puppies” when I spotted her. She sat by herself, a black blur with a ratty muzzle. I swept her up, rubbed her tummy, said thank you to the people giving her away. Off we went with zero consideration for parental permission or responsibility. When the puppy and I got home, my mother was in shock, and my father was not pleased. When I asked them if we could keep her, my parents said, “maybe she’ll stay, or maybe she won’t.” Well, she stayed, and the name “Maybe” stuck from then on.

We had Maybe, an ever-willing ball player and confidant, for nine happy, bouncy years. My fondest recollection of Maybe has to do with my father. While sipping his Budweiser, the once-reluctant dog owner would toss her pretzels from the kitchen table. (Maybe was the only dog I knew conditioned by the “psssssch” sound from a beer tab.)

Maybe at five years old, and chomping on one of her many tennis balls, takes a break after a game of catch. Plucked from a cardboard box as a puppy, Maybe gave the Hackett family almost a decade of hilarity, chaos, loyalty, and pure affection.

Maybe died suddenly. I wasn’t there to say goodbye. My father was with her at the veterinarian and buried her in our backyard. I was emotionally gutted for months and to this day hold that grief. But Penn Vet is coaxing me to again consider the special, unconditional love a dog can give. Maybe, just maybe, there’s another “Maybe” in my future.

Enjoy the issue.

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

STATE-OF-THE-ART EMERGENCY CARE

24/7/365

For decades now, those in need of critical care have placed their trust in the hands of the region’s foremost veterinary emergency team. With five dual-boarded clinicians on call around-the-clock, at New Bolton Center, equine care is not just our profession. It’s our innermost passion.

For emergency services, call 610-444-5800 or visit us online at www.vet.upenn.edu/newboltoncenter .

From her home base in Philadelphia, Sacha Adorno writes about people, institutions, and businesses working to make the planet a better place for all life on it.

A senior science news officer in Penn’s Office of University Communications, Katherine Unger Baillie has been writing stories highlighting the incredible scientific insights of Penn Vet researchers for more than a decade.

Philadelphia-based illustrator Jon Krause has a penchant for creating intelligent, thought-provoking illustrations with an unexpected visual twist. Through strong compositions and a tastefully subdued color palette, Jon’s work is characterized by a sense of calm that masks an elegant edginess and witty irony.

Philadelphia freelance professional photographer Lisa Godfrey – pictured with her Chihuahua Mr. Pink – has been combining her passion for visual art and lifelong love of animals for more than 25 years, specializing in lifestyle photography on location for editorial, advertising, and corporate clients.

A HEART START FOR Milkshake

On November 20, 2020, Milkshake arrived at Penn Vet’s New Bolton

A few hours earlier, the Tennessee fainting goat, just seven months old at the time, was acting the “spoiled princess she is” to owners Jessica Kurczeski and Kurczeski’s husband, Rick Bodine. Nothing signaled the anguishing 24 hours to come.

“I’m very attached to all my animals, but Milkshake is special,” said Kurczeski. “Her mother shunned her at birth, so we bottle fed the helpless little baby and raised her in the house. Today, she lives outside, where she gets special treatment, but still loves to cuddle and comes running when we call.”

This human-animal bond is how, on a chilly November morning, Kurczeski knew something was

morning feeding. But she wasn’t there and didn’t come when Kurczeski called.

“She was lying under a spool barely breathing,” said Kurczeski. “Our field service veterinarian, Dr. Jennifer Platt, VMD’91, was on vacation and unable to get to our farm. She said to go immediately to New Bolton Center because it has all the equipment, technology, and experience animals like Milkshake need.”

THE RIDE WHEN TIME STOPPED

A distraught Kurczeski loaded the barely conscious kid into her truck. “Time seemed to stop — the ride to New Bolton Center felt endless. Milkshake has so much spirit normally, and she was so quiet and clearly suffering. One of the Penn Vet staff called to check on us while I was driving. They were really concerned about Milkshake and about me and how I was doing. I really appreciated this.”

Milkshake and Dr. Leduc have become best of friends, bonding during the kid’s stay and subsequent visits.

Roughly an hour later, Kurczeski arrived at the large animal hospital, where Internal Medicine resident Dr. Laurence Leduc and an emergency care team met her and Milkshake.

“We were afraid Milkshake wouldn’t survive the drive and had prepared for a young and critical patient,” said Leduc.

On arrival, the kid had a boost of adrenaline and walked a few steps. It didn’t last long. Within minutes she was down and vocalizing in a concerning way.

“Her breathing was rapid, and her mucous membranes were blue,” said Leduc. “Jessica gave us a complete rundown of her recent activity and nothing seemed harmful or out of the ordinary — she hadn’t ingested anything toxic or had any sort of accident.”

Because of the kid’s erratic breathing, Leduc first considered a respiratory condition and had Milkshake’s lungs radiographed. The radiographs were normal.

After ruling out something respiratory, Leduc and her colleagues stabilized Milkshake with intranasal oxygen and intravenous fluid therapy.

“We were afraid Milkshake wouldn’t survive the drive and had prepared for a young and critical patient.”

DR. LAURENCE LEDUC , INTERNAL MEDICINE RESIDENT

A LONG, LONG, DARK NIGHT

Milkshake’s blood work showed a severely compromised state.

“I've never seen blood work so terrible — these results were absolutely incompatible with life,” said Leduc. “We knew this animal was dying and to understand why we performed a neurologic evaluation, thoracic radiographs, and an abdominal ultrasound, which were unremarkable. An ECG was also obtained and showed atrial fibrillation and marked tachycardia — her heart rate was extremely high and heart rhythm was abnormal — suggesting the heart was the root cause of her critical state.”

It was now evening. “I told Jessica we were doing all we could but to be prepared that Milkshake may die overnight,” said Leduc.

As the hours rolled by, the goat’s heart rate spiked at a very high 200 beats per minute and bottomed at a very low 40 beats per minute.

“At midnight, I consulted with Dr. Slack, one of our cardiologists,” said Leduc. “She helped manage Milkshake’s case.”

Overnight, Milkshake developed more arrhythmias, and her heart stopped several times. “We tried a few anti-arrhythmic medications before one of them — metoprolol — offered the first glimmer of hope,” said Leduc.

“After one dose, Milkshake's heart rate and rhythm stabilized around 130-140 beats per minute. This was a positive sign, although we couldn’t be sure she would survive.”

Facing a long, tenuous night, Leduc wanted to stay near her patient. “I rested on a cot in her stall until 4am. When I left, she appeared more stable but had a long road ahead. She also had an extraordinary team of nurses supporting her all night.”

WITH MORNING COMES LIGHT

At home later that morning, Leduc woke to find a message from one of Milkshake’s nurses with a picture of the little goat standing.

Milkshake’s greatest champions (l to r): Dr. Leduc with the kid’s owners Rick Bodine and Jessica Kurczeski

“This was a great sign,” she said. “Dr. Leduc sent me the photo,” said Kurczeski. “She had communicated with me throughout the previous day about Milkshake’s condition and prognosis so to see this picture of my baby girl was the best news I could get.”

Although Milkshake’s condition improved during the day – she started walking steadily and eating and drinking on her own — her heart rate was still increased, and she continued to have atrial flutter (or an irregular heart rhythm).

“We managed her medication to treat the arrythmia,” said Leduc. “She slowly gained strength and her heart rate became more stable. Once we were satisfied that she was ready, we discharged Milkshake to home care with medication.”

Twice daily on the farm, Kurczeski and Bodine administered a beta blocker medication for the arrythmia. On three subsequent follow-up visits to New Bolton Center, Milkshake’s heart rate was normal, and she was otherwise healthy.

“Her heart is doing great and there are no signs her life expectancy will be different than other goats — she has a normal goat heart, so we are very excited,” said Leduc.

A WILLING HEART

“Milkshake was dying when she came into our care,” said Dr. JoAnn Slack, service chief of Cardiology and Ultrasound and consulting cardiologist on the case.

“When an animal arrives at New Bolton Center, we first think of what the most likely problem is and start there. The patient’s age is part of our thinking. Little ones haven’t lived long enough to develop the degenerative diseases adults get. Pediatric and juvenile problems are usually things they’re born with, for example a congenital heart defect when it’s a cardiac issue.”

Kurczeski and Bodine are willing do whatever it takes to help Milkshake and their other goats. In February 2022, Kurczeski rushed a 12-day-old, four-and-a-half-pound kid — Sweetheart — to New

Bolton Center when the goat stopped eating. “Dr. Leduc and her colleagues saved her life too,” said Kurczeski. “Penn Vet is an amazing place. Everyone cares about the animals and the owners – there’s so much knowledge and compassion; I can’t say enough about how wonderful it is.”

As happened with Milkshake and Sweetheart, New Bolton Center clients and patients benefit from a team of specialists — many dual board-certified in emergency & critical care medicine and surgery — that can attend to cases across a variety of species and ages.

“There is so much we can do when an owner is invested,” said Slack. “It also helps when a patient is willing to let us do everything we need to. Milkshake was willing, and she is alive today because the pieces fell into place — the right care at the right time, committed owners, and a patient ready to live.”

“Penn Vet is an amazing place. Everyone cares about the animals and the owners – there’s so much knowledge and compassion; I can’t say enough about how wonderful it is.”

JESSICA KURCZESKI, Milkshake's owner

OLIVE, THE TINY LITTLE FIGHTER

2021 was an emotional roller coaster for the Martino family. First there was joy — Joe, his wife, and their three kids, ages 12, 10, and 6, welcomed a new puppy. Then despair: the puppy died from parvovirus. There was joy again with a new puppy named Olive. But despair soon followed when the four-month-old Shih Tzu mix became critically ill.

Olive is loved.

“We couldn’t believe it,” said Martino. “The kids were just starting to emotionally recover from the first experience. Now here we were again.”

On an otherwise normal Thursday afternoon, the family heard Olive crying from her hiding place under the sofa. She was breathing rapidly and had coughed up small droplets of blood.

“To our knowledge, she hadn’t done or eaten anything unusual,” said Martino. Their primary care veterinarian ruled out toxicity and parvovirus, but chest X-rays showed fluid in Olive’s lungs — the clinical diagnosis is non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema — and air leaking from her lungs in her chest cavity. Called a pneumothorax, air surrounding one or both lungs can be a life-threatening condition that keeps the lungs from expanding and an animal from getting enough oxygen.

The veterinarian referred Olive to Penn Vet’s Ryan Hospital, where she would be one of 9,000 small animals to come through the hospital’s Emergency Services last year and one of 1,200 cases to receive intensive care.

The large, diverse caseload, advanced trauma and emergency services, intensive care unit (ICU), board-certified specialists and nurses specially trained in emergency and critical care veterinary medicine, and cutting-edge diagnostics make the West Philadelphia–based facility a first choice for companion animal owners across the region.

“We knew she would have the best chance of survival at Penn Vet,” said Martino, who was unable to get to Ryan Hospital in time to save their first puppy that died.

Dr. Selimah Harmon, an Emergency & Critical Care resident, was primary clinician on Olive’s case. She and supervising clinician Dr. Deborah Silverstein, professor of Emergency & Clinical Care, spoke about caring for Olive.

QOLIVE ARRIVED AT EMERGENCY SERVICES (ES) JUST IN TIME. THOSE FIRST HOURS WERE CRITICAL – AND FRAUGHT WITH COMPLICATIONS. HOW DID YOU APPROACH SAVING THE LIFE OF THIS ADORED FAMILY PUPPY?

Silverstein: Olive was in severe respiratory distress by the time she got to ES. The team was limited in what they could do diagnostically because she needed oxygen and was placed in an oxygen cage. She remained on oxygen overnight and was transferred to the ICU in the morning. Her breathing remained labored even with extra oxygen.

When I met her in the morning, I knew her prognosis was grave unless we placed her on a ventilator. But the pneumothorax complicated her case. The pressurized air entering her lungs from the ventilator could cause further air leakage into her chest.

Harmon: Dr. Silverstein and I wanted to place a tube in Olive’s chest to remove air from around the lungs to help her breathe. But Olive was so little and unstable, we needed help inserting the tube while managing her medication and pain. We called on our surgical team.

Emergency room nurses, the surgical and ICU teams, and veterinary students all gathered around to help place the tube in her little body.

Unfortunately, Olive’s respiratory distress worsened. We were very concerned about her fatiguing and potentially not getting enough oxygen for her organs. So, we put her on the mechanical ventilator to relieve her distress and make sure her oxygen values were adequate.

QIT WAS TOUCH-AND-GO AT FIRST. ONCE YOU STABILIZED OLIVE, WHAT ELSE DID YOU UNCOVER? AND HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO PROCEED?

Harmon: After we intubated her, Olive remained anesthetized. She received continuous infusions of medications to support her cardiovascular system and keep her asleep. Only then could we start to investigate the root cause of the pneumothorax and lung edema.

We took emergency chest X-rays and they showed increased air in the chest and fluid in the lungs compared to the ones taken earlier at the primary care vet. There was no fluid in her abdomen, chest, or around her heart. So, we focused on her respiratory distress.

Silverstein: Ultimately, her case is a bit of a mystery. We usually see non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema from instances of drowning or choking or toxins — when the dog tries frantically to breathe but there’s an obstruction in the airway. There was no obvious cause in Olive’s case. The owners didn't witness anything, and they had been with her all day. Our prevailing theory is maybe she choked on something and ended up passing it but then suffered from complications.

Harmon: Throughout her two days, we made regular adjustments to her medications and ventilator settings. She spiked a fever at one point, and we worried about an infection so we started her on IV antibiotics.

By the third day, Sunday, she was showing improvement. Her fever resolved and lung functions were closer to normal. We took her off the ventilator and placed her back in the oxygen cage. By Tuesday, now the fifth day of her stay, she no longer needed oxygen support. The next day, on Wednesday, nearly a week after arriving at Penn Vet, Olive went home.

She came in for a follow-up a week later, and we were thrilled with her progress.

Throughout her hospital stay, Olive was always ready for attention.

“We took emergency chest X-rays and they showed increased air in the chest and fluid in the lungs compared to the ones taken earlier at the primary care vet.”

Dr. Selimah Harmon Emergency & Critical Care resident

QONE OF THE BENEFITS OF WORKING ALONGSIDE OTHER SPECIALISTS IS IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO THEM IN SEVERE CASES SUCH AS OLIVE’S. CAN YOU TELL US HOW YOU WORKED TOGETHER FOR OLIVE?

Silverstein: It takes a lot of collaborative effort to get an animal like this stabilized for thorough diagnostics and appropriate treatment. The entire process is a well-oiled machine of fine tuning and close monitoring. We certainly benefit from onsite specialists, and Ryan Hospital also has excellent nurses that help with a lot of the critical support — managing infusions, monitoring pulse rates, watching for anything of concern.

Dr. Selimah Harmon with Olive when the puppy was feeling more herself.

QOLIVE WAS YOUNG AND VERY, VERY LITTLE. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES OF DIAGNOSING AND TREATING ANIMALS AT SUCH A VULNERABLE AGE?

Silverstein: From the second a juvenile animal enters the hospital, we have a different thought process with regards to diagnostics and treatments than we do with fully developed animals. At Olive’s age, things like cancer are much less likely, but underlying infection or the potential to pick up an infection in the hospital, when their vaccine status is in its infancy, are concerns.

Puppies have a high calorie requirement, so we must make sure they’re getting enough calories — we fed Olive through a nasogastric tube. And they need more fluids to stay hydrated.

Medication dosing in puppies is also a delicate balance. We want to be careful to give just the right amount of medication. Puppies are like little drug sponges — they need a lot of medication but not too much or it might cause damage. And there are drugs we just can’t use with them because of potential adverse effects on development. We need to account for all these things. It can be tricky.

QTRICKY BUT WORTH IT! IN YOUR CAREERS, WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT TREATING PEDIATRIC ANIMALS?

Silverstein: Young animal patients can be so resilient; they’re little fighters. If I have one motto for pediatrics, it’s don't ever give up on a puppy or a kitten. They can have such amazing recoveries from what appears to be severe, life-threatening disease. These tiny animals will fight to survive if we can help them.

Harmon: Olive is a great example of a little dog with a mighty spirit and will to live. It was touchand-go there for a while, but she pulled through.

Olive’s lifesavers: (l to r) Dr. Harmon with Dr. Deborah Silverstein

Morgan Agnew, V’13 THE REWARDS OF SMALL ANIMAL REPRODUCTIVE CARE

by Sacha Adorno

In what is arguably the world’s best job, Dr. Morgan Agnew spends her workdays with puppies or planning for their arrival.

The theriogenologist – a specialist in veterinary reproduction — runs Agnew Veterinary Reproductive Services (AVRS) in partnership with Philadelphia Animal Hospital (owned by Lawrence A. Rebbecchi Jr., V’90).

“My work is 80% reproduction — examining dogs to determine optimal breeding timing, collecting and freezing semen, assisting with whelping or performing C-sections, conducting trans-cervical inseminations or infertility workups, and examining litters,” said Agnew. “The other 20% is primary care. Every day is different.”

Her day-to-day cases may vary, but every day Agnew is focused on providing breeders with responsible reproductive plans and services. “AVRS’s offers quality small animal reproductive care in the Philadelphia region for people who want to breed the best dogs possible,” she said.

“My work is 80% reproduction — examining dogs to determine optimal breeding timing, collecting and freezing semen, assisting with whelping or performing C-sections, conducting transcervical inseminations or infertility workups, and examining litters. The other 20% is primary care. Every day is different.”

Morgan Agnew, V’13

For Dr. Morgan Agnew, every workday is different and often the rewards are puppy cuddles.

While the breeding world’s bad players tend to capture the headlines, Agnew counters a “breeding is bad” narrative with responsible breeding that clients value for multiple purposes.

“There is very much a place for both adopting and breeding,” said Agnew, who has a rescue dog named Fiona. “Adopting a dog saves the life of a homeless animal and is so rewarding – I love Fiona and think she is the best dog ever — and getting a dog from a responsible breeder may be a better choice for people looking for a specific temperament or personality.”

She added that many of her clients breed and raise dogs for service, sport, or show.

“All my clients are very much stewards of the types of dogs they love. They care a lot about the health and welfare of the individual dogs in their care and want the safest reproductive care available.”

HONING A CALLING

Puppies weren’t always Agnew’s veterinary purview, although she’s always been drawn to veterinary reproduction and “the beginnings of life.”

The Philadelphia-area native graduated from Virginia Tech with a dual degree in biology and animal and poultry science. She then earned a VMD at Penn Vet. After graduating, she worked for two years at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Kentucky, where she provided ambulatory care for foals, yearlings, and pregnant mares. She then returned to Penn Vet for a two-year Residency in Large Animal Theriogenology.

As a resident, Agnew was part of one of the nation’s leading large animal reproduction services — Penn Vet’s Georgia and Philip Hofmann Center for Animal Reproduction.

“The caseload was tremendous, and I count many of my mentors — Drs. [Tamara] Dobbie, [Patricia] Sertich, and [Regina] Turner — as friends today,” she said.

Agnew (l) during her Penn Vet Residency in Large Animal Theriogenology.

“When I’ve done the breeding and a client then brings the puppies to see me… it’s just so great and rewarding!”

Morgan Agnew, V’13

Although Agnew expected a career with horses, she became increasingly attracted to small animal reproduction while working in a small animal practice during the residency.

“I found small animal reproduction to be much like equine,” she said. “I really liked working with dogs and the mix of general practice and reproductive specialty work, so I gravitated to smaller animals.”

She spent time learning from Ryan Hospital’s Medical Genetics and Pediatrics team once she became interested in small animal reproductive care.

“It’s not what I initially envisioned for my career, but I changed my path to be happy and fulfilled, something I encourage younger veterinarians to always be receptive to doing.”

THE BUSINESS OF GESTATION

Agnew is now board certified in theriogenology by the American College of Theriogenologists and a member of the Society for Theriogenology, an organization dedicated to promoting standards of excellence in animal reproductive medicine. She and Rebbecchi started in 2019 and have built a loyal and steady client base over the past three years.

“Business has boomed since the beginning of the pandemic. A lot of smaller practices closed up shop because of the pandemic, or they’ve been so inundated with cases they refer people to me,” she said. “It’s been really, really busy.”

Agnew loves every minute, especially meeting the puppies she helped nurture to life: “When I’ve done the breeding and a client then brings the puppies to see me. . . it’s just so great and rewarding!”

That’s a lot of puppies when you figure Agnew helps 150 to 200 dogs annually through all or some phase of breeding.

A REWARDING CHALLENGE

As satisfying as it is to see healthy dogs have healthy litters, she warns that reproductive medicine is not for veterinarians wanting predictability.

“It’s hard to have a set schedule,” said Agnew, who lives with her husband, toddler, and Fiona outside Philadelphia. “If a dog is ready to breed on a weekend, that's when it must happen, even if I’ve just worked Monday to Friday. And being the solo therio person at the practice makes keeping up with individual appointments a challenge.”

It’s the best kind of challenge. “Some of my best clients are breeding Labrador Retrievers or Golden Retrievers for service dogs and working dogs. To know where those puppies are going, and to know that I helped to make it happen, is really cool.”

The Harold and Judy McKonly Family Foundation Supports Animal Shelter Medicine

A generous $3.4 million gift from the Harold and Judy McKonly Family Foundation will help Penn Vet continue its pioneering work in animal shelter medicine and community outreach. Announced in February, it provides endowed support for veterinary student training through mobile unit clinical and surgical services with both shelters and the public. The gift also creates centralized funding for educational programming and outreach to underserved communities.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) reports approximately 6.3 million companion animals enter animal shelters across the United States each year. Pennsylvania’s shelter organizations, according to the national database Shelter Animals Count, admitted nearly 69,000 homeless animals in 2020, placing Pennsylvania in the top third countrywide for animal intake. Philadelphia and the surrounding counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery accounted for 52% of that statewide intake. Veterinary leadership in population health, shelter intake diversion, and community support services is critical for ethical and effective public health interventions.

“This gift will have a lasting impression on our next generation of shelter veterinarians, enabling them to

“On behalf of Penn Vet’s Shelter Medicine Program, I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Harold and Judy McKonly Family Foundation for investing in the future of our program.”

Brittany Watson, MS, VMD, PhD, DACVPM

protect and care for some of our most at-risk animals here in Pennsylvania and across the country,” said Andrew M. Hoffman, DVM, DVSc, DACVIM, Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine. “I’m grateful for the McKonly family’s generosity as it will have an enduring impact on Penn Vet and our students.”

The Penn Vet Shelter Medicine Program has nine different community partners. During the last five years, the program completed more than 17,500 surgeries and 2,200 exams, accounting for approximately 40,000 hours of community service across the Greater Philadelphia area.

It is the first academic shelter medicine program to integrate humane and STEM educational outreach in its core programming. It has reached more than 800 high school and middle school students.

The Shelter Medicine team has published 18 peer review publications relating to education, shelter medicine, public health, animal welfare, and community engagement. Penn Vet’s 40-foot mobile veterinary hospital, funded in part by the Bernice Barbour Foundation and PetSmart Charities, has enabled the Shelter Medicine Program to provide services and high-quality training in the community.

“On behalf of Penn Vet’s Shelter Medicine Program, I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Harold and Judy McKonly Family Foundation for investing in the future of our program,” said

Brittany Watson, MS, VMD, PhD, DACVPM, associate professor of Clinical Shelter Medicine and Director of Shelter Medicine and Community Engagement. “The foundation’s substantial support will help ensure our program’s ability to be a long-term, consistent resource for our community; and train future veterinarians in high-quality, ethical sheltering and community work.”

Sixty-three years ago, Harold and Judy McKonly founded Kleen-Rite Corporation, a wholesale distributor to the car wash industry, in Columbia, Pennsylvania. Established by the late Judy McKonly, the Harold and Judy McKonly Family Foundation supports several animal rescue and adoption organizations in Lancaster and York Counties. The newly opened Columbia Animal Shelter, provided with lead support from the McKonlys' foundation, features modern adoption facilities and a low-cost clinic.

“We believe in the ripple effect that specialized shelter medicine training and community outreach can have on sheltering our most vulnerable animals, both locally and regionally,” said Mike McKonly, president of Kleen-Rite and chair of the Columbia Animal Shelter. “With its comprehensive approach to animal welfare, Penn Vet’s Shelter Medicine Program possesses unparalleled expertise here in Pennsylvania. We are proud to support the program’s mission, the team’s incredible work, and the program’s vision for the future.”

Bernice Barbour Assistant Professor of Clinical Shelter Medicine Dr. Chelsea Reinhard (in gray, center left) with students in Penn Vet’s 40-foot-long facility-on-wheels at Animal Care & Control Team (ACCT) Philadelphia. Supported by the Bernice Barbour Foundation and Pet Smart Charities, the mobile unit reaches the Philadelphia region’s most vulnerable animals. Now, with the added support of the Harold and Judy McKonly Family Foundation, Penn Vet’s Shelter Medicine Program can sustain training veterinary students through mobile unit clinical and surgical services well into the future.

IN THE OFFICE WITH Dr. Katrin Hinrichs

By Sacha Adorno

Dr. Katrin Hinrichs arrived at Penn Vet in March 2020, after 22 years at Texas A&M. Between the pandemic and a building renovation, she didn’t fully settle into her New Bolton Center office until earlier this year. When it was time to decorate, out of boxes came photos, art, gifts and mementos, books, and awards — many, many awards and honors earned during an illustrious career.

Chair of the Department of Clinical Studies at New Bolton Center and the Harry Werner Endowed Professor of Equine Medicine, Hinrichs is an international leader in equine reproductive health and reproductive biology and a pioneer in equine assisted reproduction. Her long list of achievements

includes the first cloning of a horse in North America and developing the medical standard for effective intracytoplasmic sperm injection and in vitro culture for embryo production in horses. Hinrichs has authored or contributed to more than 325 research publications and mentored or trained more than 135 graduate students, residents, interns, and visiting scholars.

Hinrichs's Penn Vet appointment is a homecoming — she began her career at New Bolton Center’s Hofmann Center for Animal Reproduction as a resident and lecturer and then earned her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.

1, 2, 3, 4. A select few of many. [1] From the board of Governors of the International Embryo Technology Society for serving on the Board. This is a depiction of an early embryo. The piece was designed by Lois Etherington Betteridge, the wife of my colleague and friend Keith Betteridge – he is widely considered one of the fathers of equine embryology, and Lois was an acclaimed artist. [2] For giving a keynote at the European Society for Domestic Animal Reproduction (ESDAR) Conference in 2018 — the horse illustration always makes me happy. [3] The 2016 Simmet Prize for Assisted Reproduction — our field’s highest honor, awarded by the International Congress on Animal Reproduction.

[4] The 2020 American Association of Equine Practitioners Research Award.

I am proud to have received so many accolades. I started my career when few women were in equine medicine and these honors are meaningful for many reasons — they also hold memories of great times and travels with colleagues around the world.

5. Philodendron & Orchid. One of my technicians gave me the philodendron when she left to take another job. It was 1992, and I was teaching at Tufts. I understand this plant very well — although I did almost kill it once when I unknowingly gave it regular tap water instead of distilled water, which it prefers. The orchid was an anniversary gift from my husband in 2002. It didn't have much light the first year after we moved back to Penn — I'm working to make it happy again.

6. Dodger. This is Dodger, one of our family dogs. My daughter Bailey painted the watercolor for me. He was a great dog — half Australian Shepherd and Half Whippet — who died years ago in an accident. I still think of him often.

7. Piper Painting. My daughter Piper painted these joyful flowers in school when she was about six years old. She’s 28 today.

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REVEALING THE MYSTERIOUS BIOLOGY OF A FUNDAMENTAL PROCESS REPRODUCTION

By Katherine Unger Baillie

SPERM MOTILITY AND A POTENTIAL CONTRACEPTIVE TARGET

By whipping their tails, known as flagella, sperm propel themselves through the female reproductive tract. Interacting with and moving through the zona pellucida, the thick coating that shrouds eggs, is energetically demanding. That stage of fertilization is powered by the activity of a calcium ion channel formed by a protein complex known as CatSper.

Reproduction is a complex process, requiring a huge variety of molecular and cellular interactions, many aspects of which remain a mystery to science. Solving some of these mysteries drives the curiosity and research of Dr. P. Jeremy Wang, professor of developmental biology in Penn Vet’s Department of Biomedical Sciences. Wang also directs the Center for Animal Transgenesis and Germ Cell Research. For the last two decades, his lab has focused on understanding the process of meiosis, the special type of cell division that gives rise to germ cells: sperm and eggs.

Three recently published studies illuminate some of the diverse strands of the Wang lab’s research.

In the journal Development , Wang and colleagues describe a newly identified component of CatSper, a protein called C2CD6. Wang’s team found that inactivating C2CD6 did not affect females but rendered males sterile. “Their sperm count is normal, their sperm look normal, but they weren’t able to produce pups,” Wang said.

The protein’s location in the flagellum suggested a possible role in sperm motility. And, indeed, the team found that C2CD6-deficient sperm were unable to enter what's known as “hyperactivation,” where a ramping up in calcium channel signaling gives sperm the burst of energy required to penetrate the zona pellucida. The work underscores the essential nature of this component of the CatSper complex; C2CD6 is in fact so essential, Wang said, that it could facilitate a drug screening system to find a male contraceptive.

“A lot of people have thought about targeting the CatSper complex for a contraceptive,” Wang said. “Knowing this component of the complex might help

Dr. P. Jeremy Wang

scientists test which compounds would effectively stop sperm from being able to fertilize an egg.”

RECURRENT PREGNANCY LOSS

A second recent study, described in Biology of Reproduction , looks at the female side of the reproductive process, specifically, what happens when it goes awry. In studying the CCNB3 gene, located on the X chromosome and believed to function in meiosis, Wang and colleagues found that male mice lacking CCNB3 appeared normal. But females, while they could become pregnant, lost the pregnancy at an early stage.

Detailed analysis by Wang and his team uncovered why these miscarriages arise. They found that CCNB3 — mutations that occur in humans as well — normally helps meiosis progress. When the gene is not functioning normally, eggs that should have only one set of chromosomes wind up with two sets. That means a fertilized egg, with a set contributed from a sperm, would wind up with three sets of chromosomes, a genetic scenario incompatible with life.

The finding “has translational value,” Wang said. “With personalized or precision medicine, if a woman gets their genome sequenced and knows they have this mutation, doctors could take their egg, add a functional version of CCNB3 to rescue the defect, and then perform in vitro fertilization and end up with a normal embryo.”

In a recent study out of the Wang lab, inactivating the gene YTHDC2, which is required for meiosis to progress through all of its proper stages, led to an odd clustering of chromosome ends (at right).

A NEW ROLE IN MEIOSIS

A third publication returns to the bread and butter of Wang’s research: the intricacies of meiosis. In the journal Cell Reports , Wang and his team uncovered a new way in which YTHDC2, an RNA-binding protein, operates during the cell division process. Other research groups had previously studied this protein, conducting genetic knockout experiments, where the gene was fully inactivated, to show that it acted during the early stages of meiosis.

Wang’s lab, however, employed a different technique whereby they could allow YTHDC2 to function until meiosis had already begun. By doing so, they found that the protein had a second role later in meiosis, acting to maintain what’s known as the pachytene stage, the lengthiest meiosis stage, lasting six full days.

“It looks like YTHDC2 is a master regulator,” said Wang. “It appears to bind to RNA and help degrade or silence transcripts that are not supposed to be there, helping the cell commit to meiosis and allow the process to progress.” While no YTHDC2 mutations have been found in humans linked with infertility, Wang said, “It’s just a matter of time.”

Future work in the Wang lab will pick up where some of these findings left off, continuing to uncover the workings of these fundamental processes.

These studies were supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants HD069592, HD068157, HD038082, HD088571, GM108556, HD03185, HD069592, and GM118052), China Scholarship Council fellowship, Swiss National Science Foundation, National Key Research & Development Program of China, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Human Frontier Science Program.

EVENTS

q MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY u

In observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, the vaccination and wellness clinic returned to Ryan Hospital after a year hiatus. The student-run clinic provided free vaccinations to approximately 100 pets from the local community.

t WHITE COAT CEREMONY u

In November, the Class of 2023 received their white coats, marking the end of their lecture years and the beginning of clinical rotations. Left, Dean Andrew Hoffman gives his opening remarks. Far right, Class President Justin Hoffman addresses his class.

p FACULTY RETREAT u

October’s faculty research retreat was held at the Inn at Swarthmore. The Marshak Lecture was given by Dr. Audrey R. Odom John, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The invited guest speaker was freelance journalist and author Carson Vaughan. The Zoetis Award for Veterinary Research Excellence was presented to Dr. Boris Striepen by Dr. Igor Brodsky (at right).

BOARD OF ADVISORS WELCOMES DR. ANSON

TSUGAWA, V’98

Penn Vet welcomes Dr. Anson Tsugawa, V’98, to the School’s Board of Advisors. Following graduation from Penn Vet, Tsugawa completed a one-year internship in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery at the Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital in Akron, Ohio and a three-year residency in Dentistry and Oral Surgery at the University of CaliforniaDavis, Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. During the final year of his residency, he was elected as Chief Resident of the Small Animal Clinic.

Tsugawa became a board-certified Veterinary Dentist TM (Diplomate of the American Veterinary Dental College) in 2004 and was the 2005 recipient of the American Veterinary Dental College Outstanding Candidate Award, a national award presented to a highly qualified and productive veterinarian who has recently achieved board certification in veterinary dentistry.

Tsugawa is passionate about enhancing the student experience at Penn Vet. To support these efforts, Tsugawa has named a surgery pod as part of the Dentistry and Oral Surgery (DOS) Suite renovation and established the James K. Tsugawa Scholarship Fund, made in honor of his father.

Tsugawa is the previous chairman of the American Veterinary Dental College Examination Committee and has served as president of the North Bay Westside Chapter of the Southern California Veterinary Medical Association. He is currently the co-chair of the Foundation for Veterinary Dentistry Grants Committee and serves as a reviewer for several international high impact factor veterinary journals. Tsugawa has also authored numerous textbook chapters on veterinary oral and maxillofacial surgery and recently co-edited a textbook in veterinary dentistry that is recommended reading for candidates preparing for their specialty board examinations.

Tsugawa lives in Woodland Hills with his wife, Kristina, their blended family, and two Pugs, Ben (a.k.a., Benihana) and Katsu.

TSUGAWA IS PASSIONATE ABOUT ENHANCING THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE AT PENN VET.

FACULTY ACCOLADES

PENN VET ANNOUNCES THREE NEW ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS

The appointment to an endowed professorship is the highest honor that the University can bestow upon a faculty member

Amy L. Johnson, DVM, DACVIM (Large Animal Internal Medicine and Neurology) (left) has been named the Marilyn M. Simpson Associate Professor of Equine Medicine. Christopher J. Lengner, PhD (center), has been named the Harriet Ellison Woodward Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences. Thomas D. Parsons, VMD, PhD (right), has been named the Marie A. Moore Professor of Animal Welfare and Ethics. All three appointments will be effective on July 1, 2022.

THREE ELECTED AS FELLOWS OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF PHILADELPHIA

Andrew Hoffman, DVM, DSc, DACVIM (left), the Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine; Mark Oyama, DVM, MSCE, ACVIM (Cardiology) (center), chair of Clinical Sciences and Advanced Medicine; and Rebecka Hess, DVM, MSCE, ACVIM (right), professor of Internal Medicine and chief, Section of Medicine, were recognized as newly elected Fellows of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia at a reception on November 19, 2021.

The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is one of the oldest professional medical organizations in the United States. Fellows of the College are part of a distinguished legacy of leaders who have served the mission of advancing the cause of health while upholding the ideas and heritage of medicine.

FACULTY & STAFF UPDATES

Gustavo Aguirre, VMD, PhD , gave a virtual presentation on “Advances in Retinal Gene Therapy” at the Retina Iberoamérica meeting in Santiago, Chile on October 23, 2021. He published Badiei A, Beltran WA, and Aguirre GD, “Altered Transsulfuration Pathway Enzymes and Redox Homeostasis in Retinal Degenerative Diseases,” Experimental Eye Research , 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. exer.2021.108902. He also published Aguirre GD and Kazacos KR, “Is It Canine DUSN? Another View of Retinopathies, Some Acquired, and Other Possibly ‘Inherited,’” Veterinary Ophthalmology , 2021, https:// doi.org/10.1111/vop.12951. He also published Sato Y, Gray AP, Takahashi K, Dufour V, Lutty G, Miyadera K, and Aguirre G, “Monocular Retinopathy of Prematurity-Like Retinal Vasculopathy in a Dog,” Veterinary Ophthalmology , 2021, https://doi.org/10.1111/vop.12959. And he published Dufour VL, Cohen JA, Holle DM, and Aguirre GD, “Optic Nerve Colobomas Associated with Unilateral Focal Serous Retinal Detachment in a Dog – In-vivo Imaging and Outcome Following Laser Retinopexy,” Veterinary Ophthalmology , 2021, https:// doi.org/10.1111/vop.12948.

Gary Althouse, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACT , gave an invited talk on the selection and stability of antibiotics for use in gamete cell culture media at the first National Association of Animal Breeders Webinar on October 27, 2021. The event was attended by over 200 participants from 22 countries.

William Beltran, DVM, PhD , presented “Translational Retinal Gene Therapy: How Blind Dogs Have Led the Way” at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in October 2021. In addition, he presented Translational Retinal Gene Therapies: From a Dog’s Point of View, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, in December 2021, as part of the Frontiers in Vision Research Lecture series. He published Ripollés-Garcia A, Holle DM, Cohen JA, Beltran WA, and Aguirre GD, “Retinal Structural and Microvascular Abnormalities in Retinal Dysplasia,” Veterinary Ophthalmology , 2021, https:// doi.org/10.1111/vop.12952. He also published Ripollés-Garcia A, Ruthel G, Ying G-S; Chen Y, Cuenca N, Aguirre GD, and

Beltran WA, “Characterization of the Canine Retinal Vasculature with Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography: Comparisons with Histology and Fluorescein Angiography,” Frontiers in Neuroanatomy , 2021, https://doi.org/10.3389/ fnana.2021.785249. In addition, he published Oztürk BE, Johnson ME, Kleyman M, Turunç S, He J, Jabalameli S, Xi Z, Visel M, Dufour VL, Iwabe S, Marinho, L, Aguirre GD, Sahel J-A, Schaffer DV, Pfenning AR, Flannery JG, Beltran WA, Stauffer WR, and Byrne LC, “scAAVengr, a TranscriptomeBased Pipeline for Quantitative Ranking of Engineered AAVs with Single-Cell Resolution,” eLife , 2021, https:// doi.org/10.7554/ eLife.64175.

Josh Benson was promoted to advanced imaging technical specialist at New Bolton Center.

Andres Blanco, PhD , published Yan F, Li J, Milosevic J, Petroni R, Liu S, Shi Z, Yuan S, Reynaga JM, Qi Y, Rico J, Yu S, Liu Y, Rokudai S, Palmisiano N, Meyer SE, Sung PJ, Wan L, Lan F, Garcia BA, Stanger BZ, Sykes DB, and Blanco MA, “KAT6A and ENL Form an Epigenetic Transcriptional Control Module to Drive Critical Leukemogenic Gene Expression Programs,” Cancer Discovery , 2021, https://doi.org/10.1158/21598290.CD-20-1459. He also published Blanco MA, Sykes DB, Gu L, Wu M, Petroni R, Karnik R, Wawer M, Rico J, Li H, Jacobus WD, Jambhekar A, Cheloufi S, Meissner A, Hochedlinger K, Scadden DT, and Shi Y, “Chromatin State Barriers Support an Irreversible Cell Fate Decision,” Cell Reports , 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. celrep.2021.109967.

Ashley Boyle, DVM, DACVIM , presented on strangles at the Western Veterinary Conference in September 2021 as well as the 11th International Equine Infectious Disease Conference (IEIDC) in October 2021.

Leonardo Brito, DVM, PhD , was a member of the committee for the Master of Science thesis defense “Ovarian response and embryo production of cows superstimulated with different FSH regimens and inseminated with conventional or sex-sorted spermatozoa” from the University of Sao Paulo ESALQ, Brazil. He also presented “Advances in Sexed Semen Production” for the Agro-Sciences graduate program at the University of La Salle Bogota, Colombia, and “Nutrition and Sexual Development in Bulls” during the International Symposium of Ruminant Nutrition and Reproduction from the Universidade do Oeste Paulista, Brazil.

Stephen Cole, VMD, MS, DACVM , presented “What Can I Catch from That Doggie in the Window: Multidrug Resistant Organisms in Companion Animals” at the Infectious Disease Society of America’s IDWeek. In addition, he published Cole S and Rankin S, “Characterization of 2 Klebsiella Pneumoniae Carbapenemase (KPC)-Producing Enterobacterales Isolated from Canine Rectal Swabs,” Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation , 2021, https://doi. org/10.1177/10406387211065501. He also published Cole SD, Harvey BK, Shea E, and Bradley CW, “Amycolatopsis spp. Infection with Correlative Histopathology from the Paw of a Cat,” Veterinary Dermatology , 2021, https://doi.org/10.1111/vde.13047.

Zhengxia Dou, PhD , has been awarded a $1 million USDA grant for Developing Novel Feeds via Bioprocessing of Food Waste and Crop Residue Biomass to Support Sustainable Dairy Production. This threeyear project will focus on developing methods to produce feed or feed supplements for dairy cattle from food waste and crop residues. Dou and fellow investigators will study different procedures for fermentation using specific fungi and bacteria, and will evaluate the impact of incorporating these new feeds on the health, rumen microbial population, methane emission, and milking performance of cows, as well as on overall environmental impact and carbon footprint.

FACULTY & STAFF UPDATES

Tabitha Crothers was promoted to lead midnight nurse at New Bolton Center.

Raimon Duran-Struuck, DVM, PhD, DACLAM , published Matar AJ, Crepeau RL, and DuranStruuck R, “Noninvasive Imaging for the Diagnosis of Acute Rejection in Transplantation: The Next Frontier,” Transplant Immunology , 2021, https://doi. org/10.1016/j.trim.2021.101431. He also published Matar AJ, Crepeau RL, and Duran-Struuck R, “Cellular Immunotherapies in Preclinical Large Animal Models of Transplantation,” Transplantation and Cellular Therapy , 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. bbmt.2020.09.032.

Diane R. Eigner, VMD, MBA , began a one-year term as the president of the International Association of Animal Hospice and Palliative Care on January 1, 2022.

Brian Flesner, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Oncology) , is a collaborator on Development of a Veterinary PET/CT Consortium for Multiinstitutional Clinical Trials. Penn Vet is one of six institutions involved in the project. The proposal aims to harmonize PET endpoints at the various sites, promoting veterinary patients with naturally occurring tumors as models for translational imaging. Dr. Lynn Griffin, a board-certified radiologist at Colorado State University, is the principal investigator. Flesner’s Penn Vet co-collaborator is Jenny Lenz. Joel Karp leads the PennPET Explorer and is also a study co-investigator. In addition, Flesner was appointed as associate professor of Clinical Oncology and Clinical Trials, as of November 1, 2021. He will also facilitate development and completion of oncology clinical trials and as such was named the director of oncology clinical trials in the Penn Vet Cancer Center. He also published Flesner BK, Torres BT, Hutcheson KD, Rindt H, Zalcman AR, and Maitz CA, “A Pilot Study of Cancer-Induced Bone Pain Using Validated Owner Questionnaires, Serum N-Telopeptide Concentration, Kinetic Analysis, and PET/CT,” Frontiers in Veterinary Science , 2021, https://doi.org/10.3389/ fvets.2021.637195.

Erick Gagne, PhD , published Bashor L, Gagne RB, Bosco-Lauth AM, Bowen RA, Stenglein M, and VandeWoude S, “SARS-CoV-2 Evolution in Animals Suggests Mechanisms for Rapid Variant Selection,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1073/ pnas.2105253118.

Hannah Galantino-Homer, VMD, PhD, DACTC , published Holl HM, Armstrong C, Galantino-Homer H, and Brooks SA, “Transcriptome Diversity and Differential Expression in Supporting Limb Laminitis,” Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology , 2021, https:// doi.org/10.1016/j. vetimm.2021.110353. She also published Cassimeris L, Armstrong C, Burger QC, Stokes S, van Eps A, and GalantinoHomer H, “Continuous Digital Hypothermia Reduces Expression of Keratin 17 and 1L-17A Inflammatory Pathway Mediators in Equine Laminitis Induced by Hyperinsulinemia,” Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology , 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. vetimm.2021.110326. In addition, in November 2021, she presented a talk for lay horsepeople, “Why Do Horses Get Laminitis?” as part of the On Course Equine Nutrition lecture series hosted by Natalie Sullivan, MS, PAS.

Janet Johnston, DVM, DACVIM, DACVS , was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Ohio State University (OSU) College of Veterinary Medicine. The awards, voted on by OSU College of Veterinary Medicine faculty, are bestowed on graduates of the college for their professional achievements, contributions to society, and support of the university.

Alexa Gray, PhD , presented

“Applicability of a Handheld Portable Electroretinography Unit in the Characterization of RPGRIP1ins44-pra/crd Canine Model,” at the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists meeting in Indianapolis, September–October 2021.

Fuyu Guan, PhD , presented “Artificial Intelligence-Aided Untargeted Detection of Doping Agents in Biological Samples” at the 69th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics in Philadelphia, on November 3, 2021.

Bethany Healy was promoted to administrative manager to the hospital director and Clinical Services at New Bolton Center.

Suzanne (“Suzy”) Hindman retired on April 1, 2022, after 58 years of continuous service. Suzy worked at New Bolton Center as a histotechnologist, a skill she learned in the United States Army. Hired in 1964, she was one the longest-term employees of Penn Vet. Her dedication to her specialty and loyalty to the pathology section was unparalleled. Suzy often worked weekends and holidays to ensure continuity of service. She is voracious reader and an avid vegetable gardener, and she will continue to do so during her well-earned retirement.

Katrin Hinrichs, DVM, PhD, DACT , received the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) 2020 Research Award in December 2021 during the AAEP’s annual convention.

Adrienne Malchione was promoted to supervisor of field service support Staff at New Bolton Center.

Gayle Joseph , senior research resources manager, retired at the end of January. Joseph came to Penn Vet after having worked for John Trojanowski, Virginia Lee, and Yvonne Paterson at Perelman School of Medicine. In addition to her role running the Office of Research and Academic Resources, Joseph contributed to work related to research at Penn Vet. She transformed Student Research Day into an all-afternoon event with both oral presentations and poster sessions, made important contributions to the Research Retreat, and developed the Research Newsletter , which became a quarterly publication.

FACULTY & STAFF UPDATES

Jay Mallory was promoted to manager of the Clinical Laboratory at New Bolton Center.

Nicola Mason, BVetMed, PhD and Don Siegel, MD, PhD, cofounded Vetigenics, an animal health biopharmaceutical company, in 2017. Recently named Startup of the Year 2021 by the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Center for Innovation, Vetigenics has introduced the first entirely canine phage display technology, as well as a growing portfolio of CANIBODY™ immunomodulators in various stages of production and testing to treat cancer, infections and immune-mediated chronic diseases. The company has also been accepted into the competitive awards-based Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and has entered into an extension of a collaborative discovery partnership with Merck Animal Health.

Michael May, PhD , published McCorkell KA, Jayachandran N, Cully MD, Freund-Brown J, Weinkopff T, Monslow J, Hu Y, Puré E, Freedman BD, Alvarez JI, Cancro MP, and May MJ, “Lymph Node Formation and B Cell Homeostasis Require IKK- α in Distinct Endothelial Cell–Derived Compartments,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021, https://doi. org/10.1073/pnas.2100195118.

Kathryn Minacci was promoted to supervisor of sports medicine and imaging technicians at New Bolton Center.

Andrew Modzelewski, PhD , was appointed assistant professor of molecular biology and biomedical Sciences, Department of Biomedical Sciences.

Luca Musante, PhD , was appointed director of the Extracellular Vesicle Core Facility.

Cynthia Otto, DVM, PhD , as lead investigator of the 9/11 Medical Surveillance Study, studies the short- and long-term health and behavioral effects to dogs deployed at Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and the Fresh Kills Landfill at Staten Island. Otto has been awarded the Asa Mays, DVM, Excellence in Canine Health Research Award from the AKC Canine Health Foundation. The award is given biennially to a researcher who advances canine health.

Mark Oyama, DVM, MSCE, DACVIM (Cardiology) was appointed to chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences and Advanced Medicine after serving as interim chair.

Meghann Pierdon, VMD , spoke at the Meat and Egg meeting in December 2021 about coryza and backyard birds. In addition, she was highlighted in the January issue of the Journal of Swine Health and Production as a member of the editorial board. She published Horback K, McVey C, and Pierdon M, “Association Patterns across Multiple Gestation Cycles within a Dynamic Sow Pen,” Applied Animal Behaviour Science , 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. applanim.2021.105426.

Dipti Pitta, PhD , was promoted to associate professor with tenure. In addition, she presented “Application of Precision Technologies on Livestock Farms” at the Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases at Chicago in December 2021. She published Pitta DW, Melgar A, Hristov AN, Indugu N, Narayan KS, Pappalardo C, Hennessy ML, Vecchiarelli B, Kaplan-Shabtai V, Kindermann M, and Walker N, “Temporal Changes in Total and Metabolically Active Ruminal Methanogens in Dairy Cows

Supplemented with 3-nitrooxypropanol,” Journal of Dairy Science , 2021, https://doi. org/10.3168/jds.2020-19862. She

also published Kaplan-Shabtai V, Indugu N, Hennessy ML, Vecchiarelli B, Bender JS, Stefanovski D, Lage CFA, Räisänen SE, Melgar A, Nedelkov K, Fetter ME, Fernandez A, Spitzer A, Hristov AN, and Pitta DW, “Using Structural Equation Modeling to Understand Interactions Between Bacterial and Archaeal Populations and Volatile Fatty Acid Proportions in the Rumen,” Frontiers in Microbiology , 2021, https://doi.org/10.3389/ fmicb.2021.611951. And she published Indugu N, Hennessy ML, Shabtai-Kaplan VS, Lage CFA, Räisänen SE, Melgar A, Nedelkov K, Chen X, Oh J, Vecchiarelli B, Bender JS, Hristov AN, and Pitta DW, “Comparing Noninvasive Sampling Techniques with Standard Cannula Sampling Method for Ruminal Microbial Analysis,” JDS Communications , 2021, https://doi.org/10.3168/ jdsc.2021-0094.

Lauren Powell, PhD , published Powell L, Reinhard CL, Serpell J, and Watson B, “A Survey of Veterinary Student and Veterinarian Perceptions of Shelter Medicine Employment,” Journal of Veterinary Medical Education , 2021, https://doi. org/10.3138/jvme-2021-0112. She also published Powell L, Houlihan C, Stone M, Gitlin I, Xuke J, Reinhard CL, and Watson B, “Animal Shelters’ Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot

Survey of 14 Shelters in the Northeastern United States,” Animals , 2021, https://doi. org/10.3390/ani11092669. And she published Powell L, Duffy DL, Kruger KA, Watson B, and Serpell JA, “Relinquishing Owners Underestimate Their Dog’s Behavioral Problems: Deception or Lack of Knowledge?” Frontiers in Veterinary Science , 2021, https://doi.org/10.3389/ fvets.2021.734973. In addition, she published Powell L, Reinhard CL, Satriale D, Morris M, Serpell J, and Watson B, “The Impact of Returning a Pet to the Shelter on Future Animal Adoptions,” Scientific Reports , 2022, https:// doi.org/10.1038/ s41598-022-05101-5.

Laurel Redding, VMD, PhD, DACVPM , published Redding L, Huang E, Ryave J, Webb T, Barnhart D, Baker L, Bender J, Kristula M, and Kellya D, “ Clostridioides difficile on Dairy Farms and Potential Risk to Dairy Farm Workers,” Anaerobe , 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. anaerobe.2021.102353. She also published Anis E, Barnart D, Barnard A, Kelly DJ, and Redding LE, “Performance of Commercial PCR Assays to Detect Toxigenic Clostridioides difficile in the Feces of Puppies,” Veterinary Medicine and Science , 2021, https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.567. She also published Rule EK, Boyle

AG, and Redding LE, “Antimicrobial Prescribing Patterns in Equine Ambulatory Practice,” Preventive Veterinary Medicine , 2021, https://doi. org/10.1016/j.prevetmed. 2021.105411. She also published Redding LE, Parsons B, and Bender JS, “Educational Interventions to Address Misconceptions about Antibiotic Residues in Milk Can Alter Consumer Perceptions and May Affect Purchasing Habits,” Journal of Dairy Science , 2021, https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.202120595. She also published Chua KP, Perrone JM, Redding LE, Brummett CM, and Bohnert AS, “US Trends in the Receipt of Controlled Substance Prescriptions from Multiple Veterinarians, 2014–2019,” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association , forthcoming. She also published Redding LE, Berry AS, Indugu N, Huang E, Beiting DP, and Pitta D, “Gut Microbiota Features Associated with Clostridioides difficile Colonization in Dairy Calves,” PLOS One , 2021.

FACULTY & STAFF UPDATES

Ana Ripollés-Garcia, PhD , presented “Applicability of a Handheld Portable Electroretinography Unit in the Characterization of RPGRIP1ins44-pra/crd Canine Model” at the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists meeting in Indianapolis, September–October 2021. Ripollés-Garcia is affiliated with the Beltran lab.

Antonia Rotolo, MD, PhD , a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Nicola Mason's lab, has brought her experience and expertise in human hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and adoptive cell therapies using invariant natural killer T cells (iNKTs) to the veterinary arena. Rotolo has demonstrated the existence of functional iNKTs in the dog and their biological similarity with human iNKTs and is now elucidating their mechanisms of function in vivo. Her work will inform both canine and human clinical trials using allogeneic iNKT adoptive cell therapies for successful cancer immunotherapy and transplantation. The quality and relevance of Rotolo’s studies have been independently recognized by the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT), the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT), and the Center

for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR). Her work was accepted for an oral presentation at the EBMT 2022 annual meeting, and poster presentation at the 2022 tandem meetings of the ASTCT and CIBMTR.

Yu Sato, PhD , presented “Variation in Disease Phenotype in Outcrossed PRCD Affected Dogs: In Vivo Optical Coherence Tomography and Electroretinography” at the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists meeting in Indianapolis, September–October 2021. Sato is affiliated with the Beltran lab.

James Serpell, PhD , was awarded the 2022 Shomer Ethics Award by the Society for Veterinary Medical Ethics. The award is given to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the field of veterinary medical ethics through scholarship, advocacy, or mentorship.

Tej Pratap Singh, PhD , published Singh TP, Carvalho AM, Sacramento LA, Grice EA, and Scott P, “Microbiota Instruct IL-17A-Producing Innate Lymphoid Cells to Promote Skin Inflammation in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis,” PLOS Pathogens , https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. ppat.1009693.

Catherine Torcivia, VMD , was awarded the credentials of Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist by the Animal Behavior Society’s Board of Professional Certification.

Charles Vite, DVM, PhD , joined the Board of Trustees of The Seeing Eye.

Jeremy Wang, MD, PhD , presented the Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR) research award lecture, “Regulation of Meiosis in Mice,” at the 54th SSR Annual Conference in St. Louis, December 15–19, 2021. He published Guan Y and Wang PJ, “Golden Opportunity for piRNA in Female Fertility,” Nature Cell Biology . 2021, https://doi. org/10.1038/s41556-021-00749-z. He also published Liu R, Kasowitz SD, Homolka D, Leu NA, Shaked JT, Ruthel G, Jain D, Lin H, Keeney S, Luo M, Pillai RS, and Wang PJ, “YTHDC2 Is Essential for Pachytene Progression and Prevents Aberrant MicrotubuleDriven Telomere Clustering in Male Meiosis,” Cell Reports , 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j. celrep.2021.110110.

GRANTS

Gustavo Aguirre, VMD, PhD , received a $417,043 R-01 EY-06855 grant from the National Eye Institute for Models for Therapy of Hereditary Retinal Degeneration. The grant spans from December 1, 2021 to November 30, 2022. His collaborator is Keiko Miyadera, DVM, PhD. He also received a $205,000 grant from the Van Sloun Fund for Canine Genetic Research to cover direct costs for four years to fund the Sylvia M. Van Sloun Laboratory for Canine Genomic Analysis. His collaborator is Leonardo Murgiano, PhD.

William Beltran, DVM, PhD , received a $454,637 grant from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (U-24 NEI Subaward

EY-029890) for Canine Retinal Disease Models for Translational Photoreceptor Regeneration. The grant spans from September 1, 2021 to August 30, 2022. He also received a $150,000 grant from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (NEI Subaward

EY-029890) as an equipment administrative supplement. The grant spans from September 1, 2021 to August 30, 2022.

Andres Blanco, PhD , received a $200,000 grant from the Margaret Q. Landenberger Research Foundation to study the role of the histone acetyltransferase

KAT6A in promoting acute

myeloid leukemia. The goals are to uncover the molecular, epigenetic mechanisms by which KAT6A blocks the differentiation of AML cells, and determine the potential of KAT6A as a therapeutic target in AML. The grant spans from November 2021 to November 2023. He also received a $50,000 grant from the AACR to determine the efficacy of targeting the histone acetyltransferase KAT6A, alone or in combination therapy regimens, for differentiation therapy of acute myeloid leukemia. The grant spans from November 2021 to November 2022.

Molly Church, VMD, PhD, DACVP , received a $24,900 grant from the Clinical and Translational Science Award One Health Alliance for Development of Standardized, Multi-institutional Biorepository for Canine Biological Fluids. The grant spans from November 2021 to November 2022. Her collaborators are at UC Davis and the University of Wisconsin.

Stephen Cole, VMD, MS, DACVM , received a $74,510

FDA-U18FD007506 grant for Create a Path: Prevalence at Teaching Hospitals of CRE in Veterinary Patients through Passive Surveillance. The grant spans from September 2021 to August 2022.

Brian Flesner, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Oncology), received a $17,122 Clinical and Translational Science Award (COHA) for quantitative analysis showing the ability of the Vet PET/CT-C to harmonize the measured values obtained from images of uniform and NEMA phantoms across multiple facilities involved in the project, no matter the technology used. The grant spans from October 2021 to October 2022. Flesner is affiliated with PennPET Explorer. His collaborators are Jenny Lenz and Joel Karp.

Erick Gagne, PhD , received a $387,966 grant from the Pennsylvania Game Commission to improve knowledge of disease impacts on turkey survival and nest success. The grant spans from July 2021 to June 2025. Gagne is affiliated with the Wildlife Futures Program. His collaborator is Eman Anis.

Meghann Pierdon, VMD , received a $41,649 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture for Origins of the Piglet Gut Microbiome: Using Samples from the Sow and the Environment as Well as Milk Metabolomics to Investigate the Source of the Piglet Gut Microbiome. The grant spans from September 2021 to June 2022. Her collaborator is Dan Beiting.

Dipti Pitta, PhD , received a $325,000 grant from DSM Nutritional Products, Kaiseraugst, Switzerland for the Effect of 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP), a Persistent Methane Inhibitor, on the Ruminal Microbiota in Dairy Cows with Distinct Microbial Syntrophic Clusters. The grant spans 18 months, from 2022 to 2023. Her collaborators are Drs. Baker and Joe Bender. She also received a $34,500 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture for Understanding the Role of the Microbiome-GutBrain Axis to Improve the Health and Welfare of Dairy Calves. The grant spans from September 2021 to June 2022. Her collaborators are Drs. Baker, Joe Bender, Kristula, Smith, and Pierdon. She also received a $650,000 USDANIFA/AFRI grant for Modulating Inflammation during the PeriParturient Period: Understanding the Link Between Rumen Microbiome and Inflammation. This was awarded to Dr. Adrian Barragan as the primary investigator and Pitta as the co-primary investigator. The grant spans from January 2022 to December 2024. Her collaborators are Drs. Barragan and Ernest Hovingh from Pennsylvania State University and Dr. Joe Bender from the University of Pennsylvania. She also received a $89,500 grant from the Pennsylvania Center for Livestock

and Poultry Excellence for Deciphering the Role of Gut Microbiome in Reducing Haemonchus Contortus Infection in PA’s Small Ruminant Herds. The grant spans from January 2022 to June 2023. Her collaborators are Drs. Kristula, Smith, Dipastina, and Posbergh (Montana State University).

Lauren Powell, PhD , received a $29,631 grant from Nestlé Purina PetCare to support a research project investigating the characteristics, motivations, and experiences of foster caregivers at animal shelters. The grant spans from January 2022 to December 2023. She is affiliated with Shelter Medicine. Her collaborators are Brittany Watson, Chelsea Reinhard, and James Serpell.

Laurel Redding, VMD, PhD, DACVPM , received a $52,722 grant from the Human Animal Research Bond Institute to investigate whether the microbiome of pets and their owners co-evolve following antibiotic therapy. The grant spans from September 1, 2021 to August 31, 2023. She also received a $21,275 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of

Agriculture to study the effects of dietary zinc on the prevalence of C. difficile in gestating sows, pre-fresh cows, piglets, and dairy calves; genetic variation in C. difficile in sows, piglets, cows, and calves; and the phenotypic characteristics of C. difficile isolated from these animals, including toxin production, motility, germination, sporulation, biofilm formation, and resistance to secondary bile acids. The grant spans from September 2021 through June 2022.

Kotaro Sasaki, MD, PhD , received a $1,354,140 ($833,317 direct) NIH 1U01DA054170-01 grant for Advancing Brain Health Research through Male Germline Editing in Marmosets. The grant spans from August 1, 2023 to May 31, 2026.

Zebin Xiao, MD, PhD , was awarded a CRI4168 Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Cancer Research Institute for Impact of FAP+ Stromal Cell Depletion on the Immune Landscape of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. The grant spans from January 2022 through December 2024. Xiao is affiliated with the Puré Lab.

STUDENT NEWS

Kaitlin Murphy, V’24 , and her fellow student colleagues from Cornell University won the Most Market Ready Award for No Scratch Meow, a product that monitors and modifies cat scratching behavior. Murphy and her team participated in the 6th Annual Animal Health Hackathon co-hosted by Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine and the Center for Veterinary Business and Entrepreneurship. The event featured 120 students in 24 teams competing for awards in three categories to address current needs in veterinary health care.

Sarah Rassler, V’22 , along with Mary Wright V’22 and Veronica Daugherty V’22 , won first place in the 12th Annual Student Quiz Bowl held at the 2021 American Association of Bovine Practitioners Annual Conference in Salt Lake City. The Penn Vet team battled 11 other groups of veterinary students from across the country in a one-on-one, single elimination competition, answering questions about dairy and beef cattle medicine, surgery, reproduction, husbandry, epidemiology, anatomy, and food safety, among others. The winning team then competed against seasoned members of the AABP Board of Directors in a bonus round that covered topics including AABP history, antiquated practice techniques, and Pennsylvania trivia, and ultimately secured their position as the overall AABP Quiz Bowl winners!

Kathryn Lenker, V’24 , was one of 15 winners in the American Association of Swine Veterinarians’ (AASV) annual Veterinary Student Poster Competition. Shelby Haryslak, V’24 , was also one of 15 winners in the AASV’s annual Student Seminar Awards. Lenker and Haryslak were announced at the AASV’s 53rd Annual Meeting in Indianapolis.

Maho Okumura, V’24 , along with fellow V’24 students Jordyn Horowitz, Pamela Stevens, Alexis D’Souza, Beatrice DeMarco, Estefania Benavides, Gina D’Addario, Kaley Van Valkenburg, and Zelda Blowers , and faculty advisor Jenni Punt, hosted the annual One Health Week from November 29 to December 3, 2021. Virtual and in-person events highlighted the connections between human, animal, and environmental health via topics such as rabies prevention in a developing country, animal welfare in lab animal medicine, shelter medicine, physiological strengths and vulnerabilities between female animals and women, and urban toxicology. The event was made possible by a One Health Grand Challenge grant awarded by SAVMA.

A MESSAGE FROM KATIE BISHOP, V’17

Vice President of Lifelong Learning Penn Vet Alumni Board

I took a meandering path to becoming a veterinarian. I aspired to be a one as a young child, growing up a daughter of a veterinarian and working at my parents’ animal hospital. And yet, in undergrad, I was also drawn to the social sciences and humanities with vague notions of law school.

Graduating during the Great Recession, I interviewed at a fast-growing healthcare software company where the interviewer quizzically (and perceptively) asked if I intended to apply to veterinary school. I had convinced myself I was not and plunged into this new job. I worked closely with physicians and nurses on their new EMR software, a nonmedical tool that has large impacts on their clinical day-to-day.

I loved the intersection of the clinical and nonclinical spheres — that we can directly improve patient care by making smart, clinically informed decisions on the nonclinical and operational aspects of practice. I wanted to apply that to the veterinary world and headed to veterinary school after all.

Today, as a veterinarian who is at the intersection of medicine and business, I still find myself constantly learning, both clinically and nonclinically, in order to make the best decisions for my patients, clients, and teams.

There are some truly mind-boggling statistics on how fast human knowledge is expanding. Our profession is no different. Our collective veterinary knowledge base is constantly growing and evolving as the medicine advances. We must continue learning and incorporating new information long after veterinary school in order to keep pace and deliver the best care to our patients.

Now, that does not mean lifelong learning is always easy. We may live in a time with limitless knowledge at our fingertips, but many of us are busier than ever just trying to keep it all together. The past two years, while very difficult, have shown that virtual and hybrid approaches to learning can be both effective and efficient. The Penn Vet Alumni Board is dedicated to facilitating your lifelong learning journey by providing innovative and insightful educational opportunities. While that includes the expected offerings, such as online continuing education, lifelong learning extends beyond conferences and classrooms. By bringing alumni together, the board hopes to foster a robust alumni community so we can also learn from each other.

Dr. Katie Bishop

CLASS NOTES

1990s

Alisa Siceloff, V’97 , joined the University of Wyoming’s Division of Kinesiology and Health as an assistant lecturer in January 2020, teaching courses in community and public health. She was selected as faculty cohort for the 2022 UW in Scotland program and will travel this summer to develop a class abroad.

1970s

Norman Haber, V’79 , retired after more than 30 years at Cedar Brook Animal Hospital, which he founded.

Don Mullen, V’79 , retired after 43 years of providing care to shoreline pets and their families at Guilford Veterinary Hospital in Connecticut.

1980s

Renate Reimschuessel, V’81 , recently published on interlaboratory comparison of SARS-CoV2 molecular detection assays in use by US veterinary diagnostic laboratories.

Paul Calle, V’83 , received the 2021 Emil Dolensek Award from the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians (AAZV). The award is presented to a past or present member of the AAZV in appreciation for exceptional contributions to the conservation, care, and understanding of zoo and freeranging wildlife.

2010s

Colin McDermott, V’11 , recently achieved board certification through the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners in reptile and amphibian medicine. He currently lives and practices in Hong Kong.

Lisa Gretebeck, V’14 , was profiled in Kiplinger magazine, discussing veterinary work during the pandemic. (Read the article at https://www.kiplinger.com/ personal-finance/careers/ career-paths/603316/ the-pandemic-pet-problem.)

2020s

Shira T. Rosenblum, V’20 , and Lilly Aronson, V’92 , will have their paper, “Indications, Outcome, and Prognosis

for Dogs

Undergoing Typhlectomy Surgery: A Retrospective Study of 15 Cases” from 2012 to 2020 published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association .

Penn Vet graduates achieve remarkable successes every day. Whether you have a new address or 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 151E, Philadelphia, PA 19104. We may edit submissions due to space considerations.

REMEMBRANCES

1950s

George P. Wilson, V’55 , passed away in December 2021. After receiving his VMD and completing an internship at Angell Memorial Animal Hospital in Boston, Wilson joined Ohio State’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 1956. He received his Master of Science in 1959 and passed the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS) board exam in 1968, the first year it was given, being admitted as a diplomate. An emeritus professor, Wilson was a founding faculty member in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences at Ohio State in 1970. He spent his entire career at Ohio State, retiring in 1988. He held various positions throughout his tenure, including chair of the Department of Anatomy. He received the ACVS Foundation’s first Legends Award in 2005, which recognizes ACVS diplomates who have developed a surgical or diagnostic procedure of significant value, proven by becoming the treatment or test of choice for a given condition. This award was bestowed upon Wilson for development of perineal urethrostomy in cats, a procedure that is still being performed 50 years later to manage cats with recurrent urinary stones and feline urologic syndrome.

1960s

Ellsworth Bacon Thorndike, V’64 , passed away in January 2022. After an internship at the Henry Bergh Memorial Hospital in New York City, he was hired as an associate and soon became a partner at Miller Clark Animal Hospital, Mamaroneck, New York. He served on the Board of the Westchester Shore Humane Society and was an active member of the Westchester Rockland Veterinary Association. In 1989, he was a driving force in establishing the Veterinary Emergency Group in White Plains, New York. He was appointed to the New York State Education Department Board for Veterinary Medicine, served two five-year terms and was elected president. After retiring, he moved to New York City, where he went to work for Animal Care and Control of NYC, riding his Vespa to neighborhoods throughout the city to provide spay/neuter services for underserved communities.

Patrick Tersigni, V’65 , passed away in December 2021. He owned and operated his own practice for 12 years in New Jersey. After moving to Wayland, New York in 1977, Tersigni continued his practice there for 44 years. He was a devoted and faithful veterinarian to his clients and treated more than 100,000 animals throughout his career.

1980s

Kenneth Harkewicz, V’81 , passed away in August 2021. After graduation, he completed a 20-month postdoctorate externship in wildlife medicine in Queensland, Australia, working with small marsupials, reptiles, and amphibians. He then worked as an exotic animal veterinarian in the Bay Area. He was a pastpresident of the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians (2011–2012) and served as a consultant on reptile and amphibian care for the Veterinary Information Network. Harkewicz lectured on reptiles and amphibians for veterinary technology, pre-veterinary, and veterinary medical students at the University of California (UC) Berkeley and UC Davis, as well as at local reptile and amphibian associations.

1980s continued

Michael P. Comalli, V’86 , passed away in November 2021. He was the beloved husband of Lila J. Comalli, V’86, with whom he shared 35 years of marriage. For the past 30 years, the couple worked as veterinarians at Conrad Weiser Animal Hospital, the business they started together, in Bucks County, PA.

Jean Townsend, V’89 , passed away after a long illness in October 2021. Aside from being a breeder of Siamese cats, Townsend was involved with the Maryland Feline Association. She was also responsible for multiple trap-neuter-release programs around the state of Maryland. She ran a successful house call practice in the Baltimore area until retirement.

1990s

Mari Sue Berens, V’96 , passed away in October 2021. Berens worked for many years at Washington Crossing Animal Hospital in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, until her retirement. Previously she worked at Mount Laurel Animal Hospital and Twin Rivers Animal Hospital in New Jersey.

Penn Vet’s Memorial Program for Animals

Is there a special animal, large or small, that you would like to remember? Are you a veterinary practice that wishes to honor the memory of your patients?

When you participate in our Pet Memorial Program, you support Penn Vet’s commitment to animal health by accelerating the discovery and clinical development of innovative therapies and diagnostics.

MORE INFORMATION

If you would like more information about this very special program, please visit www.vet.upenn.edu/animal-memorial-giving or contact Liz Velez at lvelez@vet.upenn.edu, or call 215-898-1480.

JEFFREY ARNOLD WORTMAN

Jeffrey “Jeff” Arnold Wortman, V’69, PhD , passed away on March 11, 2022. He was 75. After receiving his VMD, Wortman was commissioned as a captain in the United States Army Veterinary Corps, serving in the 20th Preventative Medicine Unit in Vietnam from 1970 to 1971. He received the Bronze Star. After his military service, Wortman completed a small animal internship, a residency in Radiology, and a postdoctoral PhD program at the University of California’s Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. In 1977, he was elected Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Radiology and joined the faculty at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Wortman returned to the University of Pennsylvania and served on the Radiology faculty at the School of Veterinary Medicine for more than 30 years, with 19 of those years as associate dean for Academic and Curricular Affairs. He also held a secondary appointment at the School of Medicine. Wortman is survived by his wife of 52 years, two daughters, one son, and three grandchildren.

An endowed scholarship to support a veterinary student at the University of Pennsylvania is to be established in his name. If you would like to make a gift to the Jeffrey A. Wortman, VMD’69, PhD Endowed Scholarship by check, please make it payable to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, indicate in the memo line “Wortman Endowed Scholarship,” and mail it to Office of Institutional Advancement, 3800 Spruce Street, Suite 151E, Philadelphia, PA 19104. If you would like to make a gift by credit card or through a security or cash wire transfer, please contact Claire Wilson at clwilson@vet.upenn.edu or 215-898-4235.

JAMES BRUCE

James “LeRoy” Bruce , of Quarryville, Pennsylvania, passed away at home in January 2022. He was 92.

Bruce was the farm manager for Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center for 50 years, from 1952 to 2002. His father, Charles, was the farm manager at the original large animal research station of the School of Veterinary Medicine, Bolton Farm, and Bruce began his career as a farm employee there. He went on to become manager of Bolton Farm, and then supervised the move of the farm, including its registered Guernsey dairy herd, to New Bolton Center’s current location. Bruce helped to shape the New Bolton Center campus into what it is today.

“I remember LeRoy fondly from the time I spent here as a resident and lecturer, as I think everyone who was working at New Bolton Center during his tenure here does,” said Katrin Hinrichs, DVM, PhD, DACT, Harry Werner Endowed Professor of Equine Medicine, and Chair of the Department of Clinical Studies at New Bolton Center. “LeRoy was kind and supportive to everyone, while maintaining a no-nonsense approach to his job — underlined with a background of consistent humor. He will be missed.”

In addition to his wife, Betty, Bruce is survived by five children, 21 grandchildren, and 27 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Lisa.

All events are virtual, unless otherwise noted. For more information and registration for the First Tuesday Lecture Series, please visit www.vet.upenn.edu/firsttuesdaylectures.

Penn Vet Gets Mobile

Santiago Laverde, V'24, holds his patient after performing a spay/ neuter on the cat. Laverde was one of numerous students to participate in a visit the Penn Vet shelter medicine mobile unit made to the Animal Care & Control Team in Philadelphia. The students helped spay/ neuter local and shelter animals.

Last Word

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 to advance healthcare outcomes and access, ensure global health, bolster sustainable agriculture, create and support interdisciplinary career paths, and foster diversity, equity, and inclusion in the profession.