Beloved college mentor “Dr. E-K” and husband give back to CVM
If you’re planning on holding a meeting with Dr. Kathy Earnest-Koons in the café area of the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), plan for a few interruptions.
It’s clear that Earnest-Koons, or “Dr. E-K” knows pretty much everyone who walks by. This is partly because she has spent decades studying, teaching and mentoring at the college. But it also certainly comes from her gregarious personality, which has made her a favorite with students, faculty and staff across CVM.
The fondness is mutual. So much so, that Earnest-Koons and her husband, Phil Koons, have created a new scholarship for third- and fourth-year veterinary students. “I received a scholarship in my fourth year of veterinary school, and I wanted to do something similar for somebody,” says Earnest-Koons.
“We wanted to help ease some of that financial stress,” Phil Koons adds.
This generosity is in keeping with the couple’s ethos. Before her retirement, Earnest-Koons and her husband frequently had students over to their home for dinner. “Phil is a good cook,” she notes. So good, in fact, that the two routinely offered up a New Orleans-style home-cooked dinner at the SCAVMA auction. “We had one group of guys, 'the dudes,' who bid on that all four years, and even bid again after they graduated,” Earnest-Koons says.
The couple has mentored and served as surrogate ‘parents’ for countless students — indeed Earnest-Koons refers to many of her past students as “our kids.”
One such “kid” is Justine Lee, D.V.M. ‘97, who first met Earnest-Koons as her tutor in Block III. “Kathy and Phil have been dear friends to me over the past 30 years,” Lee says. “She was a great mentor — both professionally and personally.” After graduation, Lee would return to Cornell every few years, often staying at the Earnest-Koons home during the visits.
A serendipitous path
Earnest-Koons’ professional path has been a diverse one. Originally graduating with an English degree, she worked as a paralegal and a teacher for some years before realizing that veterinary medicine was her calling. She landed at the University of Georgia, following that with a residency and a master’s degree at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center of the Pennsylvania State University in laboratory animal medicine. She came to Cornell to do a second residency in pathology, and as she was completing that, the college launched the “new curriculum,” which is still used today and features the Foundation, or Block courses and Problem-Based Learning (PBL).
This timing was serendipitous, for Earnest-Koons would end up first being hired to help craft curriculum materials, then teach and eventually oversee some of the new courses, in which students work through structured clinical cases in small groups that meet several times per week with a faculty tutor.
“Kathy and Phil have touched the lives of hundreds of veterinary students, helping them survive Blocks 1-4,” says Lee, who recalls “bursting into tears during a tutor group session and freaking out that we were never going to pass our national board exam with the current PBL curriculum.” (Of course, Lee would go on not only to pass that board exam, but also go on to become board-certified in emergency critical care and toxicology, and become the CEO and co-founder of VETgirl, a global leader in online veterinary continuing education.)
Beyond mentoring students in the foundational courses, Earnest-Koons also co-taught a toxicology course, co-taught a lunchtime pathology course as a resident, and developed the first swine infectious disease course at the college.
Chosen family
Outside of the classroom, Earnest-Koons also worked as biosafety coordinator, going on to oversee all rabies vaccinations for all students, faculty and staff at the college. (She recalls a particularly memorable incident when booster shots were needed for Alexander de Lahunta, D.V.M. '58, Ph.D. '63, emeritus James Law Professor of Anatomy, who had unknowingly stuck his hand in the mouth of a rabid horse.)
Equal in impact was Earnest-Koon’s role as a mentor and advisor — both in official and unofficial capacities. Before CVM had well-being staff and counselors, students would often turn to Earnest-Koons. “As a veterinarian, I could empathize with what the students were going through.”
She also acted as faculty advisor for SCAVMA and the Vet Players theater group — and acted alongside students for several productions. (“Cornell is pretty unique to have these kinds of extracurricular activities,” she says.) Phil Koons became involved too, sometimes helping to build the productions’ sets.
This kind of dedication was second-nature to Phil Koons, who has always joined in whole-heartedly with Earnest-Koons’ veterinary communities. “I was the trailing spouse, and fortunately for me, I had skills that allowed me to go from place to place,” says Koons. “It’s been an adventure, and much of our social life has centered around the veterinary college.” He attributes much of his lifestyle to his uncle, who worked as a Spanish professor and along with his wife often hosted students and graduate students at their home for dinners and parties.
“They had a community that was built on chosen family, and I’ve really looked up to that,” he says. “For us, without children of our own, the veterinary students really have become like our own kids, and we feel fortunate to be able to help.”
With their interview coming to a close, Earnest-Koons and Phil Koons take their leave, heading off to visit with old CVM friends. After all, says Phil Koons, “she’s a people person.”
Written by Lauren Cahoon Roberts