VIP Mentors
Faculty mentors in the Veterinary Investigator Program represent a wide range of research areas and come from a number of departments within the College and the University. As an intense summer research experience is the cornerstone of the VIP, it is important that prospective applicants give careful consideration to the faculty mentor with whom they wish to work. Below is a list of previous VIP mentors.
- Note that you are not limited to the list of mentors below, but can select any mentor at the College of Veterinary Medicine. More information about our faculty and the research they conduct can be found here: Research Specialties
- When you submit your VIP application, you will need to identify three (3) prospective faculty mentors with whom you wish to work. This does not guarantee the student will be matched with a faculty member they choose.
- If you have any specific questions, the Program Director, Dr. Robert Weiss, can assist you in identifying faculty with interests compatible with yours.
Previous VIP Mentors
Faculty Member Department Affiliation |
Research Interests | |
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Carrie AdlerMolecular Medicine |
Molecular and cellular mechanisms driving organ regeneration; how stem cells produce differentiated cells that coalesce to form functional organs, in an animal where regeneration proceeds without inhibition |
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Craig AltierPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Molecular basis of Salmonella pathogenesis; the genetic and environmental control of epithelial cell invasion |
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Hector Aguilar-CarrenoMicrobiology & Immunology |
Viral entry such as receptor binding, fusion triggering, hemifusion, fusion pore formation, and syncytia formation on cells and on virions; viral egress, immune responses and vaccine development, antivirals |
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Douglas AntczakBaker Institute for Animal Health & Dept. Microbiology & Immunology |
Pregnancy immunology; immunogenetics; equine immunology |
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Avery AugustMicrobiology & Immunology |
Regulation of T-cell activation, development and function; T-cell differentiation; mast cell function and eosinophil function |
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Erica Behling-KellyPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Lipoproteins as markers and modulators of disease in domestic species, vascular biology, hemostasis and thrombosis, molecular determinants of aggressive biological behavior in neoplastic cells. |
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Adam BoykoBiomedical Sciences |
Genomic investigation of dogs as a model of genetic disease and evolutionary genetics |
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Elizabeth BuntingPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Improving release survival in captive reared endangered salamanders, investigating the potential impact of a newly discovered retrovirus on wild turkeys, reducing mortality from heavy metals and rodenticides in raptors, or developing new diagnostic tools for identifying pathogens in amphibians |
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Margaret BynoeMicrobiology & Immunology |
Cellular and molecular medicine; infectious diseases; molecular basis of antigen-induced immune suppression; modulation of innate immune system response in immunity against cancer |
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Casey CazerPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Epidemiology of zoonotic diseases, evidence-based medicine, and One-Health; developing methods to improve antimicrobial resistance surveillance and track multidrug resistance |
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Richard CerioneMolecular Medicine |
Signal transduction growth factor receptors; protein structure; drug design and chemical biology; signaling cues that direct cell proliferation, differentiation and development |
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Jonathan CheethamClinical Sciences |
Regenerative medicine; peripheral nerve injury and repair; laryngeal function |
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Paula CohenBiomedical Sciences |
Etiology of spontaneous birth defects in mammals; mechanisms of meiotic recombination; DNA repair proteins in meiosis and recombination; germ cell development; ovarian development |
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Scott CoonrodBaker Institute for Animal Health & Dept. Biomedical Sciences |
Reproductive physiology; molecular and cellular physiology; epigenetic reprogramming during the egg-to-embryo transition; mechanisms by which specific histone modifications are dynamically regulated during hormone-dependent gene transcription in breast cancer cells |
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Kevin CummingsPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Application of epidemiologic approaches to investigate the ecology and transmission of Salmonella and other foodborne pathogens among a wide variety of hosts |
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Charles DankoBaker Institute for Animal Health & Dept. of Biomedical Sciences |
Medical genetics and genomics and cancer biology research |
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Michelle DelcoClinical Sciences |
Investigating how joint injury leads to arthritis in horses and humans by looking at mitochondria, the energy-producing centers of the cell, as a link between cartilage trauma and osteoarthritis. |
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Julia FelippeClinical Sciences |
Cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in B cell response; neonatal immunology and response to vaccination; immunomodulation using biologic response modifiers; cancer immunotherapy; characterization of primary and secondary immunodeficiencies |
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Kathryn FiorellaPopulation Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences
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Planetary Health/One Health, fisheries, livelihoods, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, environmental change |
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Joseph FetchoNeurobiology & Behavior |
Control of movements by the hindbrain and spinal cord |
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Martin GilbertPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Health-related research that has direct relevance to the conservation of wildlife, particularly carnivores and scavengers |
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Laura GoodmanPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Pathogen discovery and surveillance, with focus areas on tick-borne disease and antimicrobial resistance; exploring the underlying mechanisms of infectious disease emergence and identifying biomarkers to detect and prevent emerging threats to humans and animals |
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Yrjo GrohnPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Veterinary epidemiology; production medicine; public health; epidemiological and economic methods; risk analysis, communications, and policy |
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Kelly HumeClinical Sciences |
Cancer biology; veterinary oncology; clinical oncology; molecular oncology; DNA damage; chemosensitivity and novel therapeutics |
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Heather HusonAnimal Science |
Improving overall dairy cattle performance; Criollo cattle ancestry and trait improvement; African goat improvement project |
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Renata IvanekPopulation Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences |
Epidemiology and ecology of infectious and foodborne diseases; mathematical modeling; spatial epidemiology; risk assessment; public health |
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Ursula KrotscheckClinical Sciences |
Elbow dysplasia pathophysiology and treatment modalities; Cranial cruciate disease treatment modalities; Forceplate gait analysis, specifically for evidence-based medicine, joint and lameness evaluation |
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Natasza KurpiosMolecular Medicine |
Tissue morphogenesis; cell shape and architecture; organ development; gut morphogenesis; mammary gland biology; breast cancer |
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Cynthia LeiferMicrobiology & Immunology |
Understanding innate immunity from the receptors that detect microbes to how innate immune cells react to changes in their environment during inflammatory processes |
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Dave LinBiomedical Sciences |
Axon guidance; neurodevelopment; epilepsy; autism; genomics |
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John LoftusClinical Sciences |
General research interests include immunology and nutritionally responsive diseases; current research projects include investigation of vitamin D in dogs with immune-mediated disease and metabolomic investigation of hepatocutaneous syndrome |
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Sabine MannPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Metabolic diseases and insulin signaling; nutrition; epidemiology; metabolic and nutritional immunology |
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Jessica McArtPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Epidemiology of periparturient diseases in dairy cattle; disease economics; on-farm methods for accurate disease diagnosis |
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Angela McCleary-WheelerClinical Sciences |
Companion animal models of cancer; hedgehog signaling; epigenetics; novel therapeutics |
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Andrew MillerBiomedical Sciences |
Studying the mechanisms underlying neurologic disease in animals utilizing both spontaneously arising disease and experimental models in a variety of laboratory animal species |
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Alexander NikitinBiomedical Sciences |
Stem cells and cancer; pathogenesis of ovarian and prostate cancers; modeling of human disease in genetically modified mice and human organoids |
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Daryl NydamPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Population & clinical studies; epidemiology of food security/safety issues related to dairy production medicine; study of economically important infectious diseases, particularly zoonoses, subclinical diseases of perapaturient cattle and reproductive efficacy |
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John ParkerBaker Institute for Animal Health & Dept. Microbiology & Immunology |
Virology; Feline Calicivirus; mammalian orthoreoviruses; virus-host interactions; effect of viral infection on host cell translation; use of viruses for treatment of cancer; virus entry; broadly neutralizing antibodies; innate immune response to viruses |
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Colin ParrishBaker Institute for Animal Health & Dept. Microbiology & Immunology |
Evolutionary, structural, and functional studies of the determinants of virus host range |
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Ned PlacePopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Mammalian physiology and behavior, with a focus on the life history trade-offs associated with the timing of hormone secretion, reproductive effort, and aging |
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Heidi ReesinkClinical Sciences |
Unravel basic mechanisms underlying the development of orthopedic disease and to pioneer innovative therapies for the treatment of joint injury and arthritis in equine and human athletes |
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Brian RuddMicrobiology & Immunology |
Developmental immunology; host response to infection |
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Chris SchafferBiomedical Engineering |
Advanced optical techniques used to observe and manipulate in vivo biological systems with the goal of developing microscopic scale understanding of normal and disease-state physiological processes |
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Praveen SethupathyBiomedical Sciences |
Functional genomics; gene regulation; molecular genetics; gastrointestinal physiology; stem cell biology; metabolic disease |
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Carolyn SevierMolecular Medicine
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Signaling of cellular oxidative stress; molecular mechanisms used by cellular pathways that sense and signal redox imbalances within the cell |
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Jeongmin SongMicrobiology & Immunology |
Host-pathogen interactions, bacterial toxins, Salmonella Typhi, bacterial pathogenesis |
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Michael StanhopePopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Primarily concerned with the application of molecular evolutionary biology principles and techniques to issues of epidemiology, comparative genomics, and population genomics within various groups of bacterial pathogens |
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Tracy StokolPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
The role of tissue factor (coagulation factor III) in hemostasis (particularly thrombotic disorders) and cancer metastasis |
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Rory TodhunterClinical Sciences |
Canine hip dysplasia; genetic linkage analysis; osteoarthritis |
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Alexander TravisBaker Institute for Animal Health & Dept. Biomedical Sciences |
Animal health and fertility as well as efforts to help alleviate poverty and hunger in developing countries, work that indirectly benefits local wildlife |
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Gerlinde Van de WalleBaker Institute for Animal Health & Dept. Microbiology & Immunology |
Focused on finding drugs suitable for eliminating mammary cancer and ocular herpevirus infections in small companion animals, and evaluating the effectiveness of stem cell therapies for treating skin wounds in horses – all of which may also be used in humans and other animals |
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Bettina WagnerPopulation Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences |
Immune responses and protective mechanisms in neonates and young foals |
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Joe WakshlagClinical Sciences |
Obesity management and nutritional intervention for the canine athlete |
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Robert WeissBiomedical Sciences |
Genome maintenance mechanisms and metabolic pathways in cancer and other diseases |
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Andrew WhiteBiomedical Sciences |
Cancer biology; stem cell biology; biochemistry and cell biology |
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Gary WhittakerMicrobiology & Immunology |
Pathogenesis of influenza viruses, corona viruses and arena viruses; host range and receptors; activation of membrane fusion; macrophage- and neurotropism; anti-viral therapeutics; diagnostic tests; virus-bacteria co-infections |