VILP Mentors

Faculty mentors in the Veterinary Investigation & Leadership Program (VILP) 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 VILP, it is important that prospective applicants give careful consideration to the faculty mentor with whom they wish to work. Below is a partial list of previous VILP mentors, featuring only those who are currently active faculty members.

	Faculty Member Department Affiliation	Research Interests
	Carrie Adler Molecular 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
	Craig Altier Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences	Molecular basis of Salmonella pathogenesis; the genetic and environmental control of epithelial cell invasion
	Avery August Microbiology & Immunology	Regulation of T-cell activation, development and function; T-cell differentiation; mast cell function and eosinophil function
	Adam Boyko Biomedical Sciences	Genomic investigation of dogs as a model of genetic disease and evolutionary genetics
	Elizabeth Bunting Population 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
	Casey Cazer Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences	Epidemiology of zoonotic diseases, evidence-based medicine, and One-Health; developing methods to improve antimicrobial resistance surveillance and track multidrug resistance
	Richard Cerione Molecular Medicine	Signal transduction growth factor receptors; protein structure; drug design and chemical biology; signaling cues that direct cell proliferation, differentiation and development
	Paula Cohen Biomedical Sciences	Etiology of spontaneous birth defects in mammals; mechanisms of meiotic recombination; DNA repair proteins in meiosis and recombination; germ cell development; ovarian development
	Kevin Cummings Population 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
	Charles Danko Baker Institute for Animal Health & Dept. of Biomedical Sciences	Medical genetics and genomics and cancer biology research
	Michelle Delco Clinical 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.
	Mariana Diel de Amorim Clinical Sciences	Equine theriogenology; equine maternal recognition of pregnancy; equine endometritis
	Anushka Dongre Biomedical Sciences	understanding mechanisms that can potentiate the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade therapy in the context of poorly responding tumors
	Julia Felippe Clinical 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
	Kathryn Fiorella Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences	Planetary Health/One Health, fisheries, livelihoods, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, environmental change
	Martin Gilbert Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences	Health-related research that has direct relevance to the conservation of wildlife, particularly carnivores and scavengers
	Laura Goodman Population 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
	Kelly Hume Clinical Sciences	Cancer biology; veterinary oncology; clinical oncology; molecular oncology; DNA damage; chemosensitivity and novel therapeutics
	Renata Ivanek Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences	Epidemiology and ecology of infectious and foodborne diseases; mathematical modeling; spatial epidemiology; risk assessment; public health
	Natasza Kurpios Molecular Medicine	Tissue morphogenesis; cell shape and architecture; organ development; gut morphogenesis; mammary gland biology; breast cancer
	Cynthia Leifer Microbiology & Immunology	Understanding innate immunity from the receptors that detect microbes to how innate immune cells react to changes in their environment during inflammatory processes
	Dave Lin Biomedical Sciences	Axon guidance; neurodevelopment; epilepsy; autism; genomics
	Sabine Mann Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences	Metabolic diseases and insulin signaling; nutrition; epidemiology; metabolic and nutritional immunology
	Jessica McArt Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences	Epidemiology of periparturient diseases in dairy cattle; disease economics; on-farm methods for accurate disease diagnosis
	Andrew Miller Biomedical Sciences	Studying the mechanisms underlying neurologic disease in animals utilizing both spontaneously arising disease and experimental models in a variety of laboratory animal species
	Alexander Nikitin Biomedical Sciences	Stem cells and cancer; pathogenesis of ovarian and prostate cancers; modeling of human disease in genetically modified mice and human organoids
	Daryl Nydam Population 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
	John Parker Baker 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
	Colin Parrish Baker Institute for Animal Health & Dept. Microbiology & Immunology	Evolutionary, structural, and functional studies of the determinants of virus host range
	Ned Place Population 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
	Heidi Reesink Clinical 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
	Brian Rudd Microbiology & Immunology	Developmental immunology; host response to infection
	Chris Schaffer Biomedical 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
	Luis Schang Baker Institute for Animal Health, Microbiology & Immunology	Role of cellular protein, lipids, and glycans play in viral infection
	John Schimenti Biomedical Sciences	Genetics of reproduction and germ cell development; cancer genetics; meiosis; DNA repair; genome manipulation in mice; functional genomics
	Praveen Sethupathy Biomedical Sciences	Functional genomics; gene regulation; molecular genetics; gastrointestinal physiology; stem cell biology; metabolic disease
	Carolyn Sevier Molecular Medicine	Signaling of cellular oxidative stress; molecular mechanisms used by cellular pathways that sense and signal redox imbalances within the cell
	Jeongmin Song Microbiology & Immunology	Host-pathogen interactions, bacterial toxins, Salmonella Typhi, bacterial pathogenesis
	Tracy Stokol Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences	The role of tissue factor (coagulation factor III) in hemostasis (particularly thrombotic disorders) and cancer metastasis
	Rory Todhunter Clinical Sciences	Canine hip dysplasia; genetic linkage analysis; osteoarthritis
	Alexander Travis Baker 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
	Bettina Wagner Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences	Immune responses and protective mechanisms in neonates and young foals
	Joe Wakshlag Clinical Sciences	Obesity management and nutritional intervention for the canine athlete
	Robert Weiss Biomedical Sciences	Genome maintenance mechanisms and metabolic pathways in cancer and other diseases
	Andrew White Biomedical Sciences	Cancer biology; stem cell biology; biochemistry and cell biology
	Gary Whittaker Microbiology & 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

VILP Mentors

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