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Michael Aherne

MVB (Hons 1), GradDipVetStud, MS, MANZCVS (Small Animal Surgery), DACVIM (Cardiology)

Dr. Aherne is an ACVIM-boarded cardiologist and clinical assistant professor of cardiology at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville, Florida. He obtained his veterinary degree from University College Dublin, Ireland; completed his internship at the University of Sydney, Australia; and completed his master’s degree and residency in veterinary cardiology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. His areas of interest include cardiac surgery, interventional cardiology, and advanced cardiac imaging.

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Bart Broeckx

DVM, PhD

Bart Broeckx graduated as a veterinarian in 2011. After obtaining his PhD in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and an additional Msc in Statistical Data Analysis, he started his tenure track at the Laboratory of Animal Genetics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University. His research focuses on the identification of genetic causes for various diseases, healthy breeding of cats and dogs, and the development of new sequencing and bio- informatics approaches to genetics work.

He serves as an associate professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and as Chair of two groups: “Assistance Dogs Purpose Dogs” and the “Advice Center of Clinical Genetics”. He is also the founder of the dedicated small animal clinical genetics/genetic counseling facility at Ghent University, Belgium.

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Bruce W. Christensen

DVM, MS, DACT

Dr. Christensen graduated from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2002. He completed a Theriogenology residency and Masters degree in Reproductive Physiology at the University of Florida in 2007. He has worked in private practice in Australia, and as a university professor in theriogenology departments at both Iowa State University and the University of California, Davis. He currently runs his own private practice in California, the Kokopelli Veterinary Center, where he provides theriogenology services for dogs and horses. He serves on the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Reproduction Management Center board and as a reproduction advisor to the Mexican Gray Wolf Species Survival Plan. He is a Diplomate of the American College of Theriogenologists and the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Christensen enjoys skiing and scuba diving with his son - a senior in high school with sights set on engineering - and his daughter, who plans on taking over the fashion world. They have 2 pulik, a Norwich terrier, a domestic medium hair calico cat, a black bunny, and 5 koi.

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Andrea Hesser

DVM, DACT

Dr. Hesser graduated in 2013 from Oklahoma State University CVM and subsequently completed a residency at UC Davis in Companion Animal Theriogenology in 2016. After becoming boarded in theriogenology, she has spent time in general practice, emergency practice, and specialty practice in Texas and Oklahoma assisting with reproductive medicine and surgery for small animals. In addition to her clinical interests, Dr. Hesser also applies her knowledge at home, as a hobby breeder and exhibitor of bullmastiffs.

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Kathryn A. Diehl

MS, DVM, DACVO

Dr. Diehl earned her masters and veterinary degrees at The Ohio State University, then completed a small animal rotating internship at the University of Georgia. She went on to complete a residency in comparative ophthalmology and cellular biology fellowship at the University of Wisconsin. Subsequently, she worked in academia at the University of Minnesota and Auburn University as well as in private specialty practice. She is currently an associate professor of Comparative Ophthalmology at the University of Georgia.

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Meredith Esterline

DVM, DACVS, MS

Dr. Esterline is a Board-Certified Surgeon practicing in the Central Texas area. Dr. Esterline graduated from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine in 2000, before completing rotating internships in New Jersey and Tennessee and her surgical residency at Kansas State University. In addition to specialty orthopedic and soft tissue surgery, Dr. Esterline has performed thousands of spay and neuter surgeries, through non-profit HQHVSN programs benefiting Central Texas communities in need.

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Rory Todhunter

BVSc, MS, PhD, DACVS

As a translational orthopedic researcher who practices small animal orthopedic surgery, my main research interest has been in genetics and complex trait mapping. My research has relied at a fundamental level on leveraging natural inherited disease in our veterinary clinical population to discover the genetic factors predisposing to complex trait inheritance. The Cornell Veterinary Biobank is the first biobank to achieve accreditation by the International Standards Organization (ISO 203807). I am convinced that properly processed and archived biological samples, with a clear chain of attribution, are critical to valid preclinical and basic research.

Using these samples, I am interested in reducing the severity of complex orthopedic traits in dogs, especially hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, rupture of the cranial cruciate ligament (ACL in humans), and Legg Calve Perthes disease using genetic and genomic tools. The goal is to develop a tool kit of genetic strategies to identify breeding dogs with good orthopedic genetic quality to predict and prevent and introduce novel therapies for orthopedic disease.

As a surgeon, I am concerned about surgically-related orthopedic infections in dogs and how to better survey these infections in our teaching hospital to reduce and prevent them using epidemiological, genomic and metabolomic tools.