Faculty Spotlight: Arnon Gal, DVM, MSc, PhD, DACVIM, DACVP

Tell us about your background.

I was born in Israel and awarded my DVM degree in 2001 from the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine (KSVM) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. After graduation, I worked in private practice for several years before attending a rotating medicine and surgery internship at KSVM.

In 2006 my family and I came to the University of Illinois for my small animal internal medicine residency. I guess we liked Illinois because we stayed for six more years in which I also completed an anatomical pathology residency and a PhD. In January 2015, we moved to New Zealand, where I worked as an internist at the School of Veterinary Science at Massey University until we returned to Illinois last December.

How did you become interested in internal medicine?

What I like most about my job is the complexity of internal medicine cases. Being an internist for me means going to work happy every day for another exciting day full of little riddles to solve. I also gain great satisfaction from being able to help very sick animals and their worried owners.

What led you to become double boarded in both internal medicine and pathology?

During my residency in internal medicine, I felt that I did not see the “whole picture” and thought that I would have a better in-depth understanding of the mechanisms of diseases if I also became a pathologist. That was just the tip of the iceberg of a whole new fascinating and exciting world that I discovered during the anatomical pathology residency at Illinois.

What are your special interests?

As an internist, I am very interested in metabolic and endocrine diseases that are involved in carbohydrate metabolism. As an internist-pathologist, I am also interested in pathologic conditions that affect the liver, pancreas, and gastrointestinal tract. Outside of work, I am interested in endurance sports, largely ultramarathon and barefoot running.

Tell us about a favorite case of yours.

My most rewarding case was a sweet dog in New Zealand named Enzo who had hypoadrenocorticism (i.e., Addison’s disease). Both the owners and the dog were lovely, and it was very gratifying to be able to diagnose Enzo’s condition and provide treatment that got him back to how he used to be.