Tell us about your background.
I’m originally from Hammond, Ind., and attended veterinary school at Purdue. After veterinary school, I did a small animal rotating internship at a private practice in south Florida, then returned to Purdue for my clinical pathology residency.
Since my residency, I have been a clinical instructor at Illinois, a lecturer at the University of Melbourne, a clinical pathologist at Antech in Chicago, and, since 2015, a clinical assistant professor back at Illinois.
In March I accepted a 50% appointment as assistant dean for student success in the college’s student affairs office.
How did you become interested in clinical pathology?
Purdue has a great group of faculty who made the subject interesting during my second and third year of veterinary school. In my fourth year, I took a clinical pathology elective rotation, which solidified how much I enjoyed every aspect of the specialty.
What are your special interests?
My main interests in clinical pathology are chemistry evaluation and bone marrow interpretation. Reviewing chemistry results is like solving a puzzle. Each change has multiple potential causes, and you have to decide what fits best with the other findings as well as with the clinical history of the patient.
Tell us about a favorite case of yours.
I have had a lot of favorite cases. One that is particularly memorable was an aspirate of a caudal intra-abdominal mass that turned out to be a retained surgical sponge. The aspirate contained granulomatous inflammation as well as thread-like foreign material.
The most memorable part of the case was working with one of our residents to have it published in JAVMA.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
One of the things I enjoy the most in my life outside veterinary medicine is training for and competing in multiple triathlon events each year. I have competed in all distances, including Ironman Wisconsin in 2017.
