Immunology and Hematology: A Comprehensive Clinical Update

Dr. Shauna Blois graduated from the Atlantic Veterinary College in 2004. After graduation, she completed a rotating internship followed by a small animal internal medicine residency at the Ontario Veterinary College. She is currently an associate professor at the Ontario Veterinary College, service chief of the companion animal internal medicine service, co-director of the OVC Comparative Hemostasis Laboratory. Primary research interests include the intersection between the hemostasis and immune systems.

Dr. Dorothee Bienzle holds a veterinary degree from the University of Guelph and a PhD in Immunology from McMaster University. Dr. Bienzle is board-certified in Veterinary Pathology (clinical), and currently a professor and research chair holder at the University of Guelph. Dr. Bienzle has a life-long interest in diseases of the hematopoietic and lymphoid system and has published extensively in that area. Dr. Bienzle is a founding member of the Veterinary Flow Cytometry (2017) and Bone Marrow Assessment (2020) initiatives, which endeavor to standardize analysis and interpretation of such samples.

Dr. Marjory Brooks is a Cornell DVM graduate who completed internship and residency training and achieved ACVIM Diplomate status at the Animal Medical Center in NYC. Dr. Brooks has more than 25 years of experience in comparative hemostasis research and since 2009 has been the Director of the Comparative Coagulation Laboratory at Cornell University. The Coagulation lab is an international referral laboratory for characterization of hemostatic disease in animals. The laboratory continually develops new diagnostic tests and participates in studies to improve management of bleeding and thrombotic disease in veterinary patients, and to develop translational animal models of human disease.

Dr. JD Foster graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Wisconsin, and obtained a Master’s degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Kansas. After several years in academia, he now runs the Nephrology & Urology and Extracorporeal Therapies services at Friendship Hospital for Animals in Washington, DC. Dr. Foster’s research interests include nontraditional uses of extracorporeal blood purification, glomerulonephritis, and drug pharmacokinetics in patients with kidney disease. He has lectured internationally on these subjects and has published numerous manuscripts and book chapters in nephrology and urology. He is the past-president of the American Society of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology and a current board member of the International Renal Interest Society.

Dr. Karen Humm graduated from Cambridge University in 2001 and spent time in small animal practice prior to a rotating internship at Liverpool University. She joined the RVC as an ECC resident in 2005 and never left! She is now an Associate Professor in Transfusion Medicine and Emergency and Critical Care and works as Co-Director of the ECC department and Director of the Transfusion Medicine Service. 

Dr. Kidd received a DVM and small animal internal medicine residency training from the University of Wisconsin, and a PhD in Immunology from the Intracellular Pathogens Research Laboratory, North Carolina State University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute, studying mechanisms of thrombosis. Dr. Kidd is a Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences. Her research interests include vector-borne and immune-mediated diseases, and mechanisms of thrombosis in proinflammatory states. Awards include the Pfizer Award for Teaching Excellence, The Monica Menard award for Pathobiological Research, and The Zoetis award for Veterinary Research Excellence.  

Dana LeVine is an Associate Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine at Auburn University. A 2004 graduate of Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. LeVine completed a rotating small animal internship at UGA and the Clinician Investigator Program at NCSU with a PhD focusing on the pathogenesis of immune thrombocytopenia.  Dr. LeVine’s clinical and research interests include immune-mediated blood disorders, neutrophil extracellular traps, hemostasis and thrombosis.  She recently co-authored the ACVIM Consensus Statements on the Diagnosis and Treatment of IMHA and is co-chair of the current ACVIM Consensus Panel for Diagnosis and Treatment of Immune Thrombocytopenia.  Dr. LeVine serves as President of the Association of Veterinary Hematology and Transfusion Medicine and Secretary of the Veterinary & Comparative Clinical Immunology Society.

Dr. Heidi Peta is a clinical pathologist within IDEXX Research and Development, who is active in the advancement of cellular diagnostics and whose background includes over 13 years of experience working as a clinical pathologist.

Dr. James Swann graduated from the University of Cambridge and completed his residency and internship at the Royal Veterinary College, London. During this time, Dr. Swann developed a particular interest in immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA), conducting research recognized with an International Canine Health Award and co-chairing the ACVIM consensus panel on treatment of IMHA. Dr. Swann completed a PhD at the University of Oxford investigating hematopoiesis during chronic inflammatory disease and is currently conducting postdoctoral research at Columbia Stem Cell Initiative in New York, supported by a prestigious EMBO fellowship.

John Thomason is an associate professor of small animal internal medicine at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State University (MSU). He received his DVM in 2006 from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine and earned his M.S. in Veterinary Medicine in 2012 from Mississippi State University. He completed his residency in small animal internal medicine at Mississippi State University prior to joining the faculty in 2010. Dr. Thomason’s research interests are in the field of hematology, hemostasis and immune mediated disorders.

Dr. Kim Yore graduated from the University of California, Davis in 2006. She completed her residency in Small Animal Internal Medicine at Colorado State University in 2014. She is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, working in military practice, private practice, and now industry as the Medical Affairs Specialist for Hematology at IDEXX, working to advance veterinary understanding of complete blood count cytograms and their use in the clinical setting.