Officers

  • President: Tracy Hill
  • Immediate Past President: Katie Tolbert
  • President Elect: Julian Dandrieux
  • Secretary and Treasurer: Emily Gould
  • At-Large Member (Grants): Karin Allenspach-Jorn
  • At-Large Member (Education): Sara Jablonski
  • At-Large Member (Meeting): Patricia Ishii
  • Webmaster & Social Media: Betty Chow


Tracy Hill, DVM, DACVIM, PhD, DECVIM-CA

President

Contact Information

E-mail: tlhill@umn.edu

Professional Appointment

Clinical Associate Professor, Small Animal Internal Medicine and Interventional Radiology, University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine

Biography

Dr. Tracy Hill is a Clinical Associate Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine and Interventional Radiology at the University of Minnesota. Her primary clinical interest areas include gastroenterology and minimally invasive treatment modalities. She teaches small animal gastroenterology in the didactic veterinary curriculum. Her research is focused in two main areas, including minimally invasive therapies and the effect of various systemic disease states on gut function and gastrointestinal injury. Currently, funded research projects include examining acute gastrointestinal injury in dogs with critical illness and evaluating three colonoscopy preparation protocols for efficacy in dogs.


M. Katherine Tolbert, DVM, PhD, DACVIM

Immediate Past President

Contact Information

E-mail: ktolbert@cvm.tamu.edu

Professional Appointment

Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University, College of Veterinary Medicine

Biography

Dr. Katie Tolbert completed her small animal internal medicine residency and Ph.D. in Comparative Biomedical Sciences at North Carolina State University. She is a clinical associate professor in the Gastrointestinal Laboratory at Texas A&M University and is a member of the Dog Aging Project consortium. She also holds a position as a Clinical Veterinary Instructor at North Carolina State University and is pursuing an alternate-track residency in small animal nutrition at the University of Tennessee. Her clinical interests and research program are focused on the treatment of acute and chronic gastrointestinal diseases in dogs and cats. She has published over 70 peer-review manuscripts and received the Zoetis award for Excellence in Veterinary Research in 2018.


Julien Dandrieux

President Elect

Contact Information

E-mail: julien.dandrieux@ed.ac.uk

Professional Appointment

Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Medicine, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh

Biography

Dr. Julien Dandrieux received his veterinary degree from the University of Bern. He did a rotating internship at the University of Bern followed by a residency in Small Animal Internal Medicine as a joint program of the University of Bern and Louisiana State University. Julien became a Diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, DACVIM (SAIM), in 2008. Julien worked thereafter as a faculty at the University of Liverpool, before re-locating at the University of Melbourne. He was awarded a PhD from the University of Melbourne studying chronic enteropathy and immunosuppressant in 2019. Julien is currently working as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and his main interests include chronic gastrointestinal disease, in particular protein-losing enteropathies, immune-mediated diseases, and the use and adverse effects of immunosuppressant.


Emily Gould, DVM, MS, DACVIM, PhD

Secretary & Treasurer

Contact Information

E-mail: egould@cvm.tamu.edu

Professional Appointment

Assistant Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine, Gastrointestinal Lab, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biochemical Sciences

Biography

Dr. Emily Gould earned her DVM from the University of California at Davis (UC Davis) and her MS at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine (UTCVM), followed by a dual small animal internal medicine residency/PhD also at the UTCVM. She became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in 2019, and joined the TAMU Gastrointestinal Laboratory immediately following her residency to continue her PhD. In 2021, Emily joined the TX A&M School of Veterinary Medicine as an assistant professor of SAIM in the GI Lab. Her research areas of interest include the interplay between local gut and peripheral immunity, mechanisms of cell death, and the immunomodulatory effects of acid suppressants (namely in response to mast cell disorders). She is passionate about the education and teaching of students, interns, and medical residents, and has an interest in mental health wellness in veterinary medicine.


Karin Allenspach-Jorn, Dr.med.vet. FVH, DECVIM-CA, PhD, FHEA, RCVS, AGAF

At-Large Member (Grants)

Contact Information

E-mail: karin.allenspach@uga.edu

Professional Appointment

Professor of Comparative Medicine, Department of Pathology, University of Georgia, College of Veterinary Medicine

Biography

Dr. Karin Allenspach received her veterinary degree from the University of Zurich. She did an internship in small animal emergency medicine and critical care at Tufts University and a residency in small animal internal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and is a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. She was awarded a PhD in Veterinary Immunology from the University of Bern, Switzerland for her work on Canine Chronic Enteropathies. Karin has published > 130 peer-reviewed publications and has a current H factor of 43. She is currently employed as Professor of Comparative Medicine at the University of Georgia, Athens, USA and is a PI of the SMART Translational Medicine Lab at UGA, which focuses on the development and culture of adult stem stem-cell-derived organoids from various species. Her latest efforts have resulted in the founding of a start-up company (3D Health Solutions, Inc.) with the goal of commercializing assays for drug screening based on organoid methods.


Sara Jablonski, DVM, PhD, DACVIM

At-Large Member (Education)

Contact Information

E-mail: sjw@msu.edu

Professional Appointment

Assistant Professor, Small Animal Clinical Sciences, ​Michigan State University, College of Veterinary Medicine

Biography

Dr. Sara Jablonski received her DVM from Colorado State University (CSU) in 2011. After one year in general practice, she returned to CSU where she completed a one-year Fellowship followed by a residency in Small Animal Internal Medicine (SAIM). She completed her SAIM residency in 2016 and remained at CSU to serve on clinics and complete a PhD studying protein-losing enteropathies in dogs. She graduated with her PhD in December 2018 and was a CSU faculty member until June 2020. Dr. Jablonski joined the faculty at Michigan State University in July 2020. She is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Small Animal Internal Medicine). Her principal areas of interest include chronic gastrointestinal disease, specifically canine protein-losing enteropathies, hepatobiliary disease, and immune disorders.


Patricia Eri Ishii, DVM, PhD

At-Large Member (Meeting)

Contact Information

E-mail: pishii@stonewell.com.br

Professional Appointment

Scientific Account Advisor, Promega Corporation

Biography

Dr. Patricia Ishii grew up in Brazil, and completed her Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. in the Gastrointestinal Laboratory at Texas A&M University. Following her graduation, she is currently working at Promega Corporation where she acts as a Scientific Account Advisor. In addition, she recently founded a gastrointestinal focused laboratory named Stonewell Gastrointestinal Vet in her hometown, Sao Paulo, Brazil, to bridge the technology gap currently available in Brazil, and to build a collaborative research center. Her clinical and research interests are focused on the chronic gastrointestinal diseases of small animals, intestinal barriers dysfunctions, and biomarkers such as miRNAs.


Betty Chow, BVM&S, MRCVS, DACVIM

Webmaster & Social Media

Contact Information

E-mail: betty.chow@vca.com

Professional Appointment

Staff Internist; Internal Medicine Specialty Internship Director; VCA Animal Specialty & Emergency Center, Los Angeles

Biography

Dr. Betty Chow grew up in Hong Kong, and received her veterinary degree from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 2010. She spent time in Hong Kong working under a VIN feline consultant before pursuing a small animal rotating internship at the University of Glasgow, Scotland from 2012-2013. She then flew across the pond for an internal medicine/oncology specialty internship at Mississippi State University from 2013-2014, and an internal medicine specialty internship at BluePearl Veterinary Partners in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 2014-2015, before starting her internal medicine residency at the Veterinary Specialty Hospital of San Diego in 2015-2018. She is currently a staff internist and internal medicine specialty internship director at a specialty hospital in Los Angeles. Her interests are in gastroenterology, clinical nutrition, and feline medicine, and continues to publish in various peer-reviewed publications.