AAVMC Honors Kornegay with an Invited Lecture at Annual Meeting
COLLEGE STATION, TX – Dr. Joe N. Kornegay, Texas A&M University professor in the departments of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences and Veterinary Pathobiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and the Institute for Neuroscience, was recently selected for the Recognition Lecture award by the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). This is an honor given to an individual whose leadership and vision has made a significant contribution to academic veterinary medicine and the veterinary profession.
The award will be presented during the AAVMC Annual Conference on Saturday, March 15, at the Westin Alexandria in Alexandria, Virginia.
Kornegay plans to speak about his research in a canine model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and how this relates to the broader concept of “One Health,” in which human and animal medicine are inextricably linked.
For more than thirty years, Kornegay has studied a spontaneous canine disease termed golden retriever muscular dystrophy (GRMD), which serves as an animal model for DMD in humans. Both conditions are X-linked, meaning they are caused by mutations in a gene on the X chromosome. His research has defined key clinical and pathologic features of GRMD to better understand the causes of the disease and analyze possible treatments. In recent years, Kornegay’s laboratory and collaborators have studied various treatments in affected dogs, and results of these preclinical studies should guide the use of similar treatment strategies in DMD patients.
“We are proud of Dr. Kornegay and his recent recognition by the AAVMC,” said Dr. Eleanor M. Green, Carl B. King Dean of Veterinary Medicine. “Dr. Kornegay’s work has been a cornerstone example of what we’ve come to embrace as the One Health approach and has helped to demonstrate the importance of the connection between human and animal health. His research with canine DMD patients is at the forefront of a revolution in biomedical sciences in which purebred dog populations are ideal subjects for identifying specific genes associated with diseases that affect both dogs and humans, such as cancer, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, heart disease, and many others.”
After receiving his veterinary degree from Texas A&M, Kornegay spent three years in private practice in Ohio and Texas followed by six years in residency (neurology and pathology) and graduate (Masters and PhD) training at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. Upon completion of this training, he served on the faculty of the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University for 11 years before moving to the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri where he eventually became the college’s dean.
He moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006 and to his current position at Texas A&M University in 2012. In both of these positions, his responsibilities have focused on research.
Kornegay is a diplomate and past president of the neurology specialty of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) and currently serves as ACVIM’s president-elect.
“Dr. Kornegay has made exceptional contributions to veterinary medicine as an academic dean, skilled clinician, visionary leader, and accomplished researcher,” said Dr. Evelyn Tiffany-Castiglioni, professor and head of the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences. “The list of recipients of the AAVMC Recognition Lecture reads like a who’s who of veterinary medicine. I have had the honor of knowing some of the individuals on the list, and I know that Dr. Kornegay brings additional honor to an already distinguished company.”
