FIVM Series presents: Equine Research

As with many areas of veterinary medical scholarship, the coming together of clinical and translational researchers is crucial to advancements in the study of equine health. 

On Friday, February 12, Dr. Thomas Divers will demonstrate how equine clinicians can become involved in research that is clinical, collaborative, and comparative. His presentation will emphasize the importance of collaborative research.  Dr. Divers will also give a summary of his research on Equine Motor Neuron Disease, which has similarities to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in humans, and Equine Viral Hepatitis as examples of this type of research.    

Dr. Divers earned his DVM from the University of Georgia and completed an internship in large animal medicine at the University of California at Davis. After completing a residency in large animal internal medicine and ambulatory practice at the University of Georgia, he worked as an assistant professor in the large animal medicine and ambulatory practice at the College. Dr. Divers then moved to the University of Pennsylvania for nine years where he was an associate professor of large animal medicine and served as chief of the section of medicine at the New Bolton Center. 

Currently Dr. Divers is the Rudolph J. and Katharine L. Steffen Professor of Medicine in the Section of Large Animal Medicine at Cornell University. He has received the Educator of the Year Award from both the AAEP and ACVECC, and the Cornell University Hospital for Animals Distinguished Service Award for service to referring veterinarians. Dr. Divers was inducted into the University of Kentucky Equine Research Hall of Fame in 2018. He is a diplomate of both the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care.  

Dr. Divers is an author on more than 225 publications, mostly reporting on diseases of horses and dairy cattle.  He has also authored four textbooks including Equine Emergencies and Rebhun’s Diseases of Dairy Cattle.  Dr. Divers is the consulting editor of Veterinary Clinics of North America- Equine Practice. His current research focuses on newly-discovered hepatitis viruses in horses, oxidative stress in racehorses, drug induced renal injury, Lyme disease, and Leptospirosis.