COURSE LEADER

Harold Schott
Dr. Harold Schott
DVM, PhD, DACVIM (LAIM)
Professor
Michigan State University
 
Dr. Harold Schott received his DVM degree in 1984 from The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He started his career with three years in private equine practice in Southern California. He subsequently pursued advanced training by completing a residency in equine internal medicine and a PhD in equine exercise physiology at Washington State University. Dr. Schott became an ACVIM LAIM Diplomate in 1992.

Since 1995, Dr. Schott has been an equine medicine clinician at Michigan State University with a strong clinical interest in urinary tract disorders and endocrinological disorders. He continues to pursue a research interest of fluid and electrolyte balance in endurance horses.

SPEAKERS

Michelle Barton
Dr. Michelle Barton
DVM, PhD, DACVIM (LAIM)
Assistant Dean of Clinical Academic Affairs, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor, Fuller E. Callaway Endowed Chair
University of Georgia
 
Dr. Michelle Henry Barton is a 1985 graduate from the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois. She completed a Large Animal Internship at North Carolina State University and then a four year combined Large Animal Internal Medicine Residency and PhD in Physiology at the University of Georgia.

Dr. Barton has remained at UGA and is the Fuller E. Callaway Endowed Chair and a Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor. She has served the ACVIM as the Specialty President for Large Animal Internal Medicine and as their Ombudsman.

Melissa Esser
Melissa Esser
DVM, MS, DACVIM (LAIM)
Assistant Professor, Large Animal Clinical Sciences
Michigan State University
 
Dr. Melissa Esser received her doctorate from Oregon State University and subsequently completed a private practice internship at Littleton Equine Medical Center in Colorado and an internal medicine fellowship Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington Kentucky. She returned to Oregon State University to complete an internal medicine residency and became board certified in 2015.

Prior to joining the faculty at Michigan State, Dr. Esser spent a short time at the University of Minnesota, and came to MSU in 2016 where she primarily occupies a role educating residents and veterinary students.

Carrie Finno
Carrie Finno
BSc, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (LAIM)
Director of the Center for Equine Health
UC Davis
 
Dr. Carrie Finno is an equine internist that received her DVM from the University of Minnesota in 2004. She completed a 3-year residency in Large Animal Internal Medicine at the University of California, Davis (UCD), culminating in board-certification in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. Dr. Finno elected to pursue a career in translational genetic research, with a strong focus on inherited neuromuscular diseases, and obtained her PhD in 2012 from UCD.

Dr. Finno’s research studies the interaction of vitamin E and neural development in a naturally-occuring disease in the horse and using a well-established mouse model.


Richard Hepburn
Dr. Richard Hepburn
BVSc, MS (Hons), CertEM (IntMed), DACVIM (LAIM), FRCVS
RCVS Specialist in Equine Medicine
B&W Equine Hospital
 
Dr. Dicky Hepburn graduated from Liverpool University in 1997, and then worked in equine hospitals in the UK and New Zealand for 4 years, before completing a 3 year equine medicine residency and MS in the USA. Since 2004 he has worked at the B&W Equine Hospital, a 40 vet equine practice in SW England.

Dr. Hepburn is a member of the ECEIM EGUS consensus committee, a contributing author to the textbooks of Equine Neurology and of Equine Back and Neck Pathology. He is a FEI treating vet at Badminton Horse Trials, Royal Windsor Horse Show and at the London International Horse Show, Olympia.

Sarah Reuss
Sarah Reuss
VMD, DACVIM
Equine Professional Services Veterinarian
Boehringer Ingelheim
 
Dr. Sarah Reuss received her VMD from the University of Pennsylvania. After an internship at Equine Medical Center of Ocala, she next completed a Large Animal Internal Medicine residency at Texas A&M University. Dr. Reuss then practiced general and specialty medicine in Spokane, Washington. In 2010, she joined the faculty at the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Reuss transitioned to industry in 2016, first with Merial who was then acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim.

Dr. Reuss’ professional interests include gastrointestinal disease, neurology, endocrine disease, and infectious diseases of the horse and foal.

Stephanie Valberg
Stephanie Valberg
DVM, PhD
Professor, Mary Anne McPhail Dressage Chair in Equine Sports Medicine
Michigan State University
 
Dr. Stephanie Valberg received her DVM from the Ontario Veterinary College and completed a Ph.D. in equine exercise physiology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. She is a Board certified internal medicine and sports medicine. Her research and clinical practice centers on neuromuscular diseases in horses with a special focus on genetic diseases of skeletal muscle and their nutritional management.

Dr. Valberg was inducted into the Equine Research Hall of Fame in 2012. She has received several awards including the 2012 Milne lecture at AAEP, the 2001 and 2010 Pfizer Award for Research Excellence, the Distinguished Women Scholar Award in 2008 and Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association outstanding faculty award 2013.