Craig Miller and his children
Craig Miller
Anatomic Pathology
Originally from the smoldering heat of the Arizona desert, I found my true calling in veterinary anatomic pathology after 10-year stint in bartending and restaurant management. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Colorado State University in 2007 and began vet school at CSU the following fall. While in vet school, I became interested in infectious disease pathogenesis through my work in the labs of Drs. Helle Bielefeldt-Ohmann and Sue VandeWoude. During this time, I investigated iron chelation mechanisms in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections and strain specific neuropathology in feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). I was accepted to the combined anatomic pathology residency/PhD program following graduation from vet school in 2011 and began my graduate coursework that fall. My PhD project encompasses viral characterization and pathogenesis of FIV in saliva and oral tissues, as well as mechanisms of transmission in cats. Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family, camping, fishing, playing guitar, watching/playing soccer, and rockin’ peoples faces off with the legendary veterinary band Bog Spavin.
Seung Yoo
Clinical Pathology
I grew up in a quiet suburb in balmy Southern California, called South Pasadena. I received both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science at the University of California at Davis. After graduating from Colorado State University with a combined MBA/DVM degree, I went to Michigan State University for a one year small animal rotating internship. I'm now in my second year of my residency and my research focuses on coagulation using thromboelastography. My interests are hiking, bread making, fishing, and ice hockey.
Dan Regan
Anatomic Pathology
Originally born in Jersey City, NJ, I have spent the majority of my life in St. Simons Island, GA, Cleveland, OH, and most recently Athens, GA, where I received a BS in Biology (2007), as well as DVM (2011) from the University of Georgia. I made the journey to Fort Collins, CO in July 2011, with my wife and zoo of animals (two dogs, two snakes, and four cats), in order to begin an anatomic pathology residency and PhD program here at Colorado State. In my spare time, I enjoy outdoor activities such as skiing, hiking, running, and tennis. I have had a strong interest in pathology and immunology since I began my veterinary career at UGA, and areas of research work during my veterinary training included investigation of cytokines associated with autoimmunity in equine ocular disease and canine idiopathic meningoencephalitis. Currently, I work in the tumor immunology lab under the mentorship of Steve Dow, where my graduate work focuses on investigating cellular and molecular components of the metastatic niche, and the role of monocytes in suppression of anti-tumor immunity, and tumor progression and metastasis.
Travis Meuten
Anatomic Pathology
My name is Travis Meuten. I am a first-year combined Anatomic Pathology resident/Ph.D. student here at the DMIP of CSU. I grew up as a North Carolina farm-boy with a love for outdoors and ‘scientific’ curiosity (always covered in dirt, mud and animal fur). I attended college at UNCA in the NC mountains before moving back to the Raleigh area for completion of a BS in Biological and Life Sciences and then veterinary school at NCSU. While in vet school, I became enthralled with pathophysiologic processes affecting animals and humans, especially at the microscopic level. During that time, I also had the great opportunity to study cellular signaling in human idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, opening the door to cellular cross talk. Within the wonderful world of Pathology, my research interests and career plans are focused on the tumor-stroma interactions in neoplastic processes. In my recreational time, I enjoy climbing rocks on sunny days and surfing on rainy days (though I suspect CO has little surf to offer, so I may be in search of a new excuse to get outdoors).
Elijah Edmondson
Anatomic Pathology
I was born and raised in Tifton, Georgia, delivered by my father (an OB/GYN) on our shared birthday. I moved to Athens to attend the university of Georgia (UGA) where I majored in cellular biology and minored in English literature. During my undergraduate training, I developed a strong interest in the molecular aspects of oncogenesis. Realizing the value of comparative genomics, I decided to pursue my passion for oncology through the understanding of veterinary medicine and pathology and attended the college of veterinary medicine at UGA. I am currently pursuing both ACVP certification and a Ph.D. in cancer genetics at Colorado state university (CSU). My research goals are currently dual in direction. Currently I am primarily focused on the histologic and immunohistologic classification of canine renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with a focus on elucidating similarities to the human tumor counterpart and the development of a prognostic grading scheme for dogs. In addition, I have started projects under the mentorship of Mike Weil including the characterization of acute myeloid leukemia with the use of human umbilical cord blood in NOD/SCID mice and the characterization of tumor development and the underlying genetic mutations in outbred mice exposed to HZE particles in comparison to those exposed to gamma radiation and those unexposed to either.
Laurie performing a necropsy on a prairie dog
Laurie Baeten
Microbiology Resident
As a ‘cheese-head’, I started my career with an undergraduate degree in Medical Technology from UW-LaCrosse. I spent several years as a med tech working in clinical laboratories and biomedical research before I moved on to veterinary school. I graduated from UW-Madison's School of Veterinary Medicine in 1993 where I made an effort to focus on wildlife, doing externships at places such as the International Crane Foundation, The Raptor Center (University of Minnesota) and USGS National Wildlife Health Center.
After spending a few years in private practice, I was fortunate to find a job in wildlife that paid a salary. I was hired at the USGS-NWHC to work on a specific mortality event involving waterfowl mortalities at potash mines in NM. That temporary position led to a series of hires where I worked on several different wildlife disease projects studying disease such as: West Nile virus, plague, toxoplasmosis.
I moved to Colorado in 2001 and worked for Laboratory Animal Resources at CSU for about a year and then was fortunate to land a job as a wildlife veterinarian with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The position with the Wildlife Health Laboratory offered a variety of experiences everyday. Most of the time we were working on chronic wasting disease surveillance, however, I was fortunate to coordinate disease investigations with the field biologists, assist with veterinary care for the Canadian lynx reintroduction, evaluating the impact of respiratory diseases on bighorn sheep populations and work on the pandemic influenza task force for the state.
Laurie holding a black-footed ferret in a trap
In 2008, with the decline in hysteria about chronic wasting disease and finding myself in a dead-end job, I decided that it was time to move into something else and applied for the Microbiology residency at the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. I am currently finishing up my second year of the residency and will move into my PhD project this summer. My advisor's are Drs. Bowen and Pabilonia and I will work at both the Animal Disease Laboratory and the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. We are looking at the ecology of Yersinia pestis in wild carnivores and how serological data from these species can be used as a surveillance tool for detecting plague outbreaks. In addition, we are hoping to characterize the differences in mortality levels in wildlife species. Using rodents, domestic cats and dogs as models, we will look for differences in the pathogenicity of Yersinia or differences in the immune response to this organism in these different species.
Winona Burgess
Comparative Medicine Resident
Before joining the Comparative Medicine residency program here at CSU, I had a few other related (and not-so-related) careers. I originally graduated from Texas A&M University with an MBA and after passing the CPA exam, practiced as a tax accountant for Ernst and Young in Houston. Spending upwards of 100 hours a week at a desk convinced me that I might want to consider another career, so I returned to A&M to finish the requirements for application to vet school and supported myself by showing horses (career #2). After finishing vet school in 1998, I joined a small animal practice in Highlands Ranch, CO where I practiced for 8 years. A move to Las Vegas, NV to help a private medical school start a research animal program convinced me that lab animal medicine was an extremely interesting field with diverse opportunities, so I applied to the CSU program and started in 2009. My Masters degree will be in Biosafety under the Department of MIP, so my research interests include biosafety and biosecurity, as well as lab animal enrichment. I'm currently starting work in Mary Jackson's lab on a project involving disinfectant resistance in Mycobacteria.
Charles Halsey
Anatomic Pathology Resident
I am currently in my 4th year of the combined program having completed my anatomic pathology residency in June 2010. I grew up in Dallas, TX, received a BA in Zoology from Connecticut College and an MS in Biochemistry and DVM from Auburn University. My Master's thesis involved studying the role of the cAMP-elevating agent Paylean™ on the transcriptional control of lipid metabolism in swine, a project funded by Eli Lilly. During vet school, my interest in pursuing a career in the pharmaceutical industry continued which led me to complete two summer internships at Pfizer Global Research and Development in regulatory/toxicological pathology, where I developed in situ hybridization techniques to identify potential biomarkers involved in the pathogenesis of drug-induced vascular lesions in dogs and to look at tissue distribution of mRNA expression for multiple drug targets. During my clinical year, I completed an externship in the Comparative Molecular Pathology Unit at the NCI where I developed an interest in cancer research. I am currently an NIH T32 Fellowship Grant Trainee working on my PhD in Cancer Biology in the Pharmacology lab at the Animal Cancer Center under the direction of Dan Gustafson. I am looking at therapeutics targets of lymphangiogenesis.
Clare Hoover
Anatomic Pathology Resident
I grew up in central Pennsylvania. I received my undergraduate degree from Washington and Lee University, and my DVM from Ohio State University. My research interests include infectious viral diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. In my free time, I like to play tennis, cook, garden and spendtime with my cat, Oscar.
Valerie Johnson
Microbiology Resident
I grew up in New Hampshire and received my undergraduate training at Boston University. I received my veterinary degree at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in Massachusetts. I worked in an emergency hospital in New Hampshire for a year and then decided to pursue a career in emergency and critical care. I completed an emergency/critical care residency at the New England Animal Medical Center and received my board certification in 2005 and continued to work in the ICU at NEAMC as assistant chief of staff of the ICU. I became interested in sepsis and infection through my work in critical care and began to contemplate a career in research. In 2007 I moved back to New Hampshire and began working in the anatomic pathology department at Darmouth while I pondered what direction I wanted to go with my career. I applied to the microbiology residency program at CSU to further my knowledge of diagnostic medicine while pursuing my interests in infection and the immune response. I am currently in my first year as a microbiology resident and am enjoying the vast array of knowlege that is available to me and the excellent instruction I am receiving.
Elizabeth Magden
Comparative Medicine
I grew up in the cornfields of Iowa and attended a small liberal arts college called Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. After a brief stint working with chimpanzees at the Primate Foundation of Arizona, I enrolled in veterinary school at Colorado State University. My interest in caring for primates helped to develop my interest in lab animal medicine and I accepted a comparative medicine residency position at Colorado State University following graduation from veterinary school.
I am currently a second year comparative medicine resident working towards a master's degree in the MIP department with Dr. Sandra Quackenbush. We are working with a walleye retrovirus called walleye dermal sarcoma virus. This retrovirus causes the formation of multifocal cutaneous tumors on walleye fish. These tumors develop and regress on a seasonal basis. One particular protein, Orf C, is expressed only during the time of tumor regression.In order to further study this protein and its potential as a possible oncolytic therapy we have developed a recombinant lentivirus that expresses Orf C.
Alana Pavuk Hiking in Colorado's Rocky Mountains
Alana Pavuk
Anatomic Pathology
My name is Alana Pavuk Garner. I grew up on the coast of North Carolina; can anybody help me find the nearest beach? I went to Clemson University in South Carolina for my Bachelor's in Animal and Veterinary Sciences, then to North Carolina State University for Vet School. I then spent a year in small animal private practice in central North Carolina before starting the residency at CSU.
I am a first-year combined Anatomic Pathology resident/Ph.D. student, and I am learning to love the mountains. I have not picked a lab for my Ph.D., yet, but I am interested in infectious diseases in wildlife and their transmission to domestic species. I am looking forward to discovering new interests as I progress through the residency. I love working with students, and plan to pursue a career in academia.
Brendan Podell
Anatomic Pathology
I was raised in New Jersey and moved to Colorado in 1999 to fully embrace the winter season. I received my B.S. degree in microbiology in 2003 from Colorado State University and worked in the CSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory from 2003 to 2008 as a research associate for the Molecular Diagnostics section. I received my DVM degree in 2008 from CSU and soon began training in the combined anatomic pathology residency and PhD program at CSU. My graduate research focuses on pathogenesis and host-pathogen interactions of Mycobacterium tuberculosis under the guidance of principal investigator Dr. Randy Basaraba. My research aims are focused on post-therapeutic in vivo persistence of the bacteria and the impact of diabetes on tuberculosis pathogenesis using the guinea pig animal model.
Julia Ryseff biking in the front range of Colorado
Julia Ryseff
Clinical Pathology
I grew up amidst the corn and soybean fields of southern Illinois. I graduated from the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana with a BS in Integrative Biology and then continued on for my DVM degree. It was while in vet school that I was introduced to pathology, during my few years spent working as a clinical pathology emergency technician. I'm now in the second year of the CSU's clinical pathology residency, focusing on the use of the Advia 120 differential patterns and the detection of early emergence leukemia profiles.
Paula Schaffer and her horse Harry
Paula Schaffer
Anatomic Pathology
I grew up in southern California, graduated from Stanford University with honors, and received my DVM from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. After receiving my DVM, I returned to California to experience clinical practice in the setting of a small animal medicine, surgery, and emergency internship.
Now, a first year resident in CSU's anatomic pathology program, I am able to satisfy my passion for pathology that has driven me since my years at Stanford.