Our mission is to foster interactions between clinical specialists, translational researchers, and basic researchers in the area of companion animal studies that will directly result in improved quality of life for animals and indirectly improve human health through interactions with their companion animals.

By coordinating the clinical research strengths with expertise in companion animal medicine and surgery, our center aims to advance the teaching of professional veterinary medical students, clinical interns, clinical residents, and graduate students in the Department of Clinical Sciences by involving these professionals in the design and conduct of clinically relevant research projects.

The Director of the Center is D​r. Michael R. Lappin who is the Chairperson of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association One Health Committee. The Center is currently collaborating with WSAVA to sponsor a One Health Certificate course​ to foster the practice of One Health concepts in our veterinary clinics.

As many of our projects are associated with new diagnostic tests, new treatments, and new vaccines for common diseases seen in veterinary clinics, the use of research animals is minimized. Most of the Center studies have involved animals in need that are housed in shelters which are helped by performance of positive control studies (all animals get treated).​