Dr. Janet Beeler Marfisi has always had an interest in equine health, as her father owned Standardbred racehorses giving her plenty of exposure to horses from a young age. Her particular interest in equine lung health was piqued while working for mobile equine vet, Dr. John Hennessey, in the summers prior admission to the University of Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College as a DVM student.
After graduation in 2007, she won a scholarship as an American College of Veterinary Pathologists - Society of Toxicologic Pathology Coalition Fellow which allowed her to pursue a DVSc at OVC. Mentored by Dorothee Bienzle, Pathobiology, and Laurent Viel, Clinical Studies, her thesis work focussed on the development of heaves, or severe asthma, in horses.
Beeler-Marfisi, a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in Clinical Pathology, joined OVC's Pathobiology department in early 2017, and teaches DVM and graduate courses. Her current research is focused on finding better ways of diagnosing lung disease in cats, dogs, and horses using cell markers and flow cytometry. An additional area of focus is studying asthma in young horses to see if, similar to people in Ontario, there is a cause and effect relationship between air pollution and asthma in horses. Ultimately the research may help trainers and horse owners to modify how and when they train the horses.
She brings extensive experience in diagnostics and teaching to her role at OVC. Beeler-Marfisi was an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathology and Clinical Pathologist at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, and more recently worked as a Diagnostic Clinical Pathologist in New Zealand.
Being a teacher is helping to guide students, says Beeler-Marfisi, not only teaching them what the laboratory data they will be encountering on a daily basis means, but also "what to do when you don't know the answer."
(Equine Guelph)