The core mission within the Division of Laboratory Animal Medicine (LAM) in the Department of Pathobiology is divided into three specific activities:
Veterinary Clinical, Pathology, Diagnostic Services, and Regulatory Support: Pathobiology faculty and staff within University Laboratory Animal Resources (ULAR) provide veterinary and diagnostic support to investigators throughout the University of Pennsylvania.
Our faculty veterinarians are experts in the needs and health care for a wide variety of animal species, including rodents (mice and rats), non-human primates, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, birds and amphibians.
A total of eleven DVMs/VMDs/PhDs are responsible for the clinical veterinary care, preventative medicine, and diagnostics of all research and teaching animals housed at the University of Pennsylvania. All of our veterinary specialists are boarded by their specialty colleges, either ACLAM (9 veterinarians) or ACVP (2 veterinarians).
Oversight for Penn’s rodent diagnostic services and biosecurity mission is overseen by a dedicated veterinary pathologist, and our second veterinary pathologist provides necropsy and histopathology services for all research animals.
For these institutional service roles, all ULAR veterinarians receive faculty support through the Department of Pathobiology and directly report through the Executive Director of ULAR & Associate Vice Provost for Research to the Senior Vice Provost for Research/Institutional Official. This is required to meet legal mandates and federal guidelines for the care and maintenance of laboratory animals. Today, ULAR employs over 200 people and oversees a daily census of over 150,000 animals including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.
In addition, ULAR veterinarians oversee housing and husbandry of research and teaching animals, ensure the health quality of research animals, assist in constructing and renovating vivaria, and have input into regulatory affairs and protocol review for experimental animals.
Our team of talented veterinary technicians, under the supervision of the Director for Veterinary Care and the Veterinary Technician Manager, assist the animal research community in the care of research animals and are available for fee-for-service assistance to scientists. These technicians have expertise in veterinary medical care and anesthesia of a wide variety of species.
2. Training of Veterinary Students and Residents: Faculty and staff from our group teach veterinary students about laboratory animal biology, medicine, and diseases by providing didactic courses in the Veterinary School. Learn more about training for students and residents...
3. Biomedical/Clinical Research and Consulting for Investigators in Animal Modeling: Our faculty and clinical veterinarians consult and advise scientists in methods to improve their experimental models and may participate in collaborative research projects.
Major areas of research interest include pathogenesis of infectious disease, improvements in the anesthesia of rodents, large animals and amphibians, musculoskeletal physiology, rodent virology, improvements in research animal husbandry, veterinary care of immunodeficient small and large animals, novel cellular therapies for development of immunological tolerance and transplantation immunobiology.
Faculty
- Angela Brice, DVM, PhD, DACVP, Assistant Professor of Pathobiology
- Anthony Carty, DVM, MS, DACLAM, Associate Professor of Pathobiology
- Raimon Duran-Struuck, DVM, PhD, DACLAM, Associate Professor of Pathobiology
- Kristin Gardiner, MB, VMD, DACLAM, Assistant Professor of Pathobiology
- F. Claire Hankenson, DVM, MS, DACLAM, Professor of Pathobiology
- Leah Makaron, DVM, DACLAM, Assistant Professor of Pathobiology
- James O. Marx, DVM, PhD, DACLAM, Associate Professor of Pathobiology
- Blythe Philips, VMD, DACLAM, Assistant Professor of Pathobiology
- Diane J. Gaertner, DVM, DACLAM, Professor of Pathobiology (Emeritus)
- Abigail L. Smith, MPH, PhD, Honorary DACLAM, Professor of Pathobiology (Emeritus)
Laboratory Animal Medicine - Residents
 Kristen Esannason, DVM
Dr. Esannason graduated from Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine in 2022. She has worked with all common laboratory animal species throughout her time in veterinary school at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Cornell University, Emory University, NIH, and Cornell Weil Medical School. She is interested in nonhuman primate medicine, animal welfare, behavior and pathology.
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 Natalie Fogarty, VMD
Dr. Fogarty is a 2018 graduate of Penn Vet. She completed a clinical internship in large animal medicine at B.W. Furlong and Associates followed by a specialty internship in laboratory animal surgery at Tufts University prior to her residency training.
She is interested in laboratory animal surgery and orthopedics. |
 Jeffrey S. Frankel, VMD
Dr. Frankel graduated from Penn Vet in 2021. He received a BA in Biological Anthropology from Northwestern University in 2017. He is currently completing his residency in laboratory animal medicine at Penn. His interests include nonhuman primate medicine; dermatology; analgesia; cytopathology; and safety pharmacology and toxicology.
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 Lisa Hagan, VMD
Dr. Lisa Hagan is a 2020 graduate of Penn Vet. Prior to veterinary school, she worked in a variety of vivaria as an animal care technician, cage wash technician, and rodent breeding technician.
She is interested in anesthesia, surgery, and laboratory animal enrichment. |
 Alessandro P. Lamacchia, VMD
Dr. Lamacchia is a 2022 graduate of Penn Vet. He is interested in laboratory animal behavior, welfare, and enrichment. |
 Imani Nicolis, DVM
Dr. Nicolis is a 2020 graduate of Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine. She completed a specialty internship in laboratory animal medicine and surgery at Tufts University prior to her residency training. She is interested in novel therapeutics for infectious disease and public health epidemiology. |
Contact Laboratory Animal Medicine
Director's Office
215.898.2433 (office phone)
215.573.9999 (office fax)
lindaf@upenn.edu
Address:
University of Pennsylvania
University Laboratory Animal Resources
3800 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104