Mark A. Oyama, DVM, MSCE, DACVIM-Cardiology was recently named the Chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences and Advanced Medicine (CSAM). Dr. Oyama also serves as the Charlotte Newton Sheppard Endowed Professor of Medicine and Professor of Cardiology and has been a member of the CSAM faculty since 2005. From a relatively young age, Dr. Oyama knew he wanted to be a veterinarian, but the path to specialization in cardiology and a career as a clinical researcher was one that he never anticipated.
When Dr. Oyama entered veterinary school at the University of Illinois in 1990, he was determined to become an equine veterinarian. Throughout his adolescence, Dr. Oyama completed in dressage and 3-day eventing with his Appendix Quarter Horse, Gandalf the Wiz. He spent many summers travelling dusty rural roads with the local equine veterinarian and working as a barn hand in return for free lessons. Dr. Oyama’s career path dramatically changed after taking Dr. David Sisson’s small animal cardiology course during his 3rd year of veterinary school. Mentored by Dr. Sisson, Dr. Oyama found himself heading to The Animal Medical Center in New York City for a rotating small animal internship followed by a cardiology residency at the University of California at Davis. Dr. Oyama successfully achieved board certification by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Specialty of Cardiology (ACVIM-Cardiology) in 1998. Upon leaving his residency, Dr. Oyama found himself drawn by the siren’s song of private practice and took a position at a specialty referral hospital in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Oyama was fully enjoying the idyllic Pacific northwest lifestyle with his Golden Retriever when one day his phone rang, and David Sisson asked if he would be interested in a faculty position at the University of Illinois. Dr. Oyama ended up serving on the Illinois’ faculty from 2000 to 2005, during which time he learned how to be a clinical researcher and teacher. The process, as anyone who has had a similar experience will know, is slow and incremental, and in need of dedicated mentoring from senior faculty. In 2005, Dr. Oyama was promoted to Associate Professor and shortly thereafter elected to move from Illinois and join Penn Vet. In the 17 years since, Dr. Oyama has made clinical research one of his most important missions. Over time, he settled into a few specific avenues of inquiry, namely the clinical and molecular pathology of myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) in the dog, diagnostic and prognostic utility of cardiac biomarkers, such NT-proBNP, and development and testing of new interventions and medications for heart disease.
These investigations have led to many satisfying discoveries, advances, and collaborations across the biomedical community. Dr. Oyama was the first to report on the association of serotonin (5HT) signaling and MMVD in the dog, which currently is one of leading hypothesis around progression of Myxomatous Mitral Valve Degeneration in both the dog and human. His interest in 5HT has led to collaborations with Dr. Robert Levy at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Dr. Giovanni Ferrari at Columbia University and publications involving the translational 5HT mechanisms of disease in journals such as Cardiovascular Pathology and Journal of Cell and Molecular Biology. Dr. Oyama was fortunate to lead and participate in many of the biomarker studies and drug trials that resulted in commercially available NT-proBNP tests in dogs and cats and the approval of new diuretics for heart failure in dogs including torsemide in the European Union. Recently, Dr. Oyama has been interested in changing how diuretics are used for acute and chronic heart failure. The trend in both veterinary and human medicine is to utilize more quantitative measures such as urine sodium rather than the current practice of relying solely on the presence or absence of frank congestion to guide dosing decisions. In collaboration with Dr. Jeff Testani, formerly of Penn Medicine and now at Yale University, Dr. Oyama and colleagues took newly described metrics of responsiveness for human heart failure patients and validated them for use in dogs. The shift to more quantitative measures facilitates determination of diuretic responsiveness and resistance and can lead to better outcomes.
Dr. Oyama credits much of his career thus far on the clinical research mission, which has opened doors and benefited him in many direct and indirect ways. His reputation as an investigator has elevated his standing within his specialty, enabling him to serve on various committees and positions of leadership, including as the ACVIM-Cardiology president. The visibility afforded by clinical research has made him a key opinion leader and allowed him to garner invitations to speak at meetings all over the world. His work has received recognition from the American Kennel Club and funding from animal health foundations, the NIH, and from industry. It has also attracted partnerships with industry wherein he has the ability to influence the development and direction of new therapies and diagnostics. At some point in time, every major veterinary pharmaceutical company has sought out Dr. Oyama’s advice. One company’s R&D division brought in Dr. Oyama to be their “closer” during a critical meeting with executives about the potential value of a new heart failure product and whether development would go forward (It did!).
Dr. Oyama notes that this is a particularly exciting time to be working in veterinary cardiology. Advances in the understanding of the pathophysiology of heart disease are rapidly occurring, and along with them come potential new therapies. Dr. Oyama is currently working on several strategies, including an entirely new type of diuretic for heart failure and new means to suppress the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. This work is squarely aimed at bringing these advances to the veterinary field and for the benefit of veterinary patients.
In his new role as Chair of CSAM, Dr. Oyama hopes to facilitate the clinical research mission of its faculty members. He is particularly interested in developing new funding sources, increasing research efficiency and return on investment, fostering collaborations with intramural and extramural research groups that align with the Department’s mission, and helping junior faculty reach their research goals in the same way that his own mentors helped Dr. Oyama reach his.