Meet the Oncology Service Chief

Susan Lana, DVM is the chief of the clinical oncology service at the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital and the Animal Cancer Center. Dr. Lana is an Associate Professor of Oncology and has been at CSU as a faculty member since 1999. She is a specialist in medical oncology.

As Chief of the clinical oncology service she is responsible for providing the strategic vision and coordination of the clinical service to provide the best care to cancer patients and their humans. She also coordinates educational rounds for veterinary students and helps to coordinate the medical oncology residency specialty training program for graduate veterinarians within the ACC.

Dr. Lana’s also coordinates the tissue archiving and clinical trials program. Dr. Lana established the tissue archiving program at the ACC in 2003 which has been actively collecting patient samples since that time. After client consent is obtained, tumor tissue are collected at the time of biopsy or surgery and are frozen and stored at -80 degrees Celsius in some cases for years. This provides a very important resource for cancer research for scientists within CSU and at other universities and organizations across the country.

She also co-directs the Clinical Trails program at the Animal Cancer Center with Dr. Doug Thamm. Advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer often emerge through clinical trails programs. Like human cancer centers, the Animal Cancer Center has a fully developed Clinical Trials Program offering patients and clients the opportunity to improve the understanding of new advances in cancer treatment that may ultimately benefit veterinary and human patients.

Dr. Lana earned her bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology from the University of Iowa and completed veterinary school at Colorado State University. After a small animal internship at Texas A&M University, she returned to CSU for a residency and post doctoral fellowship in medical oncology. She is the author of over 40 scientific articles and 10 book chapters.

Get to know Dr. Lana better.