Anne Avery, VMD, PhD
Director, Clinical Hematopathology Laboratory
I received my PhD in Immunology from Cornell University and then attended veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania where I earned my VMD degree in 1990. I stayed at Penn for a small animal internship and continued to do relief and emergency work for the next 10 years while doing a post-doctoral fellowship and my early years as faculty at Colorado State University.
During my post-doctoral training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, I focused on T cell function and development. In 1994, I came to Colorado State University, first as a post-doctoral fellow studying malaria, then as a faculty member where my focus shifted to cancers of the immune system.
The Clinical Hematopathology Laboratory was founded in 2001. My laboratory has two functions. First, we perform diagnostic testing for lymphoma and leukemia on samples sent to us from laboratories across the entire United States. We use a variety of different tests to provide both diagnostic and prognostic information to veterinarians, with the goal of helping owners and vets with their treatment decisions. We test 450 to 500 samples each week from dogs and cats.
Second, we use the material from these samples, and the data about patients provided by the submitting clinics, to investigate the molecular and functional characteristics of canine and feline lymphoma and leukemia. Some subsets of this disease are rare, but having access to such a large number of samples allows us to study even rare cancers.
The general focus of our research is to identify the molecular and functional characteristics of several different types of lymphoma and leukemia. Are main projects currently focus on acute leukemia, peripheral T cell lymphoma, and T zone lymphoma in dogs. In cats, we are studying the disease complex inflammatory bowel disease/intestinal T cell lymphoma. In addition to investigating these diseases for the benefit of our pets, we focus on comparisons between the veterinary disease and their human counterpart. It is our hope that these studies will benefit both pets and people.
The best part of my job is seeing the success of the PhD students I am privileged to mentor. It is rewarding to impart a passion for this work to the next generation of researchers and seeing them develop their own research niche. I am also proud of the fact that we are helping pet owners make more informed care decisions based on our diagnostic testing.
The other thing I appreciate about this work is the collaboration it affords us. I love working with other members of the FACC, as well as investigators at the Broad Institute, Vanderbilt University, Tufts University, Morris Animal Foundation, and the Dog Aging Project.
I have two cats. They are named Harry and Sonny after my favorite Premiere League soccer players, Harry (Kane) and Sonny (Son Heung-min).
Click here to learn more about the Clinical Hematopathology Laboratory.