Equine Endocrinology Researcher at Ohio State University Awarded EQUUS Foundation Research Fellow

Ohio State University doctoral candidate Katarzyna Dembek, DVM, MS, DACVIM, received the 2016 EQUUS Foundation Research Fellow at the AAEP's 62nd Annual Convention in Orlando, Florida for her research into how the dynamics of hypothalamic, pituitary, and adrenal hormones relate to severity of disease and mortality in newborn foals.  

The EQUUS Foundation and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Foundation jointly established the EQUUS Foundation Research Fellowship program in 2011 to emphasize the importance of equine research, to reward researchers for their contributions, and to meet the increasing need to train future equine veterinary researchers. The $5,000 fellowship assists equine researchers, like Dr. Dembek, in their exploration of horse health care topics. Dr. Dembek also received a $500 stipend to support her travel to Orlando.  

"The contributions of veterinary research have been considerable, not just on animal health but also public health," said EQUUS Foundation Chairwoman Jenny Belknap Kees. "We are pleased to help provide the financial resources to enable continued advancements by sponsoring the EQUUS Foundation Research Fellowship."  

Dr. Dembek has made several clinical discoveries, including how an increase in the number of adrenal steroids in septic foals is directly proportional to severity of disease and likelihood of mortality. She also demonstrated foals with adrenal endocrine failure are likely to die within a very short period after admission. In addition, Dr. Dembek helped develop an application called FoalScore, which estimates the probability of sepsis and survival in foals.  

Dr. Dembek earned her veterinary degree in 2005 from the College of Veterinary Medicine at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Poland. She completed her master's in veterinary clinical sciences and equine medicine residency in 2012, both at Ohio State University.  

The deadline to apply for an EQUUS Foundation Research Fellow is August 1. Learn more about the program here.