AVMA recognizes four veterinary scientists with research awards

The AVMA is honoring four veterinary scientists with 2025 AVMA Excellence Awards for their contributions to research.

AVMA Lifetime Excellence in Research Award

Dr. Joan Coates (Missouri ’90), a professor of veterinary neurology and neurosurgery at the University of Missouri (MU) Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, was awarded the AVMA Lifetime Excellence in Research Award.

This award recognizes a veterinary researcher on the basis of lifetime achievement in basic, applied, or clinical research.

Dr. Coates previously served as interim director of the MU Veterinary Health Center. She has also held veterinary faculty positions at the University of Georgia and Texas A&M University.

A diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM), her translational research has helped advanced understanding and treatment of both veterinary and human neurological diseases.

She led the discovery of the superoxide dismutase 1 gene (SOD1) mutation in collaboration with the MU Canine Genetics Laboratory and MIT Harvard Broad Institute. In particular, her study of canine degenerative myelopathy (DM) as a disease model for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in people has been pivotal for animal and human patients, working with animal health companies and human-specific companies, such as Ionis Pharmaceuticals, for the development of novel therapeutics.

In addition to her DM research, Dr. Coates has served as the lead veterinary neurology collaborator in studies of the neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type 2 canine model of Batten disease. This work has included characterizing the disease phenotype and conducting preclinical studies of TPP1 enzyme replacement and gene therapies, contributing to Food and Drug Administration’s approval of treatments for children with this devastating condition.

Her research also encompasses intervertebral disk disease, acute spinal cord injury, urinary incontinence, meningoencephalomyelitis, and neurosurgery.

AVMA Clinical Research Award

Dr. Pamela Wilkins (Cornell ’86) is the recipient of the AVMA Clinical Research Award. The award is given to an AVMA member who has made significant contributions to the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of diseases in animals, including the study of mechanisms of disease, therapeutic interventions, clinical trials, development of new technologies, and epidemiological studies.

Dr. Wilkins is a professor of companion animal medicine at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.

She is also one of only a handful of clinicians board-certified in both large animal internal medicine and veterinary emergency and critical care.

Dr. Wilkins has published extensively on basic physiology of the exercising horse, including studies of extravascular lung water and of factors affecting the measure of cardiac output, but she is best known for addressing issues directly related to clinical care of horses, especially foals.

Her research has contributed to validating the use of point-of-care L-lactate and glucose monitors in critically ill horses, which have been adopted and utilized widely in equine veterinary hospitals and intensive care units.

More recently, her research laboratory is focusing on coagulation disorders with the goal of investigating and validating the use of a point-of-care viscoelastic coagulation meter in clinical medicine.

Dr. Wilkins has organized and hosted four international workshops to improve equine health by facilitating communication between clinicians and researchers to address emerging issues in the field. She also has led workshops devoted to sepsis in foals and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in horses.

AVMA Career Achievement in Canine Research Award

Dr. Cynthia Otto is the recipient of the AVMA Career Achievement in Canine Research Award. The award honors an AVMA member’s long-term contribution to the field of canine research.

Dr. Otto (Ohio State ’86) is a tenured professor of working dog sciences and sports medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet).

She is also the founder and executive director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, where she oversees fitness and medical care of the program's detection dogs, provides rehabilitation and conditioning for police and other working dogs, and conducts research on detection dogs. Dr. Otto is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care and American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Dr. Otto started her career in feline research with her PhD research that involved the cloning and expression of feline tumor necrosis factor. However, it was her subsequent work with dogs that truly defined her career.

After completing her residency and PhD training at the University of Georgia, Dr. Otto accepted a tenure track position at Penn Vet.

In 2006, she helped establish the Veterinary Clinical Investigation Center at Penn Vet to facilitate clinical trials in pet animals. Her main clinical focus was on inflammation-related conditions, including clinical trials in canine sepsis and trauma studies.

Dr. Otto’s groundbreaking efforts in disaster response and working dog health became well known following her involvement with search and rescue efforts at Ground Zero after 9/11. As a Federal Emergency Management Agency-certified responder with Pennsylvania Task Force 1, she cared for search-and-rescue dogs deployed to Ground Zero and performed unprecedented longitudinal studies, funded by the AKC Canine Health Foundation, that yielded critical insights into the long-term health outcomes of these dogs.

Driven by her vision to advance the health and performance of working dogs, Dr. Otto founded the Penn Vet Working Dog Center. Her research there has expanded the understanding of canine olfaction and performance in areas ranging from public safety and public health to environmental safety.

Her research centers on how dogs in their natural environment as pets or working animals can serve as models for new knowledge that applies to human and animal health, including a clinical focus on inflammation-related conditions.

AVMF Career Achievement in Feline Research Award

Dr. Ronald Li (Guelph ’09) was honored with the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF) Career Achievement in Feline Research Award. The award recognizes contributions to advancing feline health through research.

Dr. Li is associate professor of emergency and critical care at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He serves as a member of the Feline Health Center at the university and is the principal investigator at the NC State Comparative Platelet and Neutrophil Physiology Laboratory.

Dr. Li is regarded as an expert in thrombosis and hemostasis. His laboratory is dedicated to improving the understanding of platelet and neutrophil biology, their interaction in states of hypercoagulability, and the identification of novel pathway targets to improve disease outcomes.

His work is particularly focused on feline thrombosis as it relates to cardiovascular diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and the discovery of novel congenital platelet disorders.

In a series of manuscripts, Dr. Li’s team observed that feline patients rescued from California’s many wildfires were experiencing severe hypercoagulability and subsequent thrombosis. His quick clinical observations resulted in a publication that changed the way these many cases are managed. His team followed up on this to understand the mechanism of hypercoagulability and identify the most successful therapeutic intervention.

Dr. Li’s research interests also include congenital platelet disorders, and anticoagulant and anti-platelet therapy monitoring in feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy as a large animal model for familial human hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Dr. Li is a member of the Feline VMA’s Feline Heart Health Task Force.