Equine Faculty Veterinarians
Philip Johnson, BVSc, MS, MRCVS, DACVIM-Large Animal Internal Medicine, DECEIM
Professor, Equine – Internal Medicine
A graduate of The University of Bristol (BVSc[Hons], MRCVS/veterinary degrees) and the University of Illinois (MS), Philip Johnson completed specialty training at the University of Illinois. He joined the MU faculty in 1991. His research interests include equine endocrinology, gastroenterology and laminitis. His clinical interests are equine endocrinology, gastroenterology and neonatology.
Kevin Keegan, DVM, MS, DACVS
Professor, Equine – Surgery
A graduate of the University of Missouri (BS, DVM) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (MS), Kevin G. Keegan completed residency training at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined the MU faculty in 1990. His research interests are development of objective methods of lameness evaluation in horses and methods of wireless transmission of biological signals for health monitoring. His clinical interest is in equine lameness.
Joanne Kramer, DVM, DACVS
Associate Teaching Professor, Equine – Surgery
A graduate of the University of Minnesota (DVM) and the University of St. Catherine (BA), Joanne Kramer completed specialty training at the University of Missouri. She joined the MU faculty in 1997. Her research interests are in veterinary education, lameness and podiatry. Her clinical interests include equine surgery, podiatry and student education.
Alison LaCarrubba, DVM, DABVP-Equine
Associate Teaching Professor, Equine – Ambulatory Medicine
A graduate of Cornell University (BS) and the University of Missouri (DVM), Alison LaCarrubba completed specialty training at MU. She joined the MU faculty in 2003. LaCarrubba works both with the equine ambulatory and internal medicine services. Among her clinical interests are equine dentistry, both routine and referral.
Lynn Martin, DVM, MPH
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Lynn Martin grew up in Minnesota where her parents are both veterinarians. She attended North Dakota State University and competed on the intercollegiate horse judging team, and the western and hunt Intercollegiate Horse Show Association teams. Martin received both DVM and MPH degrees from Mizzou in 2014, and then completed a private practice equine internship in San Antonio, Texas. She is now completing a large animal internal medicine residency and a PhD.
Shannon Reed, DVM, MS, DACVS
Associate Teaching Professor, Equine – Surgery
Shannon Reed is a native of Las Vegas, Nevada, who grew up showing Arabian horses and has switched to three-day eventing with a passion for retraining thoroughbreds that have retired from racing. She received her DVM and completed a rotating equine internship at the University of Missouri before undertaking a fellowship followed by a residency in large animal surgery at Oregon State University. She returned to Missouri to join the faculty at the College of Veterinary Medicine in 2008. At MU, she sees equine lameness and surgery cases as well as some food animal cases requiring surgery. She has a special interest in sport horse work as well as emergency surgery.
Martha Scharf, DVM, DABVP-Equine
Assistant Teaching Professor, Equine – Ambulatory Medicine
Martha Scharf is an equine ambulatory veterinarian at the MU Equine Hospital, traveling to provide routine and emergency veterinary care to the horses of mid-Missouri. She grew up in St. Louis, riding and training hunter-jumpers. Since moving to Columbia for college, she has continued to ride recreationally, with a mix of jumping, eventing and trail riding. She also serves as a faculty advisor for the vet college’s mascot mules, Tim and Terry, who have taught her the basics of driving and the intricacies of mules.
She graduated from the MU College of Veterinary Medicine in 2008 and completed a rotating equine internship during the following year. Since then, she has been working as one of the equine ambulatory veterinarians and instructors. In 2017, she achieved certification as a specialist in equine practice by the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. She is completing a veterinary chiropractic course and is already working to provide alternative diagnostic and treatment options for our patients. She particularly enjoys the long-term relationships and the wide variety of disorders that our general practice offers, as well as teaching and learning from the students. In the future, she hopes to continue learning, teaching and practicing equine ambulatory medicine.
David Wilson, DVM, MS, DACVS
Professor, Equine – Surgery
A graduate of Illinois State University (BS) and the University of Illinois (BS, DVM, MS), David A. Wilson completed specialty training at Illinois Equine Center and the University of Illinois. He joined the MU faculty in 1988. His research interests are in wound healing, biomechanics of fracture fixation and equine gait analysis. His clinical interests are orthopedic surgery, upper respiratory surgery and abdominal surgery.
Residents
Jael Pitts, DVM
Jael Pitts grew up in the small town of Follansbee, West Virginia. She attended The Ohio State University for her undergraduate studies in animal science and rural sociology. Pitts graduated from veterinary college at the University of Missouri in 2014. After graduation, she completed an equine surgery internship at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Kentucky. After completing her internship at HEMI, Pitts returned to MU for a rotating equine medicine, ambulatory and surgery internship. She is continuing her training at Mizzou through an equine surgical residency. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family, friends, and her dogs, Roo2 and Big Mac, and riding her off-the-track thoroughbred, Sangria.
Kile Townsend, DVM
Kile Townsend grew up on a small horse farm in Dover, New Hampshire, where she learned to ride and handle horses at a young age. Townsend attended the University of New Hampshire where she received a bachelor’s degree in biomedical science and a minor in music. She then received her DVM in May 2017 from the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island, Canada. While in Atlantic Canada, she learned a lot about the ins and outs of the standard bred racing industry. Townsend has a background in eventing and dressage and has always wanted to work with horses as a career. Following her equine rotating internship, she is staying on for a residency in equine internal medicine.
Interns
Alexandra Comly, DVM
Alexandra Comly is more commonly known as Sunny. She has been riding horses since before she could walk. Throughout her youth, she traveled all over the country competing in hunter-jumpers competitions. She has a horse named Taz who is competing at the Grand Prix jumper level. She went to Texas A&M University for her undergraduate degree in animal sciences. Before going to veterinary school, she spent almost two years in Germany where she competed internationally with her horse Charlie and worked for a referral equine practice as a veterinary technician. She earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Ross University at St. Kitts and performed her clinical year at the University of Missouri. Comly is passionate about equine lameness, performance horse medicine, gastroenterology, surgery and neonatology.
