Since 2024, the Mizzou Veterinary Health Center (VHC’s) Equine Hospital has had a dedicated hospital-based Emergency and Critical Care (ECC) rotation for clinical veterinary students, providing a dedicated service to our clients and referring veterinarians to receive equine emergencies while immersing students in inpatient care, emergency triage and evaluation, and targeted learning opportunities for the acute equine patient. Every clinical veterinary student takes the equine rotation and every clinical veterinary student is involved with one dedicated week on the ECC service. During this time, students participate in small group topic rounds, case rounds, provide inpatient care and develop further understanding of treatment protocols and modalities, and receive and manage all emergency cases that present to the VHC. At the culmination of the week, the students also provide an equine case-based presentation to their peers and the house officer (intern or resident) and faculty clinician on the service, bolstering their presentation skills while presenting a case that they have learned about and skills they have honed throughout their dedicated ECC time.
Our Equine ECC service engages with students specifically assigned to duties during the evening, overnight and weekend hours, allowing our house officers and faculty clinicians to provide learning opportunities for a small group of students each week while caring for inpatients and awaiting to receive emergency cases and referrals. At Mizzou’s VHC, we are lucky to have a team of veterinary faculty and house officers to provide evaluation, treatment and care for all our patients and emergency cases. Our ECC service works closely with our faculty team of specialists including the internal medicine team, surgery team and ambulatory team to provide the highest level of care to our patients. The ECC service also provides excellent dedicated training opportunities for our internal medicine and surgery residents, our interns and all our students.
In 2024, Dr. Hannah Leventhal joined the VHC equine team as a dedicated equine ECC faculty member and an assistant teaching professor of equine emergency medicine. Originally from Colorado, Dr. Leventhal attended Kansas State University for college (B.S. Animal Science with Equine Science Certificate) and veterinary school (DVM, 2016). Upon graduation with her DVM in 2016, Dr. Leventhal spent one year at a rotating internship at a private practice in North Carolina, at which time she became an FEI Permitted Treating Veterinarian, often working with top sport horses in a variety of disciplines. After completion of her internship, Dr. Leventhal moved to Kentucky for a one-year specialty equine internal medicine fellowship at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, during which time she enjoyed working with equids of all varieties, including top Thoroughbred racehorses and lots of foals! In 2018, Dr. Leventhal moved to Virginia to begin her next career adventure as a large animal internal medicine resident at Virginia Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia. Dr. Leventhal’s interests include neonatology, respiratory disease, gastrointestinal disease and colic, and emergency medicine and critical care. Dr. Leventhal has a passion for teaching and enjoys the opportunities for teaching and interacting with students. Providing individualized care to each patient and owner is always a priority, and Dr. Leventhal enjoys helping owners in their animal’s time of need. In July 2021, Dr. Leventhal completed her residency training and graduated with a Master’s in Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences from Virginia Tech. Dr. Leventhal became a board-certified diplomate of the ACVIM in large animal internal medicine in 2023. From 2021-2024, Dr. Leventhal was in private practice in Nevada, often serving as the treatment and head veterinarian for endurance rides, serving as the treatment veterinarian for Reno Rodeo, and working with a variety of large animals, from llamas and alpacas to goats and equids of all kinds-wild mustangs, sport horses, pleasure horses, draft horses and more. Dr. Leventhal is loving her time back in academia as a member of the Mizzou College of Veterinary Medicine.
In 2026, we were fortunate to add to our equine and ECC team, hiring Dr. Meghan Wanstrath as a second dedicated ECC faculty member and an assistant teaching professor of equine emergency medicine. Originally from southeastern Indiana, Dr. Wanstrath attended Texas A&M University for her undergraduate education (B.S Animal Science, 2015), followed by Purdue University for veterinary school (DVM, 2019). After graduation, Dr. Wanstrath completed a one-year internship in private practice in California followed by a specialty large animal surgery internship at the University of Florida. Dr. Wanstrath then moved to Massachussets where she completed a large animal surgery residency at Tufts University and became boarded by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2025. Post-residency, Dr. Wanstrath moved back to California where she dove into private practice as a surgeon. Most recently, she worked as a locum veterinarian at UC Davis (Equine Field Service) in spring 2026, further honing her academic and clinical skills prior to joining us at Mizzou. Dr. Wanstrath’s primary interests are gastrointestinal surgery and wound healing.
At the Mizzou VHC, we are prepared to see you and your horse at any time — day or night — and for any need. We ask that you do call ahead before making the decision to haul in so that we can ensure we have a team assembled and to ensure that our communication is direct and stream-lined and to meet your expectations for your visit!
