It’s faculty appreciation week at the University of Tennessee (February 25 – March 2, 2024), and we are so thankful for our ever-growing body of faculty! Our faculty are always in pursuit of the College’s mission, which is to advance animal, human, and environmental health. Since January 1, 2023, the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine welcomed 14 new faculty members across its three departments.

Dr. Virginia Corrigan – Clinical Associate Professor and Director of Veterinary Technology
UTCVM Administration

• Research: Dr. Corrigan’s research interests include veterinary education, the human-animal bond, and One Health.
• Teaching: Through her teaching, Dr. Corrigan believes in empowering all veterinary professionals to achieve their full potential and find innovative solutions to promote positive change within their field. Specific topics of educational interest include communication, team-based veterinary healthcare, and wellbeing and positive leadership.

Dr. Lauren Guarneri – Clinical Assistant Professor of Anatomic Pathology
Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences

• Research: Dr. Guarneri’s research focuses on natural disease in farm animals, including backyard poultry, and infectious and zoonotic diseases.
• Teaching: Dr. Guarneri teaches various levels of the veterinary curriculum including pre-clinical coursework in general pathology and the anatomic pathology clinical rotation 4th year veterinary students complete.

Dr. Roman Husnik – Clinical Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences

• Research: Dr. Husnik studies small animal gastroenterology. Specifically, his interests include gastrointestinal motility and gut microbiota in health and disease.
• Teaching: Dr. Husnik works with veterinary students, interns, and residents to train them small animal internal medicine practices.

Dr. Cassandra Klostermann – Clinical Assistant Professor of Farm Animal Medicine and Surgery
Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences

• Research: Dr. Klostermann’s research interests include orthopedic surgeries, lameness, septic arthritis, prevention and treatment of small ruminant urolithiasis, and teat surgeries of dairy cows. Teaching: Dr. Klostermann mentors veterinary students, residents, and interns as they learn about farm animal medicine and surgery.
• Teaching: Dr. Klostermann mentors veterinary students, residents, and interns as they learn about farm animal medicine and surgery.

Dr. Andrew Lewin – Associate Professor of Comparative Ophthalmology
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences

• Research: Dr. Lewin’s research focuses on ocular infectious disease and clinical veterinary ophthalmology.
• Teaching: Dr. Lewin mentors veterinary students throughout their clinical rotations, residents, and interns.

Dr. Sarah Linn-Periano – Assistant Professor of Anatomic Pathology
Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences

• Research: Dr. Linn-Periano’s research is focused on urinary tract infection pathogenesis in domestic species, with an emphasis on the innate immune response and urinary tract antimicrobial peptide expression.
• Teaching: Dr. Linn-Peirano teaches at various levels of the veterinary curriculum, including the pre-clinical coursework in general pathology and clinical rotation in pathology.

Dr. Jennifer Lord – Assistant Professor of Veterinary Public Health
Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences

• Research: Dr. Lord’s research is focused on health disparities, ambulatory care of sensitive conditions, social drivers/determinants of health, and patterns and predictors of antimicrobial resistance expression.
• Teaching: Dr. Lord primarily works with students in the College’s comparative and experimental medicine (CEM) graduate program where she teaches epidemiology and statistics courses.

Dr. Michael Mahero – Assistant Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology
Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences

• Research: Dr. Mahero is interested in characterizing and mitigating health risks along the human, animal, and environment interface using socioecological and epidemiological methods and One Health partnership approaches.
• Teaching: Within the veterinary curriculum, Dr. Mahero’s teaching topics cover epidemiology, public health, and One Health. Dr. Mahero is also involved in the comparative and experimental medicine (CEM) graduate program curriculum.

Dr. Casey Neal – Clinical Assistant Professor of Farm Animal Medicine and Surgery
Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences

• Research: Dr. Neal’s research interests include small ruminant and camelid medicine, bovine neonatal gastrointestinal disease, bovine lameness, small ruminant urolithiasis development, and client education/farm management.
• Teaching: Dr. Neal mentors veterinary students, residents, and interns as they learn about farm animal medicine and surgery.

Dr. Michelle Pazzi – Clinical Instructor
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences

• Teaching: Dr. Pazzi mentors veterinary students throughout their community practice rotations/ Within her role, Dr. Pazzi guides students as student clinicians in managing their own cases, communicating with clients, making clinical decisions, and handling patients. This experience includes surgical experience in both the clinic and spay and neuter lab. Dr. Pazzi hopes to empower students to be independent and confident as practicing clinicians in the real world.

Dr. Paolo Pazzi – Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences

• Research: Dr. Pazzi’s primary research interests include the interrelationship between cancer, hemostasis, inflammation, the endothelium, and metastasis. Additional research interests include hepatic and pancreatic disease.
• Teaching: Dr Pazzi’s teaching history included teaching veterinary students and residents small animal neurology, as well as liver and pancreatic diseases. Dr Pazzi is excited to mentor students at UTCVM!

Jacqueline Risalvato – Assistant Professor of Veterinary Virology and Director of Virology/Immunology Diagnostic Laboratory
Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences

• Research: Dr. Risalvato is interested in utilizing both traditional and advanced molecular techniques to advance knowledge of virus diagnostics and infection prevention while keeping in mind the One Health Initiative.
• Teaching: Dr. Risalvato teaches veterinary virology to the first-year veterinary students.

Danielle Tarbert – Clinical Assistant Professor of Zoological Companion Animal Medicine
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences

• Research: Through her research, Dr. Tarbert works to advance the understanding of diagnostic tests, especially within the reptilian species.
• Teaching: Dr. Tarbert works with students in their clinical rotations. Her teaching allows students to learn and practice emergency and critical care of zoological companion animals.

Emilia Terradas Crespo – Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency and Critical Care
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences

• Research: Dr. Terradas Crespo’s research interests include point-of-care ultrasound, polytrauma patients, intoxications/envenomations, and transfusion medicine.
• Teaching: Dr. Terradas Crespo mentors veterinary students, residents, and interns working within the emergency medicine department at UTCVM. She encourages mentees as they develop the necessary critical thinking skills that accompany emergency and critical care in the veterinary profession.