Mary received her DVM degree from the University of Georgia before completing a residency in large animal internal medicine at the University of Florida. She became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Large Animal) in 1996. Mary completed doctoral work in Physiology at the Medical University of South Carolina with work in endotoxemia and endotoxin tolerance. After this, she completed two years in a cardiology/ultrasound training program in the Sports Medicine section at the University of Pennsylvania New Bolton Center before taking a position as a Lecturer in Equine Medicine at the University of California, Davis for 3 years. Mary returned to New Bolton Center to work in their treadmill facility for 3 years, before working as an associate clinical professor in Large Animal Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Currently, she is a part owner of Equine Sports Medicine Consultants, an ambulatory consulting practice focusing on sports medicine and imaging, cardiology and internal medicine, in southeastern PA. Mary’s clinical interests include cardiology and respiratory disorders and how dysfunction in these systems affects performance, as well as neonatology and critical care. She has published several scientific manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, as well as presented numerous abstracts at national and international meetings, and participated in many imaging wet labs at regional and national meetings. 

Gunther van Loon graduated from Ghent University, Belgium, in 1992 and has worked at the Ghent University, Department of Large Animal Internal Medicine, ever since. In 2001 he finished his PhD on “Atrial pacing and experimental atrial fibrillation in equines”. In 2004 he became Diplomate of the European College of Equine Internal Medicine and in 2011 Associate Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging. In 2015 he received the Merial Applied Equine Research Award for outstanding research regarding ‘Advances in Equine Cardiology’, awarded by the WEVA. He is Full Professor in Large Animal Internal Medicine at Ghent University and his major interests are all aspects of cardiology, and thoracic and abdominal ultrasound. Areas of research include advanced imaging (speckle tracking, tissue Doppler, 3D, intracardiac echo), biomarkers, vascular disease, and arrhythmias and electrophysiology (atrial tachycardia/fibrillation, 3D mapping, ablation). Gunther has published mainly in the field of equine internal medicine and cardiology and lectures regularly at national and international courses and conferences.

Laura is a registered specialist in Equine Medicine. She graduated with honours from the University of Sydney in 2003. Early in her career Laura worked in first opinion equine practice and reproduction and stud medicine in Australia and the UK and attained a certificate in Stud Medicine from the Royal Veterinary College in the UK in 2008. Laura completed her specialist training in equine medicine through a residency at the University of Melbourne and gained fellowship of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists in Equine Medicine in 2010.

During her residency training Laura completed a Masters degree investigating cardiac troponin in horses. She has recently completed a PhD through the University of Adelaide investigating exercise associated arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in Thoroughbreds.

Laura has given research presentations and lectures within Australia, UK, USA and Canada on topics such as cardiology, atrial fibrillation, interpretation of heart murmurs, gastric ulceration and gastroduodenoscopy, management of coughing horses, diagnosis of lower respiratory disease, pleuropneumonia, weight loss, foal medicine, reproductive efficiency, equine metabolic syndrome and neurological examination. She has contributed several chapters to textbooks and published research on these topics.

Laura has extensive experience in cardiology and respiratory medicine and intensive care.

She also has interests in sports medicine, neonatal care of foals, neurology, dermatology, gastrointestinal disease; weight loss, colic, diarrhoea and gastric ulceration and endocrine disorders such as PPID (also known as Cushing’s disease).

Dr. Virginia Reef, a 1979 graduate of The Ohio State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, completed a rotating internship in large animal medicine and surgery, and a residency in large animal medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. Dr. Reef subsequently became the Director of the Large Animal Cardiology and Ultrasound Service.  Shortly thereafter she was instrumental in establishing the Section of Sports Medicine and Imaging at New Bolton Center and has been the Chief of that Section for the past 18 years. Dr. Reef has worked on the faculty at Penn for the past 27 years, advancing through the ranks of assistant, associate, and full professor. She has trained the majority of academics focusing on equine cardiology and ultrasonography in the United States, as well as many individuals in private practice and overseas. Based on her many accomplishments, Dr. Reef was granted a prestigious endowed chair at Penn and currently serves as the Mark Whittier and Lila Griswold Allam Professor of Medicine. She is one of the charter diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation and is a large animal associate member of the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging. In addition to numerous original publications, she is the author and editor of a standard textbook on equine diagnostic imaging, “Equine Diagnostic Ultrasound.”