Dr. Rebecca Bellone earned her Ph.D. in Equine Genetics from the University of Kentucky in 2001. Since that time, she has led an equine genetics research program involving both undergraduate and graduate students investigating the genetics of traits of economic significance in the horse. The overarching goal of her research program is to identify and understand genetic variation that can explain phenotypes of interest and those of medical importance. Her research team has discovered causal mutations for several pigmentation traits and ocular disorders in horses including coat color dilutions, white patterning, congenital stationary night blindness, distichiasis, and ocular squamous cell carcinoma, among others.  She is currently investigating the genetics of several additional disorders, pigmentation variation, performance traits, and genetic diversity in horses and is working with the team of scientist to gain a better understanding of the regions of the horse genome that regulate tissue specific gene expression.  She was on faculty at the University of Tampa (FL) (2002-2014) where she was a three-time recipient of the College of Natural and Health Sciences Outstanding Scholar Award. In 2014, she joined the faculty in the Department of Population Health and Reproduction at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis and as of November 2017 serves as the director of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, a unit of the School with 30 years of experience in DNA testing for parentage and diagnostic markers across species.  

Dr. Finno has served as Interim CEH Director since December 2016. She completed her DVM and an internship in Large Animal Medicine and Surgery at the University of Minnesota and a residency in Large Animal Internal Medicine at UC Davis. Board certified in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, she completed a PhD in Comparative Pathology at UC Davis, returned to the University of Minnesota for post-doctoral training in comparative genetics and joined our faculty in 2014. Dr. Finno’s scholarship interests are in the pathophysiology and genetics of axonopathies, specifically neuroaxonal dystrophy in horses.

As Director, Dr. Finno will be responsible for providing leadership and administrative management of the CEH, including the Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM) program, in a fiscally responsible, effective, and efficient manner to meet the teaching, research and service needs of the school and the mission of CEH. She will act as a liaison between the school and the equine industry in California and nationally. The VMTH Equine Ambulatory Service working with Dr. Finno and CEH staff will continue to provide equine herd health care. Dr. Finno will assume responsibility for management of the CEH research program and for equine development activities.

Dr. Lisa Katz graduated from Sweet Briar College in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science in biology and a minor in chemistry. She then obtained her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Georgia, College of Veterinary Medicine in 1994, following which she completed an internship in equine medicine and surgery at Peterson, Smith, Matthews, Hahn & Slone in Ocala, Florida in 1995. By 1998, Dr. Katz had completed a combined large animal internal medicine residency program and a masters program in equine exercise physiology at Washington State University, College of Veterinary Medicine. Her research focused on the responses of ponies and horses to short-term training and their ventilatory responses to high-intensity exercise. Following this, Dr. Katz worked as a clinical teaching instructor in the equine medicine department at Oklahoma State University, College of Veterinary Medicine.

She became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Large Animal) in 2001, a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2002, received an honorary MVB degree in 2004 and was accepted as a diplomate in the European College of Equine Internal Medicine in 2005. In 2003, she completed a PhD at the Royal Veterinary College, University of London investigating the pathophysiology of equine acute laminitis.

Dr. Katz joined the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Biochemistry in 2003 as a college lecturer, and then became a lecturer in equine internal medicine in 2006. Her current clinical and research interests include equine exercise physiology, equine acute laminitis and equine neonatology. Some of Lisa's more recent publications can be found in the American Journal of Veterinary Research, Equine Veterinary Journal, the Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, the Veterinary Clinics of North American Equine Practice, and Equine and Comparative Exercise Physiology.

Annette graduated from Michigan State University in 2006 and went on to complete a Large Animal Internship at the University of Minnesota followed by an Equine Surgery and Lameness Residency at Colorado State University. She became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2011. Following her residency, she completed a PhD in Comparative and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Minnesota. She is currently an Associate Professor of Equine Surgery in the Veterinary Clinical Medicine Department of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. Her clinical practice is focused on equine surgery and lameness, while her research focuses on genetic factors underlying musculoskeletal disease and performance traits in horses.