Meet the Team

Tim and Nancy Speaker Chair in Canine Health

I graduated from Glasgow University in Scotland in 1990 and worked in general veterinary practice for a few years before moving to London, where I completed a PhD and served as a lecturer in Ophthalmology. I crossed the Atlantic in 2000 to join the faculty at UC-Davis, then Iowa State University before moving North to Wisconsin where I currently hold a joint faculty position in both the School of Medicine and Public Health and School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A European Specialist in Veterinary Ophthalmology, I am a Past-President of the European College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (ECVO), serve on the Editorial Board of the Journal Veterinary Ophthalmology, and have co-authored two textbooks: the BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Ophthalmology and Veterinary Ocular Pathology. My main research focus is comparative glaucoma but I treat the full spectrum of eye disorders in veterinary patients in my clinical practice at UW Veterinary Care. Outside of work, I enjoy live music, good food and spending time outdoors (wind-chill permitting) with my husband and very energetic twin boys. We share our family home with four cats and a chinchilla.

I earned my BVSc (equivalent to DVM) in 2012 from Azabu University in Japan. For three years in the veterinary school, I worked in the veterinary ophthalmology department to assist with ophthalmic examinations and surgical operations. After earning my Japanese national veterinary license, I moved on to Nippon Veterinary Life-science University where I completed a rotating internship at the veterinary teaching hospital and joined a clinical pathology lab where I conducted an investigation of somatic gene mutational status in feline diffuse iris melanoma. I joined Dr. Gillian McLellan’s lab in September 2014 as a PhD student. Since completing my PhD, I continue to study the pathophysiology of glaucomatous optic neuropathy utilizing next generation sequencing and biomolecular techniques. Back home in Japan, I have a shiba dog and four domestic tabby cats who I’ve grown up with and my career goal is to become a veterinary ophthalmologist clinician-scientist.

I’m a Researcher with over 20 years of experience in glaucoma research and have worked closely with Dr. McLellan in her studies of feline glaucoma since 2008. I earned my BA in Psychology at UW-Madison. After graduation, I joined Dr. Paul Kaufman’s lab studying the ocular diseases glaucoma and presbyopia. In 2003, I received my MS in Veterinary Science, while in the Kaufman lab. My graduate work focused on a possible association of intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering drops in decreasing flow through the conventional aqueous humor outflow pathway. In 2012 I obtained a Master’s certificate in project management from the UW School of Business and have been involved in the planning, conduct, and data analysis for a number of key studies including validation of rebound tonometry in monkeys and cats, as well as non-invasive in vivo electrophysiology, IOP, and in vivo imaging (fundus photography, fluorescein angiography, and OCT) studies. When not in the lab, I enjoy playing with my 2 standard poodles and 2 cats, biking, hiking, and playing bass in a couple of local rock/pop/alternative bands.

Since joining Dr. McLellan’s lab as an undergraduate student in 2019, I have been assisting with electroretinography and intraocular pressure measurements in cats. In 2020 I graduated from UW-Madison with a B.S. in chemistry and a certificate in art history. After graduation, I decided to continue my work in the lab as a research intern. Currently, I am  assisting with exploring the mechanisms of glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease using electrophysiology and microscopy techniques,  and I have also learned characterize and culture feline and canine trabecular meshwork cells, which are believed to play a role in regulating intraocular pressure. In my free time, I can be found frequenting the public library, hiking around Madison, or painting.