CVM Veterinary Oncologist Leading
Research at Human Hospital

Carolyn Henry, DVM, MS, a professor of veterinary oncology at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, has been named the interim associate director of research for the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, part of the University of Missouri Health Care facilities. She shares responsibility for leading the cancer hospital with Paul Dale, MD, who was appointed as Ellis Fischel’s interim associate director of clinical services while a search committee seeks a replacement for former Medical Director Bill Caldwell, MD, who retired in November.

Henry is the MU faculty facilitator for the University’s One Health/One Medicine Mizzou Advantage initiative, which focuses on fostering multidisciplinary research and education relating to translational medicine and the convergence of human and animal health. She said her work connecting MU with outside entities, and clinical scientists with researchers, is part of the reason she was appointed to the post at Ellis Fischel. Henry said she is unaware of any other human cancer treatment center that has a veterinarian directing research.

“The fact that they put a veterinarian in this position, such an unusual move, speaks volumes about the University and the unique strength we have here in the field of comparative medicine,” she said. Henry said her goal during the period of her appointment is to further build partnerships between researchers on campus and clinicians at Ellis Fischel. While there is a fair bit of clinical trial work under way at Ellis, there isn’t a great deal of investigator-initiated research, she noted. She hopes that by strengthening that area of the center’s operations, when a permanent director is identified, that individual will retain translational medicine as a priority.

“It is one way we can distinguish ourselves from other cancer centers across the country,” she said.

Henry possesses a bachelor of science in biology and animal science with a chemistry minor from Eastern Kentucky University. She earned a master of science in veterinary medicine and surgery, and a DVM at Auburn University.

She joined MU in 1997 after serving as an assistant professor at Washington State University. Henry has a dual appointment in the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the CVM and in the Department of Internal Medicine, division of hematology and oncology at the School of Medicine. She also serves as the director of the Scott Endowed Program in Veterinary Oncology.

With her new responsibilities added to an already full schedule, Henry said she has cut back her patient care duties at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, but will continue her work in clinical trials. Jeff Bryan, DVM, PhD, who joined the College of Veterinary Medicine in 2011, has taken over some of Henry’s clinic responsibilities. Bryan is also serving on the search committee for a new medical director at Ellis Fischel – further testimony, Henry noted, to the University’s commitment to translational medicine.

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