Dr. Nicole Northrup has been named director of the University of Georgia’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital. A board-certified specialist in veterinary oncology, Northrup has served as interim director of the VTH for the past year.
“We are pleased to make Dr. Northrup’s appointment official,” said Dr. Lisa K. Nolan, dean of the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine. “As we prepare to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our teaching hospital, we are grateful to have Dr. Northrup’s continued leadership, especially as we embark on several state-of-the-art upgrades to our diagnostic and treatment abilities.”
Northrup, the first small animal oncologist to practice in the state of Georgia, came to UGA’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2000 to build the oncology service. She received her DVM degree from the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1994 and completed her residency training in oncology at Tufts University School of Medicine in 2000.
“I am somebody who wanted to be a veterinarian as long as I can remember,” Northrup said. “I am grateful to have a career that is this rewarding. I get to help the next generation of veterinarians and veterinary specialists prepare for their careers. In my new role, my goal is to support the clinicians, students, and staff of the VTH so we can continue to provide exceptional care and meet the missions of the VTH: service to animals and people, instruction of future veterinarians and veterinary specialists, and advancement of veterinary medicine.”
When she arrived at UGA, the teaching hospital was in the main CVM building. “The original teaching hospital was built for large and small animal medicine and surgery. Since that time, veterinary medicine advanced considerably, resulting in the VTH being able to provide many more services and therapies for all species.”
Above, Dr. Northrup is guiding a group of visiting faculty from Taiwan on a tour of the VTH.
Like human medicine, veterinary medicine advances rapidly and keeping up with new technologies is a goal for Northrup. The VTH is upgrading its imaging capabilities on the small animal side with the installation of a new C-arm machine that captures moving X-rays. This will allow the hospital to expand its offering of advanced minimally invasive interventional procedures such as cardiac catheterization, pacemaker placement, stenting of airways and urinary structures, repair of liver shunts, and other procedures where real-time imaging is key.
On the large animal side, the VTH plans to further improve diagnostic capabilities with the installation of a standing CT scanner that will provide cross-sectional and 3-dimensional views of the head, neck, and limbs of horses without general anesthesia.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to serve as hospital director, proud of what we are doing, and excited by what is yet to come,” Northrup said. “It is an exciting time in veterinary medicine, with many innovations in process that will improve the adaptability and sustainability of veterinarians at the same time that understanding of the basis of diseases expands and the development of targeted therapies brings new options for patients. I look forward to the UGA VTH being a leader in these innovations, and the positive impact we will have on the lives of our patients, our people, our profession, and One Health.”
