Mark M. Klinger

Director, Office of Veterinary Resources

Comparative Medicine and Science

The job of a veterinarian specializing in comparative medicine encompasses a wide variety of activities, including the design and implementation of clinical and preventative veterinary medical programs, oversight of animal husbandry programs, participation in institutional animal care and use committees, consulting and training of biomedical researchers and technicians as well as providing for the health and well-being of research animals. The unique biological qualities, nutritional and environmental requirements, and diseases of these animals provide interesting challenges for husbandry and clinical management. It is important for good science that the animals used in research be free of unwanted spontaneous disease, and be allowed as much as possible to express species-typical behaviors. Training and guidance is provided to the research staff on humane methods of animal experimentation, including appropriate surgical techniques, animal restraint, and use of anesthetics and analgesics. My own research involves comparative physiology, pathology, and pharmacology, and I have collaborated work on infectious disease, cancer, and basic neural science extending to applied pharmacology toward treatment of CNS disorders such as addiction and schizophrenia.

I attained Board Certification in Lab Animal Medicine, a recognized specialty board of the American Veterinary Medical Association, in 1994. I have served in academic positions as Assistant Professor in the Institute of Comparative Medicine (ICM) and the Department of Anesthesiology at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons; as Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, and as a Research Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at New York University Medical Center. I have also served as director of animal research facilities at the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, the University of Connecticutt Health Sciences Center, and the St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center of Columbia University. I have been engaged with a number of professional associations, and serve as the 2009-2010 President of the American Association of Lab Animal Practitioners (ASLAP). I joined NYU as Director of the Office of Veterinary Resources in 2007.