MSU Veterinary Medical Center

Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Carr earned her bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1982 and her DVM from Tufts University in 1989. After switching coasts she completed an internship at Washington State University and a residency in equine internal medicine at University of California, Davis. She remained at Davis until 1999, completing a PhD in molecular oncology and working as an internist in the equine medicine department. Dr. Carr moved to Michigan in 1999 and has been working in the equine medicine department ever since. Despite her love of the coast, Dr. Carr has planted roots in Michigan and considers MSU a "great working environment where people help each other out. There are lots of opportunities to draw on others' opinions and expertise." Dr. Carr earned further specialty certification in 2006 when she was certified as a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care. Dr. Carr has strong clinical interests in critical care and neonatal medicine. Her research interest includes critical care medicine, specifically in the area of improving care. She also has research interest in the pathogenesis and treatment of equine sarcoid and in equine herpes virus latency.

Dr. Frank Nickels earned his DVM and MS degrees from Washington State University in 1969 and 1974, respectively. While working on his master’s degree, he became one of the first people in the country to do arthroscopy on horses. There were only a handful of people doing work on arthroscopy at that time, and most of them were in human medicine. He had an internship at WSU and then stayed on as an instructor and worked his way up to associate professor with tenure. He was certified as a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1980 and came to MSU in 1981, where he has been ever since. He is now a full professor. He has wide clinical interests, including orthopedic, upper airway, and urogenital surgery, and is especially interested in equine podiatry. He runs a laminitis rehabilitation program at the MSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital on Fridays and will probably open a podiatry clinic there soon. In 2007, Dr. Nickels was inducted into the International Equine Veterinarians Hall of Fame at the International Hoof Care Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Dr. Hal Schott earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell in 1980 and a DVM from the Ohio State University in 1984. He worked in a private equine practice in Santa Barbara, Calif., from 1984 to 1987 and followed that with a residency and PhD program at Washington State University from 1987 to 1991. He was on the WSU faculty from 1991 to 1995 as an instructor and then an assistant professor of equine internal medicine. In 1995, he came to Michigan State University as an assistant professor and progressed to associate and then full professor. He is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. His clinical interests include all types of urinary tract disease in horses, and his research focuses on fluid and electrolyte physiology, especially with prolonged endurance exercise.

Dr. Judy Marteniuk earned her DVM from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1975 and then completed a rotating internship at the same institution. After a period of time in general practice, where she mostly worked on food animals and horses, she came to MSU for a large-animal residency and a master’s degree in nutrition. She stayed on to become a member of the faculty at MSU, initially in the Field Service program, working with all kinds of large animals. When Field Service was divided into two areas – food animal and equine – she ran the equine service. Nowadays, she works part of the time in the equine medicine area of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and the rest of the time with Extension. She is very interested in epidemiology as it relates to herd health and herd management on a farm. As an example, she mentions a situation she investigated where many horses on a farm were suffering from diarrhea and colic. She discovered that the problem stemmed from farm workers mowing the pasture too short. She is also broadly interested in nutrition and foals. In 2005, Marteniuk received the Spirit of Tucker Award, which recognizes individuals devoted to the veterinary profession who demonstrate a willingness to share and teach, an optimistic outlook on life, recurring benevolence, and a cooperative spirit

Dr. Marc Kinsley joined the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences on August 15, 2014 as an assistant professor HP of large animal surgery and emergency. He earned his veterinary degree from Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2008. He completed a one-year rotating internship at the Mid Atlantic Equine Medical Center in Ringoes, NJ following graduation. After a year in a mixed animal private practice in Western NY, Dr. Kinsley completed a three-year surgical residency program at Oregon State University and is a board certified diplomat with the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. Dr. Kinsley’s surgical interests include emergency abdominal exploratory surgery in both equine and ruminant patients, urogenital surgeries, minimally invasive surgical techniques, including laparoscopy and arthroscopy, and fracture repair techniques

Dr. Susan Holcombe is a Professor at Michigan State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.