Renowned large animal internist Dr. Thomas Divers will furnish a game plan to identify and treat diseases of the equine liver when he delivers the 2015 Frank J. Milne State-of-the-Art Lecture on Dec. 7 during the AAEP’s 61^st Annual Convention in Las Vegas, Nev. His lecture, “The Equine Liver in Health and Disease” will provide a state-of-the-science review of diseases of the equine liver, including causes, diagnostic testing, treatments and prognosis.

The liver performs many essential functions for equine health, but determining the cause, severity and importance of equine liver diseases can challenge even the most veteran practitioner. The lecture will combine evidence-based medicine with Dr. Divers’ personal experiences from 40 years of clinical practice evaluating horses with liver disease.

Dr. Divers is professor of medicine and co-section chief of large animal medicine in the department of clinical science at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. His current research focuses on newly discovered hepatitis viruses in horses. Other research activities have included bacterial and toxic causes of liver failure in horses; equine neurological diseases, including equine motor neuron disease and equine protozoal myelitis; equine Lyme disease; equine leptospirosis; diseases of the urinary system; and advances in internal medicine and critical care for horses, foals and dairy cattle.

Dr. Divers earned his DVM from the University of Georgia in 1975. A diplomate of both the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, Dr. Divers has published more than 190 peer-reviewed scientific publications, authored numerous book chapters and co-authored three textbooks. He is currently consulting editor of Veterinary Clinics of North America: Equine Practice.

In 1995, Dr. Divers received the AVMA’s Samuel F. Scheidy Memorial Research Award for his work on Equine Motor Neuron Disease. His additional honors and awards include the AAEP’s 2006 Distinguished Educator Award; the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care’s 2013 Educator of the Year Award; the Cornell University Hospital for Animals’ 2014 Distinguished Service Award; and numerous other teaching awards from Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania and University of California, Davis.

The convention lecture, sponsored by Platinum Performance, is named for AAEP past president and distinguished life member Dr. Frank J. Milne.

The American Association of Equine Practitioners, headquartered in Lexington, Ky., was founded in 1954 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the health and welfare of the horse. Currently, AAEP reaches more than 5 million horse owners through its over 9,000 members worldwide and is actively involved in ethics issues, practice management, research and continuing education in the equine veterinary profession and horse industry.

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