Jane Ladlow
MA VetMB CertVR CertSAS DipECVS MRCVS
Research Professor
Jane is a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Surgeons (awarded in 2002). Jane’s main area of clinical research is brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome, the objective assessment of airway function in these dogs and the development of effective surgical strategies for them.
Jane, along with others, set up Granta Veterinary Specialists in Linton (Cambridgeshire) in 2024, but remains fully involved in BOAS research at Cambridge.
David Sargan
MA PhD
Veterinary Geneticist & Senior Lecturer in Molecular Pathology
David is interested in comparative genetics of disease and in particular in genetic diseases of dogs. His work is currently focused on breed predispositions to a variety of soft tissue sarcomas and a single type of carcinoma, and on Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS) in multiple dog breeds. David is also working on modelling the effects of CoI on prevalence of diseases with complex inheritance. He is a trustee of the University Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW: whose 100th anniversary occurs this year and will coincide with a change of name together to reflect the charity's work) and the Human Slaughter Society.
Francesca Tomlinson MA VetMB MRCVS
Post Graduate Research Student
I qualified as a vet from the University of Cambridge in 2018 and went on to work in first opinion small animal practice in Bedfordshire. I returned to Cambridge in 2021 to study for a PhD under the supervision of Jane Ladlow with the BOAS research group. My work involves the investigation of the specific anatomical variations in brachycephalic dog breeds and the relationship with respiratory function and other breed-related health conditions. This work will aim to further our understanding of the risk of these conditions in certain breeds, help to improve the current health schemes, and also collect data for future genetic studies.
Lydia Smith RVN
Soft Tissue Specialist Veterinary Nurse
Lydia started her Veterinary Nursing career in 2011, training towards her qualification whilst working in a busy first opinion practice. During this time she developed a keen interest in patient welfare and management in a Veterinary setting.
Once qualified, Lydia worked a short but very valuable stint at Queens Veterinary School Hospital as a theatre nurse. She learnt a lot about providing gold standard of care and the importance of excellent clinical standards.
Lydia then went on to become Head Nurse at the practice she trained at for a further four years. This job role helped her invest more time into her passion – patient welfare. Over the four years she witnessed and learnt a lot about the problems commonly associated with BOAS patients, inspiring her to work closer with the breeds. Lydia is extremely excited to help with BOAS assessments as she believes this role could help promote better breed standards, with the long term aim to improve welfare standards overall for brachycephalic breeds.
Amy Olivant RVN
Soft Tissue Specialist Veterinary Nurse
Alumni
Nai-Chieh Liu
DVM MPhil PhD
Clinical Research Fellow
Nai-Chieh obtained her veterinary degree from the National Taiwan University. She joined the Cambridge BOAS team as an MPhil + PhD student in 2011 working on developing a non-invasive respiratory function test for BOAS using whole-body barometric plethymgraphy and received training of upper airway surgery. She started her residency in small animal surgery in Feb 2018 and now moved onto her new position as a clinical research fellow running the BOAS lab.
Nai-Chieh is particularly interested in head and neck surgery, respiratory physiology, and medical statistics. She is also an artist who enjoys painting portraits of her favorite study dogs and applying her skills onto medical illustrations.
Phil Franklin MA VetMB MRCVS
Clinical Research Co-ordinator
Phil graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2010 after completing his veterinary degree, and received the Zoetis Prize for Small Animal Medicine that year. He spent two years in general practice, where he was awarded CVS New Graduate of the Year, before returning to The Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital as a Junior Clinical Training Scholar. Here he developed his interest in surgery and began research into BOAS, with a specific interest in clinical management of these patients.
Dr Lajos Kalmar PhD
Post-doc Research Associate
Zoologist mastered at the University of Veterinary Science Budapest (Hungary) in 2000, had his PhD from human genetics in 2007. Before he joined the team in the autumn of 2015 he worked in the Institute of Enzymology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, did research in the field of structural biology (especially in the field of disordered proteins). In the research team, he was responsible for the genetic studies related to BOAS and eating all the brownies that Nai-Chieh makes for Eileen.
Hattie Wright BSc MPhil
MPhil student in Veterinary Science
Hattie obtained a BSc in Zoology at the University of Reading, where she did her undergraduate research project looking at paedomorphosis and the evolution of the domestic dog. Wanting to continue with this theme whilst being able to apply research undertaken to improve canine health and welfare, Hattie was working on her MPhil project at Cambridge with the rest of the BOAS research team.
Eileen Troconis BSc MPhil
MPhil student in Veterinary Science
Before joining the BOAS research team, Eileen obtained an undergraduate degree in Biology at Amherst College. For her MPhil project she was investigating how the characteristic skull dimensions of canine brachycephalic breeds contribute to the development of the BOAS, and how they relate to the genetics underlying the condition. In her spare time she enjoys talking to her family in Venezuela and the United States, as well as meeting new people and animals from all over the world.