Dr. Molly McCue
Dr. Molly McCue DVM, MS, PhD is a post doctoral associate in veterinary population medicine and a Morris Animal Foundation Fellow at UMEC
Molly McCue was three years old when she decided to be a veterinarian.
"It is one of my first memories, and I never changed my mind," said McCue, who was raised in a suburb of Kansas City, Kansas where she began riding horses as a small child.
"As long as I can remember I have loved horses and wanted to ride," she said. "My parents took me to my first lesson at five, and I loved them from first the moment I was around them."
McCue took riding lessons through high school, rode hunter jumper and saddle seat and then got into western performance events. She bought her first horse - a quarter horse gelding named Doc's Triangle, a team penning and roping horse - the summer after high school.
True to her dreams, she graduated in 1998 from Kansas State University (KSU) with a B.S. degree in veterinary medicine and animal science and in 2000 received her DVM degree. She followed this in 2000-2001 with an internship at the University of Georgia, Athens and both a Master¿s degree and a residency (2001-2004) in equine internal medicine at KSU.
McCue came to the University of Minnesota to pursue her doctoral degree in comparative and molecular biosciences and became part of the UMEC team lead by Dr. Stephanie Valberg and Dr. Jim Mickelson that discovered the genetic basis of polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM) in horses.
"PSSM made a perfect thesis project, starting with the clinical disease and moving to finding the mutation," she said. "I enjoy seeing science work as it is supposed to and finding the answers."
As many as 17 breeds are known to suffer from PSSM including Quarter horses, paints, appaloosas, draft horses and warmbloods
"If you exercise PSSM horses daily and don't feed them grain, they don't have a problem, but some respond better to that management than others. There is something genetically about some horses that is modifying their response. We have now found a second gene that makes some PSSM horses worse."
The team thought the PSSM mutation would be unique between the breeds, but they discovered it's the same in several of the breeds, she explains.
"The PSSM mutation is really old--we've dated it to 1200 and 1500 years ago, to one original horse. The mutation happened before the modern breeds we know today."
"Because of that work, we have so many new questions to ask as far as genetics: why are some horses more affected than others? What are the best ways to treat them? Why is one horse with the gene badly affected and dies and others who have it survive and become performance horses?"
McCue relishes the opportunity that research offers to gain particular knowledge about a disease and take that to make life better for horses.
And she also enjoys being part of a group working together on a problem, on the cutting edge with the newest technology.
"When everyone around you works on the problem, each person sees something interesting and can talk about it --the brainstorming is fun. I love research and the opportunity to look at a clinical problem, delve further into it, and design an experiment to try to answer it."
Now the team is launching a look at the genetics of equine metabolic syndrome, developmental orthopedic disease, a several other genetic problems.
During her studies, she realized she wanted to remain in academics and teach as well.
"I love veterinary medicine and love to teach," she said. "It's great to take something you feel passionate about and share it with others."
The University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine equine researchers are unique in having both research support and the opportunity to collaborate with researchers in human science fields, she points out.
"We work with people in the medical school and the school of public health and others who support our research. For example, there's a genetic epidemiologist at the U. whose whole day is numbers and statistics about genetic disease. Our collaboration with him is integral in designing our projects for finding gene mutations. You can search the University Website and 9 of 10 times find somebody who knows how to do what you need done."
The UMEC is recognized as the place to bring horses and the clinical cases provide material McCue can use to teach her students.
"I get to see cases and do what I love: equine medicine. And it helps us better teach students and provide better service for clients and referring veterinarians. That brings it all together above and beyond the new building, making it a center for excellence in the college."
"What I really like about this facility is you feel like you're in a hospital, and this is different many clinics I've been in-- it is beautiful, and they've done an incredible job of setting it up so things flow well. The diagnostic imaging capability we have through the new MRI and CT are really outstanding. I can't wait for next addition when they put the ICU in the building, too."
"If you build it they will come," she says. "It's attracting clientele and the best people for training internships and residencies, top faculty, all those good things."
"I really enjoy the clinical side, I am passionate about patients and clients and that interaction. At the end of the day what I am doing as a veterinarian is not just taking care of horses, but taking care of people. I want to understand what horses mean to their owners and what the client needs; I want to build a relationship."
|
Dr. Molly Mc Cue is board certified in large animal medicine by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine |