Making a mark From MSU to Puerto Rico and Florida
An encounter with Dr. Ed Robinson shaped the course of Lugo’s career—and led to a pioneering minimally-invasive biopsy technique for horses with pulmonary diseases.
When Dr. Joel Lugo arrived at MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 1999, he was a surgery resident, looking for a project. He had no particular interest in equine pulmonary disease. Then he met Dr. Edward Robinson.
Lugo, who now is an assistant surgeon at Ocala Equine Hospital in Florida, knew he loved horses and wanted to be an equine veterinarian. He spent a summer at MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and his work prompted Drs. Susan Holcombe and John Baker to offer him a residency position in large animal surgery. Lugo accepted.
“I was a resident in the clinic. I love horses but I wasn’t interested in pulmonary diseases at all until I started working with Dr. Robinson,” Lugo says. “He was extremely smart, very motivated, very enthusiastic, and what he did, the project that he was showing me—it was a new technique, we were going to be the pioneers on that.”
Lugo and Robinson built on the research of a previous resident, and developed a surgical technique to get bone marrow samples from horses with pulmonary diseases.
“Thoracic surgeries in horses are very rare, difficult and full of complications,” Lugo says. “We developed a minimally-invasive technique to obtain a lung biopsy for horses. The technique is safe and you can obtain a reliable pulmonary biopsy sample representative of the whole lung. It’s good for clinical and research purposes.”
“Everything I know about how to do research well, how to write articles or papers, was because of him.”
During his three years at MSU, Lugo developed a deep respect for Robinson. "He was one of the best mentors I ever had. He pushed you a little bit to the limit to make sure you were learning—he wasn’t going to do it for you.”
His work with Robinson, he says, prepared him for a position at Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine after completing his residency at MSU. Lugo spent four years at Auburn doing large animal surgery.
He then decided to return home to Puerto Rico, where he spent six years working at a racetrack. In 2012, he joined the Ocala hospital as a surgeon, where he does “a little bit of everything,” he says.
Lugo remains in contact with Robinson, and says that even after more than a dozen years in the field, his former teacher stands out.
“You go through academia, you meet a lot of people doing research and writing books—he’s probably one of the smartest people doing research,” Lugo says. “He’s done a lot for everyone with his research. It’s been great to have him as a mentor.”
Posted: May 2014
Contact: Casey Williamson