The Pat Carrigan Chair in Feline Health was generously funded by a bequest by former MSU Board of Trustees member, Dr. Patricia M. Carrigan. The bequest funds an endowed chair who will advance feline health and well-being and nurture the relationships between cats, their owners, and their care providers.

Dr. Karen Perry, associate professor for the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, has been appointed as the Pat Carrigan Chair in Feline Medicine, a position that will enhance her capacity to advance feline health and wellbeing and nurture the relationships between cats, their owners, and their care providers.

Perry, BVM&S, MRCVS, CertSAS, DECVS, MSc Vet Ed, will serve as the Pat Carrigan Chair in Feline Medicine for a five-year term. She was recruited to the College in 2015, with an expectation to enhance feline-specific skills within the Orthopedic Surgery Service at the MSU Veterinary Medical Center. As she is now internationally recognized in this field, there’s no doubt she has accomplished this. Perry is an excellent orthopedic surgeon and compassionate clinician, who is well-respected by faculty, students, and clients for the quality of her patient care and communication, innovation in clinical practice, and her highly effective clinical and classroom instruction; in fact, Perry is known as one of the best veterinary educators due to her novel pedagogical approaches.

The Carrigan Chair was created through a bequest by former MSU Board of Trustees member Dr. Patricia M. Carrigan, who was one of the first people to recognize MSU’s potential for advancing feline health and wellbeing. Carrigan stated that, “Public funds are rarely expended to help cats live longer and healthier lives. It’s up to us who care about the wellbeing of cats to see that there is a consistent, reliable source of funds to better their lives.”

With this endowment, Perry will expand research and treatment modalities that focus on pressing issues affecting feline health. Specifically, Perry plans to explore the mechanisms by which cats with osteoarthritis develop additional complications associated with calcification in order to improve therapeutic approaches.