Amanda A. Adams, PhD, is an associate professor and a Mars Equestrian Fellow at the University of Kentucky Gluck Equine Research Center. She’s authored 40+ peer-reviewed scientific publications and presented her research at more than 40 national and international scientific meetings. Her research interests include the geriatric horse’s immune system; adiposity’s effects on horses’ inflammatory responses, particularly in EMS horses; and the mechanisms responsible for and pathways involved in EMS to identify potential treatments that target both the inflammatory and metabolic component of the disease.

Erica Jacquay, MSc, is a PhD student and the first Mars Equestrian Scholar in the Department of Veterinary Science at the University of Kentucky working under Amanda Adams, PhD. Erica earned her BS in animal science from Virginia Tech and her MS from Kansas State, with an emphasis on equine reproductive physiology. She’s worked in various facets of the equine industry, including training dressage horses, working on a large sport horse breeding farm, and working in a veterinary diagnostic laboratory. Her research program focuses on equine transportation, with specific aims to evaluate the impact of short-term transportation on stress and immune function in horses.