In recognition of her success in research related to the health of horses, Gerlinde Van de Walle, DVM, PhD, has been named the Harry M. Zweig Assistant Professor in Equine Health. The three-year term endowed position recognizes a junior faculty member who shows promise and productivity in the field of equine research.

Van de Walle’s equine research program focuses on infectious diseases and wound healing, work that has been funded by the Zweig Memorial Fund, Boehringer Ingelheim, the National Institutes of Health, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Cornell Stem Cell Program, and the American Quarter Horse Foundation. The results promise to not only help improve the health and wellbeing of horses, but of humans and other animal species as well.

In her infectious disease work, Van de Walle examines the possible roles of viruses in two common conditions in horses: ulcers and hepatitis. Gastric ulcers are particularly widespread among racehorses, and it has long been suspected this is due to stressful experiences in training, travel, and at the track. Van de Walle’s work has uncovered evidence that an infectious cause could be to blame for at least some of these cases, a possibility that offers new treatment options or even a cure, she said.

“If we can link ulcers to an infectious cause we can treat these affected horses and heal them,” she said