Equine veterinarians Foster Northrop, DVM, and Eric Mueller, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, have been named to the board of the Georgia Horse Racing Coalition, which is working with state leaders to pass pari-mutuel wagering legislation there.

Both Northrop and Mueller have ties to the University of Georgia (UGA) and will help guide the coalition on animal welfare policies, a release states.

Northrop is a UGA alumna and vice chairman of the racing committee for the American Association of Equine Practitioners. He is currently an equine veterinarian practicing primarily at Churchill Downs, in Louisville, Kentucky; Keeneland, in Lexington, Kentucky; and Palm Meadows Training Center, in Boynton Beach, Florida. He served four years on the Grayson-Jockey Club research committee and in 2008 was appointed by Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. According to the Georgia coalition, Northrop speaks across the country about horse welfare and supports the philosophy of putting the horse first.

Mueller currently serves as a professor, director of equine programs, and chief medical officer at the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Teaching Hospital. He is board certified in equine surgery and has received the Outstanding Hospital Service Award; a Lilly Teaching Fellowship; Outstanding House Officer Award; and UGA Resident of the Year Award 1991-92. He earned his doctor of veterinarian medicine from Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1989. In 1996, he earned a doctorate in physiology from the University of Georgia