2020 Zoetis Award
for Veterinary Research Excellence
Liz Pluhar, DVM, PhD, DACVS
Dr. Pluhar received her D.V.M. from Oregon State University in 1989. She earned a master of science degree in molecular biology from Northern Illinois University. In 1999, she earned a Ph.D. in veterinary sciences/comparative orthopaedics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests include improving total joint longevity, development of bone graft substitutes, the study of osteoclasts and bone graft incorporation, and the investigation of novel gene and immunotherapies for brain tumors.
Dr. Pluhar has been a CVM faculty member since 2003 and serving the University of Minnesota community as a veterinary surgeon.
From Dr. Cathy Carlson's nomination letter:
Several years after her arrival at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Pluhar began collaborating with Dr. John Ohlfest, a PhD researcher in the MCC. Dr. Ohlfest was a recognized pioneer in the treatment of brain tumors using both gene therapy and novel immunotherapies to direct a patient’s immune system against the cancer. Although Dr. Pluhar maintained a successful research program focused on the treatment of critical-sized bone defects, she saw the promise in the brain tumor program and perfected the necessary craniotomy techniques to translate this work to dogs as a model of the human disease. The first dog treated with a combination of gene and immunotherapy, “Batman”, lived tumor free until dying from an unrelated condition. Although Dr. Pluhar lost her key colleague, Dr. Ohlfest, to malignant melanoma in 2013, she maintained and grew the Canine Brain Tumor Clinical Trial Program at the University of Minnesota to one of international recognition. To date, over 350 dogs with brain tumors from the U.S., Canada, and the UK have been treated in her program.