Equine Reproduction Laboratory
Colorado State University
3101 Rampart Road
Fort Collins, Colorado 80521
United States of America

Patrick McCue, DVM, PhD, DACT, graduated from veterinary school at the University of California, Davis, in 1986. He subsequently completed an internship in large animal medicine and surgery at the University of Pennsylvania and a residency in equine reproduction at the University of California, Davis. McCue became a Diplomate of the American College of Theriogenologists in 1991 and received a PhD in comparative pathology from the University of California, Davis, in 1992. He is the author or coauthor of 10 books or eBooks and more than 400 refereed publications, textbook chapters, scientific proceedings, and abstracts. McCue received the Norden Distinguished Teacher Award and the American Association of Equine Practitioners Teaching Award from veterinary students at Colorado State University twice. In addition, he received the 2017 Theriogenologist of the Year award from the American College of Theriogenologists for outstanding accomplishments in the field of theriogenology, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Symposium on Equine Reproduction in 2022, and the Frank J. Milne State-of-the-Art Lecture award from the American Association of Equine Practitioners in 2023.

University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
1210 Vienna
Austria

Christine Aurich, Dr Med Vet, DECAR, is the Chair of the Clinical Centre for Reproduction and the Graf Lehndorff Institute for Equine Science at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Vienna, Austria). She is a Diplomate of the European College of Animal Reproduction (ECAR). Aurich’s research focuses on gamete physiology, assisted reproductive technologies, and pregnancy in domestic animals with a primary emphasis on the horse. She is the author of more than 250 peer-reviewed scientific articles in international journals and editor of a German-language textbook on equine reproduction. Aurich is also co-editor in chief of the journal Animal Reproduction Science.

School of Environmental and Life Sciences
College of Engineering, Science and Environment
LS4.45 Life Sciences Building
The University of Newcastle
Callaghan, New South Wales 2308
Australia 

Zamira Gibb, PhD, is an animal scientist specializing in equine reproduction and fertility. She is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, an associate professor in the School of Environmental and Life Sciences, and leads the Livestock Fertility group at the University of Newcastle (Callaghan, Australia). Her research focuses on improving reproductive efficiency in horses and livestock, with contributions spanning sperm preservation, fertility diagnostics, and embryo technologies. Gibb has secured substantial industry and academic funding, developed patented fertility technologies, and collaborates internationally to advance equine breeding practices. A lifelong horse owner, breeder, and rider, she grew up in Sydney, Australia, fostering a deep connection with the industry from an early age. Gibb serves as an Oceania representative on the ISER Symposium Board of Directors and holds numerous editorial and leadership roles in reproductive science.

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Lusófona University
Campo Grande, 376 1749-024 Lisboa
Portugal

After graduation in veterinary medicine at the University of Lisbon (Lisbon, Portugal) in 1999, Joana Alpoim-Moreira, DVM, PhD, pursued an internship at Troytown Equine Hospital (Kildare, Ireland), then worked at the Portuguese National Stud (Santarém, Portugal). In 2001, she began working in equine private practice at Equidesporto (Ílhavo, Portugal), where she still works and has become a partner. She has been working as an equine veterinarian with a special interest in reproduction and neonatology. Alpoim-Moreira obtained a general practitioner certificate in equine practice in 2008 and completed a master’s degree in veterinary medicine in 2010. She continued to pursue her doctorate studies in veterinary sciences, which were completed in 2023 at the University of Lisbon, focusing on equine endometrium fibrosis and epigenetics. Since then, Alpoim-Moreira has become an assistant professor in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Lusófona University (Lisbon, Portugal), where she lectures equine reproduction, obstetrics, and neonatology. She has also been involved in many research projects with particular focuses on mare endometrium markers of inflammation, fibrosis (endometrosis), and epigenetics. 

Federal Rural University of Pernambuco
Rua Dom Mamoel de Medeiros s/n - Dois Irmãos
Recife
52071-030 Pernambuco
Brazil

Gustavo Ferrer Carneiro, PhD, DVM is a full professor at Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE) in Recife, Brazil, teaching veterinary andrology, assisted reproductive techniques in equids, and equine startup and innovations. Ferrer Carneiro has experience in veterinary medicine with an emphasis on gynecology and animal andrology, working primarily in veterinary andrology, assisted reproduction techniques, gamete biology and embryology, and veterinary innovation.

Goulburn Valley Equine Hospital
Goulburn Valley Highway
Gongupna, Victoria 3633
Australia

Angus McKinnon, MSc, DACT, DipVetMed, DABVP, graduated from Melbourne University Veterinary School in 1978 and, after some time in private practice, enrolled as a resident at the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph (Guelph, ON, Canada). After five years there (he was a slow learner), Jim Voss asked him to join the team at Colorado State University. (McKinnon had previously spent time with and been mightily impressed by Bill Pickett at Colorado State University.) Another five years passed, during which he was fortunate enough to learn from some of the very best clinicians, academics, and researchers in the United States in equine reproduction and remains great friends with Ed Squires (fellow ISER director) today. In 1988, McKinnon headed home to establish the Goulburn Valley Equine Hospital with an old associate, Jim Vasey. The hospital grew from a 2-person practice in 1988 to a 15-veterinarian practice by 2018. In 2019, the hospital was sold to the University of Melbourne as case material for their DVM program. Along the way, McKinnon has written many scientifically refereed articles and published four books on equine reproduction and ultrasonography for veterinarians. He sees his role now as bridging the world of private practice and academics. McKinnon has concentrated on research that is of direct practical interest and relevance to the horse breeding industry.

Department of Biomedical Sciences
College of Veterinary Medicine
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
United States of America

Following graduation, Amanda M. de Mestre, PhD, PGCAP, MRCVS, worked as a veterinarian in equine specialist practices in Scone, Australia, and Newmarket, England. Following her PhD and clinical training, she moved to the Royal Veterinary College (London, England), where she established her own research program in the immunobiology of equine pregnancy and underlying mechanisms of pregnancy failure. In 2023, de Mestre moved her program to Cornell University, where the Equine Pregnancy Laboratory continues to work closely with clinicians, epidemiologists, geneticists, and pathologists to take an interdisciplinary approach to study early equine development, with a focus on genetic variants of the embryo that lead to death prior to birth, alterations in immunity over implantation, and uterine health. This work led to the recent description of aneuploidy as the most common reason for equine pregnancy to fail in the first three months of gestation. de Mestre received the 2015 Society of Reproduction and Fertility New Investigator Award. Now, she is a Dorothy Havemeyer McConville Professor and director of the Baker Institute for Animal Health.

Veterinary Population Management Laboratory
University of Pretoria at Onderstepoort
Republic of South Africa

Martin Schulman, PhD, MMedVet (Gyn), MRCVS, qualified as a veterinarian at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria (UP), Onderstepoort, and completed a residency in theriogenology, obtaining specialist registration with an MMedVet (Gyn) degree. After several years in private practice in both the United Kingdom and South Africa, he joined UP’s Department of Reproduction, where he progressed to full Professor and Head of the Section of Reproduction. He earned his PhD from Utrecht University, defending a thesis entitled The Impact of Herpesviruses on Reproductive Performance in Horses.

Since 2000, Professor Schulman has been responsible for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in equine reproduction. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed scientific journals and international conference proceedings and has authored numerous articles for the lay press on equine and general veterinary reproduction, wildlife, and equid immunocontraception. His research focuses on veterinary population management and infectious diseases that affect equine reproductive performance.

Professor Schulman serves as a consultant to the South African Department of Agriculture and the South African Thoroughbred Industry and is a member of an expert committee of the World Organization for Animal Health. His work has contributed to advances in molecular surveillance, outbreak response strategies, treatment of contagious equine metritis and other venereal bacterial pathogens, and the clinical and diagnostic management of equine herpesvirus-associated abortions.

In 2013, he founded the Veterinary Population Management Laboratory at UP, which conducts internationally recognized research on immunocontraception in African elephants and equids. The laboratory’s porcine zona pellucida (pZP) vaccine program currently treats more than 2,000 African elephant cows, making it the largest successful wildlife immunocontraception project globally. He also leads equine referral services at UP’s Veterinary Academic Hospital and consults internationally in specialist equine reproduction and stud medicine.

Hagyard Equine Medical Institute
4250 Iron Works Pike
Lexington, Kentucky 40511
United States of America

Karen Wolfsdorf, DVM, DACT, attended veterinary school at the University of Florida and graduated in 1992. After completing her DVM, she began an equine field service internship at North Carolina State University. In 1995, Wolfsdorf completed a residency in theriogenology at the University of Florida and became board certified in theriogenology. Before starting at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, she spent time working in Australia with David Pascoe at Oakey Veterinary Hospital. In 1996, Wolfsdorf joined Hagyard as an associate and became one of the first two female members of the practice in 2002. Wolfsdorf’s main area of interest is infertility in mares and problems during pregnancy. She has authored many chapters on equine reproduction, lectured worldwide, and published research regarding progesterone, retained endometrial cups, and equine twin reduction with craniocervical dislocation.

China Agricultural University
17 Qinghua Donglu
Beijing 100083
People’s Republic of China

Shenming Zeng, PhD, obtained his doctorate in 1996 and has since worked in animal reproduction at the China Agricultural University, led or participated in more than 20 important national projects about reproduction in farm animals, established efficient systems of embryo production in vitro in rabbits, sheep, cattle, pigs and horses, timed insemination in donkeys, published about 160 original research papers in peer journals, obtained four national scientific awards, and published 10 books. Currently, Zeng’s research focuses on basic theories and applied technologies in animal reproduction. The former concentrates on molecular mechanisms in follicular development, oocyte aging, and early embryo development, while the latter includes estrous synchronization, timed artificial insemination, and OUP-IVF in cattle, horses, and donkeys. Zeng is now the vice president of the Chinese Donkey Industry Association and a standing member of the Animal Reproduction Branch and Equine Science Branch of the Chinese Society of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine. 

5536 North County Road 3
Fort Collins, CO 80524
United States of America

Ed Squires, PhD, obtained a bachelor’s degree in animal sciences and a master of science at West Virginia University under the guidance of Keith Inskeep. He subsequently earned a PhD at the University of Wisconsin under the mentorship of O. J. Ginther. In 1976, Squires took a position at Colorado State University and joined the team at the Animal Reproduction Laboratory. He remained a part of that productive group for 33 years. In 2008, Squires moved to the Gluck Equine Research Centre at the University of Kentucky. He has published 339 articles in refereed journals and 20 chapters in textbooks and is one of the editors of the second edition of the textbook Equine Reproduction. He has lectured extensively nationally and internationally to veterinary and scientific groups and horse breeders in nearly 40 countries. Squires has received numerous awards, including an induction into the Equine Research Hall of Fame, the Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Agriculture at West Virginia University, and the George Stubbs Award from the American Association of Equine Practitioners. He is an honorary member of the College of Theriogenology, honorary vice president of the American Quarter Horse Association, past president of the Equine Science Society, and chair of the International Symposium on Equine Reproduction. He was the honorary chair of the XIII International Symposium on Equine Reproduction and received the 2024 International Embryo Technology Society Pioneer Award.