2019 College of Veterinary Medicine Distinguished Alumna — First Decade Achievement
Cara Clouse (Arts & Sciences ’07, UTCVM ’11) is the recipient of the UTCVM Distinguished Alumna – First Decade Achievement Award. She is a researcher at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Veterinary Medical Officer at-large in the United States Department of Agriculture, and a privately-employed veterinary consultant.
Clouse grew up in New Hope, Tennessee, on her family’s small beef farm before attending the University of Tennessee to earn her Bachelor of Science in biology and her doctorate at UT’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
Clouse received specialized laboratory animal and surgical training at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Division of Veterinary Resources through the Intramural Research Training Award. Recommendations from mentors at the NIH led to employment with Alpha Genesis Incorporated (AGI) where she led a team of professionals devoted to research and development support.
Although her initial agreement with AGI was for only one year, Clouse was promoted to Associate Veterinarian of Research and Sales within seven months, which expanded her leadership to supervising all procedures and staff responsible for contracted research animals and biologics.
She then transitioned to the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine to pursue a more research-focused career path under the direct supervision of Anthony Atala, MD and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the W. Boyce Professor and Chair of Urology at Wake Forest University. In this role, Clouse has coordinated animal-based, pre-clinical research projects with investments from the Department of Defense, several representative departments of the National Institutes of Health, private industries, and foundational funding, as well as personal donations.
Clouse has presented her experiences and knowledge of laboratory animal medicine and regenerative medical technologies at numerous national conferences, universities, and industrial research institutes. Her current research focuses on regenerative pharmacology, cell- and gene-based therapies, perinatal stem cell therapies for wound healing, scaffold-based wound healing, and 3D-bioprinted skin for wound reconstruction.