2021 College of Veterinary Medicine Distinguished Alumna — Non-Private Practice
Leah Cohn (’84,’86), DVM, PhD, DACVIM, is this year’s Distinguished Alumna Non-Private Practice. Cohn is currently a professor of veterinary medicine and serves as the director of graduate studies and associate department chair in veterinary medicine and surgery at the University of Missouri.
Cohn earned her PhD in veterinary microbiology and immunology at North Carolina State University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cell biology before joining the faculty at the University of Missouri. She teaches all levels and takes pride in having helped train literally thousands of veterinarians and dozens of rotating and specialty interns and residents.
She specializes in small animal internal medicine with special interests in the treatment of infectious, immune-mediated, and respiratory diseases. She has a particular focus on developing better prevention and treatment of feline cytauxzoonosis, commonly known as bobcat fever, which was first documented in Missouri in the 1970s.
Her accolades include the Lee and Inga Pyle Distinguished Service Award from the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, where she has served a full term on the Board of Regents, including time as president and chairman. She has also participated in the founding and leadership of the International Society of Companion Animal Infectious Disease and has volunteered with the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Veterinary Clinicians. She has authored more than 130 scientific manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals and has written dozens of book chapters in leading texts.