Professor, Departments of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences and Veterinary Pathobiology, Texas A&M University; Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience; Director, Texas A&M Institute for Preclinical Studies (TIPS)

After receiving his veterinary degree from Texas A&M, Dr. Kornegay spent three years in private practice in Ohio and Texas, followed by six years in residency (neurology and pathology) and graduate (Masters and PhD) training at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. Upon completion of this training, he served on the faculty at North Carolina State University for 11 years before moving to the University of Missouri. At Missouri, Dr. Kornegay principally served as an administrator, first as a department chair and later as dean. He moved to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006 and to his current position at Texas A&M University in 2012. Dr. Kornegay is a diplomate and past president of the neurology specialty of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) and currently serves as the Chair of ACVIM’s Board of Regents.

Throughout his career as an academic clinician, he had responsibilities in both medical neurology and neurosurgery and also consulted in neuropathology. For the past 30-plus years, Dr. Kornegay has studied a spontaneous canine disease termed golden retriever muscular dystrophy (GRMD), which serves as an animal model for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) of humans. Both conditions are X-linked, occurring due to mutations in the DMD gene. His research has defined key clinical and pathologic features of GRMD to both better understand disease pathogenesis and to also utilize these parameters in assessing treatment efficacy. In recent years, Dr. Kornegay’s laboratory and collaborators have studied various treatments (cell, molecular, and pharmacologic approaches) in affected dogs. Results of these preclinical studies should guide use of similar treatment strategies in DMD patients.