Dr. Lena DeTar
Assistant Clinical Professor of Shelter Medicine
After Dr. DeTar obtained her veterinary degree from the University of Minnesota, she quickly realized that veterinary medicine was a business and questioned whether or not she had made the right career choice. DeTar then worked several jobs at different humane societies. She said what drew her to shelter medicine is “being able to help animals that don’t have any other option and being able to help the people that are attached to those animals — being able to say yes, when everyone has already told them no.”
After working in Utah and Arizona, she completed a three-year residency in shelter medicine in Portland, Oregon and realized the best way she could help animals was to teach others how to help those animals. She pursued veterinary teaching positions, including a position with the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. DeTar joined Cornell’s Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program in August of 2016.
Dr. DeTar also enjoys working on protocols, position statements, and guidelines for shelters. She is Vice President with the Association of Shelter Veterinarians and is collaborating with shelter medicine experts around the country to revise the ASV Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters.
She also enjoys the day-to-day direct patient care that the Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine team provides at the SPCA of Tompkins County, as well as working alongside and guiding shelter medicine interns with their cases.
DeTar’s area of interest is studying ringworm and strives to improve the length of treatment for animals in the shelter by increasing the speed for curing an animal’s disease.
FUN FACT: Dr. DeTar is one of two nationally ranked shelter medicine veterinarians who are masters level ultimate frisbee players.
