Biography
Dr. Ooms Konecny has been in the position of Attending Veterinarian for both University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and Main Campus since 2021. In addition, she serves as the Attending Veterinarian for the New Mexico VA Health Care System. She has prior experience working at Salida Veterinary Hospital (SVH) as a Veterinarian in May of 2020 to move out west during the pandemic. At SVH she gained significant medicine and surgery skills in dogs and cats. Prior to this position, Dr. Ooms Konecny joined IITRI as an Attending Veterinarian in April 2013. IITRI is an animal focused contract research organization, specializing in toxicology and microbiology. She was responsible for the health, well-being, and husbandry of laboratory animal colonies in an approximately 55,000 square-foot AAALAC International-accredited animal facility including ABSL-3 select agent research. Species included rodents, rabbits, dogs, pigs, marmosets, cynomolgus, and rhesus monkeys. Additional duties included supervising and overseeing the Laboratory Animal Medicine Section of IITRI, including two Medical Technologists in the Clinical Pathology laboratory, a Facility Supervisor and 6 Animal Care Technicians. From 2007-2013 she was the Director of the Department of Comparative Medicine at Tulane University, Dr. Ooms Konecny was charged with the humane care of all animals on a multi-disciplinary campus, including a School of Medicine, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a Liberal Arts College. She oversaw several animal facilities and was responsible for the health, wellbeing, and husbandry of laboratory animal colonies in approximately 85,000 square-feet of AAALAC International-accredited animal facilities. Species included rodents, chinchillas, poultry, rabbits, dogs, cats, ferrets, and pigs. From 2005 to 2007, she worked as a Veterinarian at the Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC), Dr. Ooms Konecny worked as a member of the research team conducting all animal related research medicine and surgery for several primate infectious disease studies.
In her Postdoctoral Fellow/Clinical Resident position in the Biologic Resources Laboratory (BRL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Dr. Ooms Konecny was part of the three-year ACLAM-accredited training program. She performed clinical rotations in primate, small animal, large animal, and surgery areas. She is experienced in management, diagnostic pathology, and research methodology. Dr. Ooms Konecny also managed the opening of a small animal satellite facility.
Personal Statement
As a laboratory animal veterinarian, I have extensive training and experience related to leadership, laboratory animal medicine, animal welfare, regulatory compliance, fiscal management, and infrastructural needs for diverse AAALAC accredited biomedical and behavioral research programs. In addition to completing a three-year laboratory animal medicine residency, I have over 15 years experience directing diverse and complex animal research programs utilizing a variety of models and species (aquatics, rodents, rabbits, agriculture animals, carnivores, wildlife, and non-human primates). My roles include teaching (animal models, animal care, biotechnology, and animal ethics), attending veterinarian, clinical veterinarian, and fiscal/operational program director for various shared animal resource cores (general animal resource facility, mutant rodent breeding barriers, biocontainment, behavior, and imaging). In addition, I have experience as a Study Director at a large contract research organization. I have provided oversight of design, construction and implementation of numerous successful animal research facility improvement projects including several installations of cage washer and autoclave equipment that provides a strong basis for my role in the current application.
Areas of Specialty
Veterinary Medicine
Surgery
Laboratory Animals
Rodents
Institutional Animal Care and Use
Gender
Female