After graduating from Oklahoma State University in 1981, Dr. Lappin completed a rotating internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the University of Georgia. After 2 years in a small animal practice in Los Angeles, he returned to the University of Georgia where he completed a small animal internal medicine residency and a PhD in Parasitology. Dr. Lappin was board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in 1987. He is currently Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University. Dr. Lappin studies feline infectious and immune-mediated diseases and has written many primary research manuscripts and book chapters. His principal areas of interest are prevention of infectious diseases, vaccine associated side effects, the upper respiratory disease complex, infectious causes of fever, infectious causes of diarrhea, and zoonoses of cats. Dr. Lappin on the editorial board of Feline Medicine and Surgery and Compendium for Continuing Education for the Practicing Veterinarian and is the editor of the textbook, Feline Internal Medicine Secrets. Dr. Lappin has received the Beecham Research Award and the Norden Distinguished Teaching Award. Dr. Lappin is the Kenneth W. Smith Professor in Small Animal Clinical Veterinary Medicine at Colorado State University and is currently the Assistant Department Head for Research. He was the chairperson of the AAFP Panel on Feline Zoonoses and the AAFP Bartonella Panel Report. Dr. Lappin is the director of the “Center for Companion Animal Studies.”