Whitney Cutrone, DVM, has been an animal lover as long as she can remember. 

“I was that annoying kid who had everything horses and was obsessed,” she says. 

Her love for horses would play a big role later on in her life, but it was her experience as a kid watching a local vet save the life of a dog that was injured in a collision with a car that helped cement her decision to become a veterinarian. 

Cutrone began the journey of obtaining her doctorate of veterinary medicine at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, located on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. The opportunity to study abroad appealed to Cutrone, who had lived in Virginia, Texas, and Washington by the time she graduated high school.  

While attending school at Ross, Cutrone decided she wanted to specialize in equine and large animal care. With this in mind, she transferred back to the U.S. and finished veterinary school at Oklahoma State University. 

In 2016, Cutrone graduated and headed back to Texas for an internship in equine and sports medicine surgery. Upon finishing that internship, Cutrone started another at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine with a similar focus. That opportunity opened up an avenue to a surgery residency at the Piper Equine Hospital in 2018.

This past year, Cutrone’s dedication to her work earned her the position of chief resident of the hospital. The job comes with administrative duties, such as scheduling labs and on-call staff, but also offers a platform for Whitney to work with staff, students, and faculty in pursuit of improving patient care and increasing efficiency. 

The endless opportunities for collaboration are what Cutrone enjoys most about working in academia, especially at CVM where the latest research and technology are driving new treatments and other discoveries. 

“These academic environments are amazing. You never know what is going to walk through the door,” Cutrone says. “It could be super routine or super insane that you’ll only see once in your career. And being able to see those cases and see them through and having so many people involved, from medicine to surgery, is what I love.”

Working with equines is especially fulfilling for Cutrone. Many of her patients are work or show horses, and helping them return to activities they enjoy with their owners is a bright spot in a job where good outcomes aren’t guaranteed. 

“Seeing how we, as large animal veterinarians, are able to take a problem and fix it for the animal, and get it and its owner back to doing something they love or need to do is very satisfying and motivating to me,” she says. 

When she’s not taking care of other people’s animals, Cutrone spends time with her three dogs. Two of them, a coconut retriever named Sadie and a Labrador retriever named Remi, she adopted while living on St. Kitts. Rounding out the trio is Eli, a pomeranian who accompanied Cutrone through her remaining years of veterinary school in the U.S. 

While the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown much of the country into chaos, Cutrone remains hopeful that she will be able to continue working in academia after finishing her residency.

“I don't mind private practice, but I think academia is where my heart lies,” Cutrone says. “I really like the collaborative environment where you have multiple minds being able to consult on one case and provide the best possible care to that patient—it’s a huge driving factor for me.”