Dr Barbara Skelly

MA (Cantab), VetMB (Cantab), PhD (Cantab), CertSAM, DipACVIM, DipECVIM, MRCVS; European Veterinary Specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine, RCVS Recognised Specialist in Small Animal Medicine

Fellow (D), Director of Studies, Assistant Tutor, Postgraduate Mentor

College Roles

  • Fellow (D)
  • Director of Studies in Veterinary Medicine Clinical - Vet MB
  • Assistant Tutor (Undergraduates)
  • Postgraduate Mentor

University Roles

  • University Associate Professor in Veterinary Medicine (Small Animal Studies)
  • Chair, Departmental Infection Control Committee
  • Department liaison clinician for RSPCA

Contact

Telephone: 01223 337649

Email: bjs1000@cam.ac.uk

Biography

Barbara Skelly graduated as a Veterinary Surgeon from Newnham College, then did a PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge in collaboration with the Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond St Hospital. She undertook a post-doctoral position at the University of Pennsylvania before coming back to the UK to take up a Senior Clinical Training position at the Royal Veterinary College. Following this training Barbara became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and also a European Veterinary Specialist in Small Animal Medicine. She is based in the Department of Veterinary Medicine where she is now a Senior Lecturer and participates in clinical and clinical research work.

Research Interests

My PhD introduced me to the molecular genetics of inherited diseases of the dog and cat and involved the study of a naturally occurring animal model of a lysosomal storage disease that also affects people. My current interests still include inherited metabolic defects, endocrinopathies and cardiomyopathies.

Recently I have been working on familial hyperparathyroidism in the keeshond dog. This inherited endocrinopathy again provides a valuable animal model for disease in people and has thrown up many interesting parallels between dogs and humans with hyperparathyroidism.

Other areas of interest include electrolyte dysregulation in the dog and cat, particularly dysregulation of calcium homeostasis.

I also have a particular interest in clinical immunology including the management of immune-mediated diseases in dogs, who suffer from many of these challenging conditions and am participating in a collaborative study looking at treatment regimens for immune-mediated polyarthritis in the dog.