2019 Veterinary Research Fellowship

Sherry A. Johnson
DVM, MS, DACVSMR
Colorado State University


2019 Research Fellow

Left to Right: Anthony Blikslager, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, Chair, Research Subcommittee, Foundation For The Horse, Sherry A. Johnson, DVM, MS, DACVSMR, and Richard Mitchell, DVM, MRCVS, Dipl. ACVSMR, Chair, Advisory Committee, Foundation For The Horse


Sherry A. Johnson, DVM, MS, DACVSMR, a Ph.D. student at Colorado State University, received the EQUUS Foundation Research Fellowship at the AAEP's 65th Annual Convention in Denver, Colorado for her research into new approaches to tendon injury rehabilitation in horses.

"As a first year Ph.D. student, my time and resources have been dedicated to investigating rehabilitation modalities novel to horses, specifically blood flow restriction training," said Dr. Johnson. "I aim to develop tendon-sparing exercise prescriptions that may eventually be extrapolated to equine and human patients. The shared, inter-species complexities of injury diagnosis, longitudinal monitoring and successful treatment offer me an avenue through which my basic and applied science can be used to improve human and animal health."

Dr. Johnson graduated in the top of her class from Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, completed a residency in Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation at Colorado State University, and became a diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation in 2019.

She is currently a PhD candidate at Colorado State University with research focus on novel rehabilitation modalities related to tendon healing. She received the American Quarter Horse Foundation Young Investigator Award in 2018 and is working toward three publications describing longitudinal tendinopathic imaging characteristics and the role of exercise in tendon healing. These publications will join Dr. Johnson's other accepted manuscripts to Veterinary Radiology & Ultrasound (2018) and Operative Techniques in Orthopaedics (2016).