Meet Our Instructors
Dr. Katie Garrett
Dr. Garrett is a shareholder and the director of diagnostic imaging at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. She also served as AAEP president in 2024.
A 2003 graduate of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Garrett completed a pair of internships at Rood & Riddle before remaining with the practice as an associate focused on Thoroughbred sales work. Her focus expanded to include diagnostic imaging and, following a three-year equine surgery residency at the practice and attainment of board certification in the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2012, Dr. Garrett was appointed director of diagnostic imaging. She has particular interest in musculoskeletal MRI and upper airway imaging.
Dr. Amy Johnson
Dr. Johnson is the Marilyn M. Simpson Professor of Equine Medicine, section chief of internal medicine and ophthalmology, and professor of large animal medicine and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center. Her clinical caseload consists predominantly of horses with neurologic problems, including spinal cord compression, neurodegenerative disease, and infectious diseases. She also provides consultations for farm animals with neurologic disease. Her research efforts focus on improving our ability to diagnose the cause of neurologic disease in horses.
After earning her veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2003, Dr. Johnson completed an internship at B.W. Furlong & Associates in Oldwick, N.J., followed by a large animal internal medicine residency at Cornell and neurology residency at Penn Vet. She was the first American veterinarian to obtain board certification in both large animal internal medicine and neurology. She joined the Penn Vet faculty in 2011.
Dr. Kate Montgomery
Dr. Montgomery is an internal medicine resident at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. After receiving her veterinary degree from St. George’s University in 2022, Dr. Montgomery completed a one-year internship at Rood & Riddle followed by a one-year rotating medicine and surgery internship at the Marion DuPont Scott Equine Medical Center at Virginia Tech University.
Dr. Yvette Nout-Lomas
Dr. Nout-Lomas is an associate professor of equine internal medicine at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. Her clinical interests include evaluation and treatment of horses with neurologic and behavior disorders and critically ill foals and adult horses. Her research goal is to improve diagnostic capabilities and treatment options for horses with neurologic disease. In particular, her research focuses on gait assessment in horses, spinal cord injury, and comparative neuroscience.
Dr. Nout-Lomas received her veterinary degree in 1999 from Utrecht University in The Netherlands. After completing a rotating internship at the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Va., she completed residencies in Equine Internal Medicine and Equine Emergency and Critical Care at The Ohio State University, becoming boarded in both specialties. She earned a PhD in Neuroscience in the College of Medicine of The Ohio State University and then completed postdoctoral work in comparative neuroscience at the University of California in San Francisco. She joined the CSU faculty in 2014.
Dr. Amy Polkes
Dr. Polkes is founding owner of Equine IMED (Internal Medicine and Diagnostic Services), which provides mobile internal medicine service for cases that would otherwise require transport to a referral facility. She established the practice in 2003 servicing Maryland and Virginia and later expanded to offer monthly service in New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
Dr. Polkes received her veterinary degree from Purdue University. Following several years in private practice, she completed a large animal internal medicine residency at the University of Florida, becoming board certified after completing the program in 2002. In addition to Equine IMED, Dr. Polkes is the equine internal medicine specialist for Antech Diagnostics, helping facilitate expansion of equine diagnostic testing within Antech Diagnostics.
Dr. Stephen Reed
Dr. Reed is an internal medicine specialist and shareholder at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., an emeritus professor at The Ohio State University, and a 2022 inductee into the University of Kentucky Gluck Equine Research Hall of Fame.
Dr. Reed received his veterinary degree from Ohio State in 1976 before completing a residency at Michigan State University. He embarked on his academic teaching career at Washington State University from 1979–1983 before returning to Ohio State, where he served as a professor and mentor in the Equine Medicine department until joining Rood & Riddle as an internal medicine clinician in 2007. He has edited four editions of Equine Internal Medicine, a pivotal textbook for equine practitioners pursuing board certification in veterinary internal medicine.
Dr. Julie Vargas
Dr. Vargas runs the Spy Coast Farm Equine Rehabilitation and Fitness Center in Lexington, Ky., where since 2019 she has combined years of conventional veterinary medical practice with alternative and regenerative therapies to achieve the best outcome for her patients.
Dr. Vargas received her veterinary degree in 2009 from the University of Georgia. Following a hospital and ambulatory internship at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky. Dr. Vargas joined a sport horse practice in Wellington, Fla. She completed her veterinary acupuncture certification at Chi Institute and her chiropractic/spinal manipulation certification at the Integrative Veterinary Medical Institute, both in Reddick, Fla.
Upcoming Events
Virtual Wednesday Round Table: Identifying Common Equine Oral Pathologies
With existing scientific data limited, join board-certified theriogenologists C. Scott Bailey, DVM,…
NeuroXP
Diagnosis and treatment of equine neurologic conditions is challenging, with often subtle…
Virtual Wednesday Round Table: Exploring the Intersection of Metabolism, Nutrition and Gestation in Mares
Recent research developments provide insight into the effect of pregnancy on equine…
