Professor Ken Smith

BVM&S, PhD, FHEA, FRCPath, FRCVS
Professor of Companion Animal Pathology and Head of Department

Department: Pathobiology and Population Sciences

Campus: Hawkshead

Research Groups: Host-Pathogen Interactions and Vaccinology, IRLFS (Research Programme)

Ken is Professor of Companion Animal Pathology and Head of the Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences at the Royal Veterinary College.

Ken qualified as a veterinary surgeon from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in 1988 and undertook a residency in equine pathology at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket.  He then undertook PhD studies on the pathogenesis of equine herpesviral infections in a Wellcome Trust-funded project run jointly between the Animal Health Trust and Royal Veterinary College.  Ken returned to the Animal Health Trust as staff pathologist in 1994 and became Head of Pathology there in 2001.  He moved to the Royal Veterinary College as Professor of Companion Animal Pathology in 2006. Ken was appointed as Head of the Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences with effect from 1st July 2017.  He is a past President of the British Society of Veterinary Pathology, has served on the Specialty Advisory Committee on Veterinary Pathology of the Royal College of Pathologists and chairs the Editorial Board of the Journal of Comparative Pathology.

Ken's abiding research interest is the pathogenesis of infectious diseases and pregnancy failure in horses, as well as having a long-standing interest in developing better diagnostic and prognostic markers for neoplasia in dogs and cats.  In recent years he has also undertaken collaborative research in a number of other areas, including canine portocaval shunt regeneration, feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia.

  1. Incidence and causes of pregnancy loss after day 70 of gestation in Thoroughbreds.
    Roach JM, Foote AK, Smith KC, Verheyen KL, de Mestre AM.
    Equine Vet J. 2020 Nov 18. doi: 10.1111/evj.13386

  2. Prognostic factors and proposed grading system for cutaneous and subcutaneous soft tissue sarcomas in cats, based on a retrospective study.
    Dobromylskyj MJ, Richards V, Smith KC.
    J Feline Med Surg. 2020 Jul 27:1098612X20942393.

  3. Fetal morphological features and abnormalities associated with equine early pregnancy loss.
    Kahler A, McGonnell IM, Smart H, Kowalski AA, Smith KC, Wathes DC, de Mestre AM.
    Equine Vet J. 2020 Aug 31. doi: 10.1111/evj.13340.

  4. A retrospective study of more than 400 feline nasal biopsy samples in the UK (2006-2013).
    Ferguson S, Smith KC, Welsh CE, Dobromylskyj MJ.
    J Feline Med Surg. 2020 Aug;22(8):736-743. . doi: 10.1177/1098612X1988184

  5. Cutaneous Botryomycosis in Two Pet Rabbits.
    Hedley, J; Stapleton, N; Muir, C; Priestnall, S; Smith, K.
    Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine, 28143-147. 2018

  6. Molecular carcinogenesis in equine penile cancer: A potential animal model for human penile cancer.
    Suárez-Bonnet, A; Willis, C; Pittaway, R; Smith, K; Mair, T; Priestnall, S L.
    Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations, 36. 2018

  7. Mortalities, amyloidosis and other diseases in free-living red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) on Jersey, Channel Islands.
    Blackett, T A; Simpson, V R; Haugland, S; Everest, D J; Muir, C F; Smith, K C, Mill, A C.
    VETERINARY RECORD, 2018

  8. Retrospective study of more than 9000 feline cutaneous tumours in the UK: 2006–2013.
    Ho, N T; Smith, K C; Dobromylskyj, M J.
    JOURNAL OF FELINE MEDICINE AND SURGERY, 20;2:128-134. 2018

  9. Ho, N.T., Smith, K.C. and Dobromylskyj, M.J. (2017).A retrospective study of more than 9,000 feline cutaneous tumours in the United Kingdom: 2006-2013.Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery

  10. Afshar B, Turner CE, Lamagni TL, Smith KC, Al-Shahib A, Underwood A, Holden MTG, Efstratiou A, Sriskandan S.  Enhanced nasopharyngeal infection and shedding associated with an epidemic lineage of emm3 group A Streptococcus. Virulence. 2017 Oct 3;8(7):1390-1400

  11. Wilkie, L.J., Smith, K.C. and Luis-Fuentes, V. (2016).Cardiac pathology findings in 252 cats presented for necropsy; a comparison of cats with unexpected death versus other deaths.  Journal of Veterinary Cardiology 17(1) S329-s340 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvc.2015.09.006.

  12. Rutherford, L., Kulendra, N., Stell, A. and Smith, K.C. (2016). Hemothorax in three dogs with intrathoracic extra cardiac hemangiosarcoma. Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association 52 325-329.

  13. Scudamore, C.L., Soilleux, E.J., Karp, N.A., Smith, K.C., Poulsom, R., Herrington, C.S., Day, M.J., Brayton, C.F., Bolon, B., Whitelaw, B., White, E.S., Everitt, J.I. and Arends, M.J. (2016).Recommendations for minimum information for publication of experimental pathology data: MINPEPA guidelines. The Journal of Pathology 238 359-67. doi: 10.1002/path.4642.

  14. Basu, C., Stoll, A.L., Dixon, J., Molenaar, F.M. Flach, E. and Smith, K.C. (2016).Osteochondrosis in the distal femurs of an adult reticulated giraffe (Giraffa camelopardaris reticulata) – macroscopic, radiological and histological findings.Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 47 359-363.

  15. Dixon, J.J.I., Smith, K.C., Perkins, J., Sherlock, C., Mair, T.S. and Weller, R. (2016).Computed tomographic appearance of melanomas in the equine head: 13 cases.Veterinary Radiology and Ultrasound 57(3) 246-52. doi: 10.1111/vru.12345.

  16. Dobromylskyj, M.J., Fernandes, R.A., French, A., Pocknell, A.M. and Smith, K.C. (2016).  Clinical, histological and prognostic features of a novel nail-bed lesion of cats: 41 cases.  Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery pii: 1098612X16661013.

  17. Parzefall, B., De Decker, S., Carvalho, S., Leach, J., Terry, R., Smith K. C. and Lara-Garcia, A. (2016). Axial multicentric osteosarcoma in an English Cocker Spaniel.  Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 30 1720-1725.

  18. Dobromylskyj. M.J., Rasotto, R., Melville, K., Smith, K.C. and Berlato, D. (2015).Evaluation of Minichromosome Maintenance Protein 7 and c-KIT as Prognostic Markers in Feline Cutaneous Mast Cell Tumours.Journal of Comparative Pathology 153 244-50. doi: 10.1016/j.jcpa.2015.08.005.

  19. Mulongo, M.M., Frey, J., Smith, K.C., Schnier, C., Wesonga, H., Naessens, J. and McKeever, D.J. (2015) Vaccination of cattle with the N Terminus of LppQ  of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides results in type III immune complex disease upon experimental infection.  Infection and Immunity ;83(5):1992-2000. doi: 10.1128/IAI.00003
     
  20. Robinson, C., Heather, Z., Slater, J.D., Potts, N., Steward, K.F., Maskell, D.J., Fontaine, M.C., Kehoe, M.A., Smith, K.C. and Waller, A.S. (2015).   Vaccination with a live multi-gene deletion strain protects horses against virulent challenge with Streptococcus equi.  Vaccine 33 1160 -1167

Ken teaches on multiple courses at the College, including the BVetMed, BSc in Bioveterinary Science and intercalated BSc in Comparative Pathology.  He chairs the BVetMed Finals Examination Board and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Ken is an RCVS Recognised Specialist in Veterinary Pathology and is involved in training and mentoring the senior clinical training scholars working on the diagnostic rota in anatomic and clinical pathology.  He has a wide range of publications that are based on his diagnostic work undertaken in collaboration with clinical colleagues within and outwith the RVC.

Ken is a past President of the British Society of Veterinary Pathology. He chaired the Speciality Advisory Committee (SAC) on Veterinary Pathology of the Royal College of Pathologists from 2008-2010 and rejoined the SAC from 2015-2017 to oversee the implementation of the new FRCPath veterinary curriculum in anatomic pathology.  Ken is a regular reviewer for multiple scientific journals and sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Comparative Pathology and the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery.

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