Cynthia M. Otto

After earning a veterinary degree from The Ohio State University and a PhD from the University of Georgia, Dr. Otto became board certified in both veterinary emergency and critical care and veterinary sports medicine and rehabilitation. She worked as an attending clinician in the Penn Vet emergency service for over 20 years. She was a member of FEMA’s Pennsylvania Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1 from 1994 – 2010.  She was named Pennsylvania’s 2002 “Veterinarian of the Year” and received the 2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Ohio State University. In 2015, she created the Penn Vet Working Dog Center as a national research and development center for detection dogs where she still serves as Executive Director. A year later she received the Philadelphia Kennel Club’s Dog’s Best Friend Award. In 2018, Dr. Otto received the Bustad Companion Animal Veterinarian of the Year Award in recognition of her outstanding work in preserving and protecting the human-animal bond. Her work has resulted in over 60 published peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, as well as international speaking engagements.

The cornerstone of Dr. Otto’s AKC Canine Health Foundation funded research has been the 9/11 Medical Surveillance Study. Since 2001, Dr. Otto has received almost $600,000 in funding to study the physical and behavioral consequences of search and rescue dog deployment to the 9/11 disaster sites. To date, the work has produced 11 peer-reviewed publications describing the short and long-term effects of deployment on toxicology, behavior, mortality, the dog-handler relationship, and more. Data analysis is ongoing and the findings will help us protect not only the health and safety of search and rescue dogs, but provide valuable translational information benefitting the health of human handlers and first responders.