Jody Gookin PhD

Bio

 

Dr. Gookin is internationally recognized for her expertise in clinical, basic, and translational gastroenterology. Dr. Gookin and her colleagues are credited with identification of Tritrichomonas foetus as a previously unrecognized global cause of diarrhea in domestic cats and have dedicated over 20 years of research effort into establishing the pathogenicity, means for diagnosis, worldwide significance, and an effective treatment for this infection.

Dr. Gookin received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of California at Davis and a PhD in Gastrointestinal Physiology at North Carolina State University. She completed the Small Animal Internal Medicine Clinician Scientist training program at North Carolina State University where she became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. Dr. Gookin is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences and Chancellor’s University Faculty Scholar at North Carolina State University where her efforts are devoted to research, clinical service and teaching.

Dr. Gookin’s clinical interests include small animal gastroenterology with a special emphasis on feline gastroenterology and canine biliary disease. In addition to her extramurally funded research efforts in both clinical and basic gastroenterology, Dr. Gookin is a passionate advocate for mentorship of the next generation of veterinarian clinician-scientists and serves as Co-director of the NCSU Veterinary Scholars Program, on the Executive Committee of the NIH/NCSU T35 Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Training Program, and as training faculty for the NIH/NCSU T32 Comparative Medicine and Translational Research Training Program.

AFFILIATIONS

Comparative Medicine Institute
North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute
NIH UNC/NCSU Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease
American Gastroenterological Association
American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine
Comparative Gastroenterology Society
American Physiological Society
American Society for Microbiology
North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association
Phi Zeta Veterinary Professional Honor Society

CERTIFICATIONS

Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine

Area(s) of Expertise

BIOLOGICAL BARRIERS, GASTROENTEROLOGY, GLOBAL HEALTH, INFECTIOUS DISEASES, SPONTANEOUS ANIMAL DISEASE MODELS

The research focus of the Gookin Laboratory is to understand how intestinal and gallbladder epithelium arbitrate host defense with an emphasis on minimally-invasive pathogens of comparative relevance to humans and food/companion animals. The laboratory is currently engaged in research on 3 of the most prevalent pathogenic causes of diarrhea in the developing world and veterinary medicine including Cryptosporidium parvum, enteropathogenic E. coli, and Tritrichomonas foetus/blagburni infection. For the past 7 years the laboratory has ardently focused on understanding the pathogenesis of a newly emergent, prevalent, and deadly dysfunction of the gallbladder epithelium of dogs referred to as mucocele formation.

Our approaches range from cell culture based to ex vivo to experimentally and naturally-occurring models of enteric infection.

Publications

• Gallbladder Mucocele , VETERINARY CLINICS OF NORTH AMERICA-SMALL ANIMAL PRACTICE (2025)
• Acquired dysfunction of CFTR underlies cystic fibrosis-like disease of the canine gallbladder , American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology (2024)
• Auranofin is lethal against feline Tritrichomonas foetus in vitro but ineffective in cats with naturally occurring infection , VETERINARY PARASITOLOGY (2024)
• Increased lipogenesis and lipidosis of gallbladder epithelium in dogs with gallbladder mucocele formation , PLOS ONE (2024)
• Gallbladder microbiota in healthy dogs and dogs with mucocele formation , PLOS ONE (2023)
• Histologic characterization of the major duodenal papilla and association with concurrent biliary, pancreatic, and intestinal pathology in cats , VETERINARY PATHOLOGY (2023)
• Microbiome analysis of bile from apparently healthy cats and cats with suspected hepatobiliary disease , JOURNAL OF VETERINARY INTERNAL MEDICINE (2023)
• Randomized placebo-controlled trial of feline-origin Enterococcus hirae probiotic effects on preventative health and fecal microbiota composition of fostered shelter kittens , FRONTIERS IN VETERINARY SCIENCE (2022)
• Dysbiosis of fecal microbiota in cats with naturally occurring and experimentally induced Tritrichomonas foetus infection , PLOS ONE (2021)
• Proteinuria in dogs with gallbladder mucocele formation: A retrospective case control study , Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine (2021)

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