Chest Wall Surgery & Reconstruction

Dr. Julius Liptak has a passion and commitment to surgical oncology. He developed this interest prior to and during his residency training in Australia. Dr. Liptak was then selected as Fellow in Surgical Oncology at the Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University, the best recognized and, at the time, the only training programs in the world for veterinary surgical oncologists.

Dr. Liptak is an internationally recognized surgical oncologist. He is the co-editor of the seminal veterinary oncology textbook, Withrow and MacEwen's Small Animal Clinical Oncology, with Drs. Vail and Thamm. With three colleagues, Dr. Liptak is also writing the first edition of A Color Atlas of Surgical Oncology for Dogs and Cats. He has over 100 publications in veterinary and human peer-reviewed journals and veterinary textbooks; and is either the first or supervising author on seminal papers on oncologic diseases such as hepatocellular carcinoma, retroperitoneal sarcomas, and chest wall tumors, and surgical procedures including chest wall resections and reconstructions in dogs, rectal pull-through surgery in dogs, ventral bulla osteotomies in cats, and maxillectomies in cats.

Dr. Liptak was the founding President of the Veterinary Society of Surgical Oncology. In 2010, he was awarded the Stephen J. Withrow Award for Advancing the Art and Science of Surgical Oncology. In 2012, Dr. Liptak became an ACVS Founding Fellow, Surgical Oncology - one of four in Canada and less than 100 in the world. In 2020, Dr. Liptak was accepted as an RCVS Specialist in Surgical Oncology, one of six in the world. In 2021, he became an ACVS Founding Fellow, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, one of only ten in the world. His main interests centre around maxillofacial surgery for oral tumors, chest wall resection and reconstruction for rib tumors, musculoskeletal oncology such as bone tumors and soft tissue sarcomas, and soft tissue tumors such as apocrine gland anal sac adenocarcinomas. Dr. Liptak is one of the pioneers in sentinel lymph node mapping and using patient-specific, customized 3D-printed titanium implants for oncologic reconstructions.

Dr. Liptak is committed to providing optimum care for animals with cancer and their owners, continuing to provide education to veterinary professionals to optimize the treatment of cancer in animals (follow Dr. Liptak on Facebook at Animal Cancer Surgery and Instagram at animalcancersurgeon), and improving the outcome for animals (and people) with cancer through education and research.

Dr. Eric Monnet graduated from veterinary school in Maisons Alfort, France in 1985.  He worked for four years in a Paris private practice performing small animal medicine and surgery.  In 1994, Dr. Monnet completed a small animal surgery residency at Colorado State University and concurrently finished a Master of Sciences degree.  In 1997, Dr. Monnet received his PhD in Clinical Sciences studying cardiac efficiency in dogs. In 2003, he became a fellow of the American Heart Association.  In 2017, he became a founding fellow the ACVS MIS Small Animal fellowship. Dr. Monnet is currently a professor in small animal surgery (General Surgery at Colorado State University.  He has authored more than 100 articles and 25 chapters in various surgical textbooks.  Dr. Monnet was the founding president in 2001-2003 of the Society for Veterinary Soft Tissue Surgery and in 2002-2004 of the Veterinary Endoscopy Society.  He is the editor of the textbook: “Disease Mechanisms in Small Animal Surgery” (3^rd edition).  He is also the editor of the textbook “Small Animal Soft Tissue Surgery” (1^st edition), the textbook “Small Animal Thoracic Surgery” (2nd edition), and the textbook “Gastrointestinal Surgical Techniques” (1st edition).