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).

Dr Guillaumin is currently an Associate Professor in Emergency and Critical Care at Colorado State University. After graduating from the Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Nantes, France, Dr Guillaumin pursued a small animal rotating internship at the Ecole Nationale Veterinaire d’Alfort, France. After graduation, he worked in both private practice emergency settings and academia, serving as a clinical instructor in Emergency and Critical Care at the Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Lyon (now VetAgroSup). Dr Guillaumin continued his advanced training in Emergency and Critical Care by moving to the US in 2005, working as a clinical instructor at Cornell University and then completed his ACVECC residency at the University of California, Davis in 2009. For 10 years, Dr Guillaumin was a clinician, teacher and researcher as a clinical track Assistant, then Associate Professor at the Ohio State University. He also acted as the Blood Bank Director. In 2015, Dr Guillaumin was recognized as an invited diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care. In 2019, Dr Guillaumin took a tenure-track position at Colorado State University. His clinical and research interests include thrombosis and thrombolysis, hemostasis, blood banking, transfusion medicine, sepsis and septic shock. Dr Guillaumin is a former Chair of the ACVECC residency training committee and currently serves as a Chair of the Joint Committee which oversees the work of the 3 major ACVECC Committees as well as a member of the ECVECC Education Committee. Dr Guillaumin has trained over 150 interns and ECC residents and has over 200 invited lectures and scholarly publications.

DVM degree obtained in 1996 at the veterinary school from Venezuela. After a small animal anesthesia internship at Utrecht University, Netherlands; I did a neuroscience MSc at University of Andalucia (Spain) with strong emphasis in pain processing. Obtained a PhD from University of Bristol, UK working on CNS integration of pain, cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Veterinary anesthesia residency at UC Davis. Clinical fellow in anesthesia and critical care at UC Davis for one year. Anesthesia faculty at CSU for 18 years. Currently professor of anesthesia and service chief at CSU.