Patricia Provost – VMD, MS, DACVS
Whether it is through the development of future veterinarians, treating the sick or lame horses and other large animals, or performing research for the advancement of veterinary care, Dr. Patricia Provost enjoys being on the faculty at Tufts because of the opportunity it gives her to make a difference in the lives of animals. In addition to her clinical duties, Dr. Provost also lectures on a wide variety of surgical topics in horses, cattle, camelids, and small ruminants, and directs the third-year didactic courses in large animal medicine and surgery.
Prior to joining the faculty at Cummings, Dr. Provost spent a brief time first in private general equine practice and then at a thoroughbred racetrack. She left private practice to join Tufts to work with some of the finest horses in the country doing treadmill lameness and respiratory evaluations.
Dr. Provost's areas of clinical expertise and interests include musculoskeletal disorders in foals, uncommon lameness, neoplasia, and gastrointestinal surgery. Her area of research expertise includes wound healing, use of growth factors for soft tissue, ligament and corneal wound healing, skin tumors, and back disease. Her current research effort is directed at treatment of Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, in horses. She continues to dedicate much of her time to the improvement of healing in equine animals because it is an important component to all types of surgery. Dr. Provost is the author of several textbooks.
Dr. Provost had ambitions to become a veterinarian since she was a child growing up in rural Pennsylvania, and her parents' involvement with the equine industry influenced her decision to specialize in horses.
She currently lives with her 19 horses, which range in age from geriatric to weanling and include mares, geldings, and a breeding stallion. Most are standardbreds who have, do, or will race. The non-standardbred breeds include a Dutch warmblood mare that she is currently riding, a Rheinland Pfalz-saar yearling colt, and a 27-year-old quarter horse gelding named Tommy Two-Tone out of the mare she received for her sixth birthday. She also has four cats named Lucy Liu, Piper, Indy, and (double-pawed) Perkins.
Dr. Provost's academic and research interests can be found on her