Academia is meant for teaching—I really like having students, residents, and interns," says Heyward. "I was also used to the pace and the flow, the camaraderie between services and within services, having other ophthalmologists to consult with, as well as easy access to all the different specialties.
Welcome Dr. Jennifer Heyward
Heyward joins the Ophthalmology service at FHSA and HLA
Bear eyes were the initial draw to ophthalmology for Dr. Jennifer Heyward (she/her). Previous research took her into the flight patterns of hawk moths and sparrows, and she considered wildlife medicine for a time, but studying the retinas of American black bears sold her on ophthalmology.
Heyward was appointed assistant clinical professor of comparative ophthalmology in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. She joins the Ophthalmology team at Henry and Lois Foster Hospital for Small Animals (FHSA) and Hospital for Large Animals (HLA).
While the bear retina research study inspired her specialty, Heyward knew from a young age that she wanted to be a veterinarian. Growing up in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, she volunteered throughout her childhood and teen years at an animal-assisted therapy program her mother started at a local hospital. She helped train and assess the dogs to work with children. In high school, she participated in mentorship programs at the Wildlife Center of Virginia and a veterinary hospital.
Heyward continued pursuing veterinary endeavors while earning her bachelor's degree at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, with a biology major and an anthropology minor. She interned with a veterinarian she had met through the animal therapy program and, during her junior year, began working at an emergency medicine specialty practice, staying on as a veterinary assistant through her veterinary school years. She followed her interest in wildlife medicine to Tanzania for a conservation study abroad program.
At UNC, Heyward also worked in a biology-physiology laboratory, researching animal behavior to inform drone development. For one project, she studied how much weight hawk moths could carry and the patterns they flew. She also tracked flight patterns of swallows maneuvering under highway bridges.
The spark for ophthalmology kindled during the summer after her first year of veterinary school at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, while she conducted research on the retinas of American black bears under a professor who became her mentor.
"I had been interested in the project because it was wildlife, and then I quickly realized that I really liked eyes," says Heyward. "I am fascinated with eyes, and you can do pretty much all species when you do eyes."
Heyward was the lead author of a paper published during her fourth year at NC State on cone subtype and distribution across bear retinas. Cones are light- and color-sensitive cells in the eyes, and the study showed that bears have two types of cones, similar to those of most other animal species, though unlike humans, who have three types. This was the first study to confirm that bear retinas have two cone types.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison was Heyward's next stop for her rotating internship, followed by residency in ophthalmology. She was awarded a fellowship at UW's McPherson Eye Research Institute during her first year of residency and concurrently earned her master's degree in comparative biomedical sciences. Her research mentor from NC State had moved to UW, so together they started a new project studying sudden acquired retinal degeneration syndrome (SARDS). This condition causes acute blindness in dogs.
"It is a poorly understood disease in dogs. It is a retinal blindness, but we don't really know what's causing it," she says.
Focusing on blood clot formation and breakdown as a possible systemic cause of SARS, Heyward is the lead author of two papers from this research: one published in Veterinary Pathology and the second accepted for publication in the American Journal of Veterinary Research.
After residency, Heyward debated whether to enter academia or private practice. A former UW resident-mate, Dr. Vanessa Yang, now an assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Cummings School, suggested she consider joining her on the Ophthalmology team at FHSA and HLA. Weighing her options, Heyward realized she wanted teaching to be an integral part of her work.
"Academia is meant for teaching—I really like having students, residents, and interns," says Heyward. "I was also used to the pace and the flow, the camaraderie between services and within services, having other ophthalmologists to consult with, as well as easy access to all the different specialties."
Since she started in October, Heyward has been treating patients at FHSA and HLA and training interns, residents, and fourth-year veterinary students. She will teach labs in the didactic curriculum and plans to conduct clinical research. After a few months off clinics to study for her ophthalmology board certification, she is happy to be treating patients again at Cummings School.
"It's been nice to get back into the swing, reusing those muscles. I love doing surgeries and getting back to teaching residents how to do them. I'm excited to round the students too. Why I like academia is that it's a little bit of everything, you don't do the same thing every day," she says.
Heyward is the third faculty member on the Ophthalmology team, along with Yang and Dr. Stephanie Pumphrey, V08, associate professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Cummings School and medical director of specialty services at FHSA.
On choosing the Ophthalmology service at Cummings School, Heyward says, "It was the perfect mix of really liking the hospital and the people. It was a nice-sized team. I'm fitting in to a well-established service, and there's also room to grow."
Department:
Dept. of Small Animal Clinical Sciences , Foster Hospital for Small Animals , Hospital for Large Animals