Welcome Dr. Viktoria Granacka

From her first ride at age seven to a professional life in veterinary medicine, Dr. Viktoria Granacka’s dedication to horses has been unwavering. The Internal Medicine service at Hospital for Large Animals (HLA) welcomes Granacka as an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Clinical Sciences at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.

Granacka grew up in Poland and earned her D.V.M. from Warsaw University of Life Sciences. As she progressed through the program, she sought out additional clinical practice to advance her hands-on skills, completing several equine-focused externships in Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, England, and Canada.

“That was one of the highlights of my time in vet school,” she says. “I learned from those externships that there are many good ways to do medicine, many different opinions on how things should be done, and many ways to accomplish the same goal, which is to treat our patients successfully. Seeing that there are different treatment options, different diagnostics, even different approaches to the patient, that was absolutely fantastic, and I highly recommend it for any student to do that.”

Upon completing her degree, Granacka began a rotating internship at a private practice in Poland, which later turned into a full-time clinician position. She mainly treated hospitalized horses, tended to horse patients in the field, and administered anesthesia during surgeries. “That gave me a lot of exposure, because there we did absolutely everything—surgery, theriogenology, sports medicine, and ambulatory work,” she says.

Following two years as a clinician in Poland, Granacka moved to Belgium for an internship in internal medicine at a private practice, where she developed an interest in neonatology.

“Belgium produces some of the best sport horses in the world, so we saw many high-value, sick neonates,” she says. “We were very busy during the foaling season. That was exciting. You don't sleep much. I don't think we get closer to human medicine than when we do with neonatology, getting those very sick foals and almost bringing them back to life.”

Granacka also continued to handle anesthesia during surgeries, including her first neonatal anesthesia for a foal just 24 hours old, which had a strangulation lesion and required significant surgery. She had previously anesthetized adult horses for routine surgeries, but had never anesthetized a foal in an emergency.

“The cases I remember really well are some of the more successful and challenging cases that I anesthetized,” she says. “The anesthesia machine was not fully adjusted to anesthetizing foals because it was meant for adult horses. So it was a little bit of the wild west, but the foal recovered fully after anesthesia and went home. I still receive updates from the owner.”

Seeking further expertise, after completing her internship in Belgium, Granacka came to the United States for her residency in equine internal medicine at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

“There are great benefits when it comes to academia. You're surrounded by so many people with different specialties, there's always somebody to ask for advice,” she says of the change from private practice.

While at KSU, Granacka researched respiratory diseases in horses, focusing on monitoring oxygenation levels in conscious horses at high risk of hypoxemia, and continues this research today. She delivered lectures to veterinary students about foals and neurologic diseases and taught students on equine rotation in clinics.

Granacka comments on teaching students for the first time at KSU, “Horses are large, sometimes scary animals, so not many people feel comfortable around them if they don't have an equine background. It's always a challenge, but it feels even more satisfying if somebody who is small animal-focused tells you at the end of the rotation that they thoroughly enjoyed it, feel comfortable around horses, and learned a lot. So those cases are really nice, challenging but very satisfying.”

During her time at KSU, Granacka found emergency care also appealed to her. “A horse showing up in an emergency is my favorite type to work with,” she says.

After completing her residency, Granacka knew she wanted to pursue academia and a fast-paced environment.

“The clinic here is very busy,” she says of HLA. “There are many scheduled appointments, there are many emergencies, so that was big for me. I do like the fact that the hospital here is not only equine but also large-animal. For most of my career, I have focused on working with horses, so that’s an extra layer of challenge for me, which I am very happy about.”

Granacka started up at HLA in July. Her primary focus is treating patients in the emergency room after hours. She will deliver equine lectures in the veterinary curriculum and, for students preparing for accreditation exams, will teach equine neurologic diseases. She will also teach first-year Clinical Skills labs. She plans to continue her research into neurologic diseases in horses and eventually start up a new line of research at Cummings School.

On joining HLA, she says, “I like that the team here is so diverse, and there are many people with different backgrounds and specialties. I do like that the team at Tufts [Cummings School] is international as well, especially on our medicine team. It always feels nice if you're a foreigner in a country where you surround yourself with people of different nationalities.”

Getting to know her new home, Granacka recently visited Boston for the first time. “I absolutely loved it, the food is amazing. I'm very much an outdoor person, and this is a beautiful place to explore. I'm very happy to move to New England and start my life here in this part of the United States.”

Granacka says of her first few months on the job, “People are extremely helpful and friendly. Our group of residents is amazing. The really nice part of this team at Tufts [Cummings School] is that they have very good technical staff. There are many technicians, and so many people willing and excited to help. My team is absolutely fantastic.”