(received via press release from Rutgers)
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ (January 27, 2008) – The Equine Science Center at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, has named Patricia Hogan, DVM, ACVS, as the 2008 winner of the Center’s “Spirit of the Horse” award.
The presentation was made at the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s Breeders Awards Dinner by Sandy Denarski of Johnson and Johnson, chair of the Rutgers University Board for Equine Advancement, the Center’s advisory board. Ms. Denarski was winner of the award in 2006.
The “Spirit of the Horse” award recognizes individuals whose lives have been profoundly changed because of their involvement with horses and who have acknowledged the impact by giving back to horses or the horse industry. Dr. Hogan, a native of New Jersey, is well known and highly respected in the horse industry for her skill as a veterinary surgeon and her dedication to the advancement of horses’ well being and the horse industry.
Widely publicized as the veterinarian responsible for saving Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones, Dr. Hogan heads her own veterinary surgery clinic, Hogan Equine, LLC, at Fair Winds Farm in Cream Ridge, NJ.
At the presentation, Ms. Denarski recalled the Smarty Jones event: “The very promising colt smashed his skull in a starting gate accident. The prognosis was very bad – worst case, euthanization and best case, loss of an eye. Smarty’s owners sent him to Patty Hogan, who upon examination, saw indications that the eye could be saved and the eye socket repaired. She saved Smarty’s eye – and possibly his life – and the horse went on to win the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and several other major stakes races.”
Dr. Hogan graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, and completed an internship at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, KY, followed by a surgical residency at Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. She is board-certified with the American College of Veterinary Surgeons.