Future vet has brush with fame

Kendall Stratton, AG ’04, never thought she’d be dodging news vans and teary-eyed fans when she took a job as a patient attendant at University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, in Kennett Square, Pa.

But, once Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro became a patient, the quiet country roads around the renowned animal hospital became filled with journalists and curiosity seekers.

Barbaro was taken to New Bolton with a shattered hind leg sustained at the start of the Preakness on May 20. Stratton’s job was to groom, water and feed him and the other horses in intensive care and neonatal intensive care. She also assisted the veterinarian nurses with routine medical procedures.

“Barbaro is a very good patient,” Stratton said as the horse continued his recovery in June. “He’s a little feisty, but all racehorses are going to be that way.”

Having a famous patient added excitement to her job, Stratton says, although caring for equine celebrities wasn’t the most meaningful aspect of her 17-month tenure at New Bolton.

“Working here really solidified my decision to go to vet school,” Stratton says. “It’s a pretty intensive environment. My first day of work was nerve-wracking. I stood back and observed when the first few emergency patients came in that day. But, it wasn’t long before I jumped in and started to assist. I discovered I really enjoyed the pace of an emergency facility.”

After graduating from UD in May 2004, Stratton entered a doctoral program in pharmacology, but she says she soon began to doubt her decision to pursue a career in veterinary pharmaceutical work. She contacted her undergraduate adviser, John Dohms, professor of animal and food sciences at UD, for guidance.

“Dr. Dohms wasn’t surprised by the way I felt,” Stratton says. “He told me that now I knew for sure that veterinary medicine was the right choice for me.”

By then, it was too late to apply for 2005 admission to vet school, so she began her stint at New Bolton to gain experience working with large animals. The fact that the center is a premier equine facility was the icing on the cake for Stratton, who was a member of UD’s Equestrian Team and has been riding since age 9.

Sadly, after Stratton left New Bolton at the end of June, Barbaro took a turn for the worse, developing serious problems in both hind legs.
Stratton will enter Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine this September.

—Margo McDonough, AS ’86, ’95M