Keene, Bruce W.
Bruce W. Keene, DVM, MS
2009 Distinguished Alumni Awardee
Dr. Bruce Keene, an accomplished and internationally recognized veterinary cardiologist, graduated from our College with his DVM in 1979. He also completed an internship at the New York Animal Medical Center and a residency in Cardiology at OSU. After leaving Ohio State Dr. Keene served on the faculties of the University of Zurich and the University of Wisconsin. He became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Specialty of Cardiology in 1983. In 1989 he joined the faculty of North Carolina State University as an assistant professor, progressing to the position of professor in 2002. He has been the Chief of Cardiology and a Distinguished Professor at North Carolina State University for the past 10 years.
Dr. Keene is an accomplished and talented educator, who not only teaches the cardiology curriculum, but also basic cardiac physiology to veterinary students. He has trained hundreds of veterinarians over the years, who are well-grounded in cardiology with an exceptional understanding of how the heart works from the cellular mechanisms to the whole animal. He is one of the first and certainly one of the most persistent advocates of the practice of evidence based medicine in veterinary education, having developed and taught the first university course in evidence based medicine in veterinary medicine. He is now considered one of the world's experts in veterinary clinical trial design.
In 1985-1990 while a junior faculty member at the University of Wisconsin, he adapted (from humans) and described a technique for safely obtaining endomyocardial biopsy specimens in dogs and used that technique to discover the link between myocardial carnitine deficiency and dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs. He went on to elucidate the importance of dietary carnitine supplementation in dogs to maintaining normal plasma and myocardial carnitine concentrations in that species-a discovery that is protected by both U.S. and international patents.
Dr. Keene is a highly sought after speaker and provides continuing educational seminars to a variety of professional audiences all over the world while also serving on research advisory councils for companion animal oriented research foundations and editorial boards. He has proven himself to be a stellar citizen at the local, national, and international levels.
