Two tracks
To maximize someone’s professional development in the laboratory of clinical pathology, I would strongly recommend pursuing two tracks: a clinical track and a research track.
The clinical track should be fully immersed in small animal practice within the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, emphasizing hands-on case work and high-quality diagnostic interpretation. A particular focus should be placed on phenotype/hypothesis-driven retrospective and prospective studies, which can generate clinically meaningful data while remaining feasible within a busy diagnostic setting. In parallel, reporting rare or unusual cases with novel clinical relevance can contribute to the literature and strengthen diagnostic expertise.
The research track should fully focus on molecular studies, which at this stage primarily involve single-cell analyses of immune cells derived from spontaneously occurring canine cancers, as well as from human cancers and autoimmune diseases.
I want you to fully enjoy engaging in the professional practice of veterinary clinical pathology — from data reading and interpretation to research. My hope is that, as a graduate student, you will continue to build on your specialized knowledge through clinical work, while never losing your passion for research and consistently carrying it forward.
Clinical Track
You see, there are actually undergraduate students who have actively participated in clinical workups and have successfully published case studies.
Gu, Taeeun et al. "Effect of incubation temperature on anti-canine CD3 staining for canine T cell analysis" Under Review (Veterinary Clinical Pathology)
Kim, Yubin et al. "Negative correlation between serial changes in the reticulocyte number and C-reactive protein level in dogs with delayed reticulocytosis" Under Revision (Journal of Veterinary Medical Science)
Choi, Sungyoung et al. "Effectiveness of Darbepoetin and Iron Supplementation in Cats with Complex Chronic Diseases and Anemia: A Retrospective Study" Journal of Veterinary Clinics (2026): 43.2: 79-85 Click
Kim, Minji, et al. "A case of suspected ectopic parathyroid chief cell carcinoma in a cat." Journal of Veterinary Medical Science (2026): 25-0480. Click
Lee, Da-Hyeon, et al. "Cutaneous epitheliotropic lymphoma with marked nuclear pleomorphism in a dog." Journal of Veterinary Science 27.1 (2026). Click
Cho, Heesoo, et al. "Suspected Immune-Mediated Etiology of Acquired von Willebrand Syndrome in a Jindo Dog." Journal of veterinary clinics 42.6 (2025): 372-377. Click
Hong, Hyun Jeong, et al. "Post-chemotherapy intestinal fibrotic stricture in a cat with high-grade intestinal lymphoma a case report." Japanese Journal of Veterinary Research 73.1 (2025): 22-26. Click
Kwak, Do-Hyun, et al. "Hyperglycemia in Pet African Pygmy Hedgehogs (Atelerix albiventris): Prevalence, Clinical Characteristics, and Prognostic Indicators of Severe Hyperglycemia." Animals 15.10 (2025): 1455. Click
Jongjin Park, et al. "Positive rate of canine pancreatic lipase immunoreactivity (SNAP cPL) in relationship with severity of clinical signs and concurrent disorders: a retrospective study." Korean Journal of Veterinary Research, 64.3 (2024): e27. Click
Jung-Hyun Kim, et al. "A case of feline extramedullary plasma cell tumor with T cell infiltration" Korean Journal of Veterinary Research, 64.3 (2024):e25. Click
Yunhee Joung, et al. "A Case of Canine Colorectal Carcinoma In Situ with Regulatory T Cell Infiltration." Journal of Veterinary Clinics, 41.4 (2024): 207-214. Click
Siwon Jeong, et al. "A Case of Canine Mammary Comedocarcinoma with Regulatory T Cell Infiltration." Journal of Veterinary Clinics, 41.4 (2024): 215-222. Click
Cho, Hee-Seon, et al. "Intravenous injection of allogenic canine mesenchymal stem cells in 40 client-owned dogs: a safety assessment in veterinary clinical trials." BMC Veterinary Research 20.1 (2024): 375. Click
Jun-Hyuk Min, et al."A Rare Case of Canine Pericardial Malignant Mesothelioma: Clinicopathologic Findings, Diagnostic Investigations, and Clinical Course with Epirubicin Treatment." Journal of Veterinary Clinics, 41.3 (2024): 207-214. Click
Hong, Youngsoo, et al. "Surgical Resection and Polypropylene Mesh Reconstruction for Canine Chest Wall Soft Tissue Sarcoma." Journal of veterinary clinics 41.1 (2024): 24-29. Click
Lee, Jeong Ha, et al. "Suspected Caroli Syndrome in a dog and cat: a rare case report." Journal of veterinary clinics 41.4 (2024): 201-206. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "A case of visceral T cell lymphoma with prominent histiocyte infiltration in a dog." (2023): 387-392. Click
Ji, Sumin, et al. "Comparison of three types of analyzers for urine protein-to-creatinine ratios in dogs." Journal of Veterinary Science 22.1 (2021): e14. Click
Kim, Na-Yon, et al. "Evaluation of a human glycated hemoglobin test in canine diabetes mellitus." Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation 31.3 (2019): 408-414. Click
Ji, Sumin, et al. "Trauma-associated hyperglycemia after fall accident in three dogs." Journal of veterinary clinics 35.2 (2018): 67-69. Click
Lee, Hong-Seok, et al. "Evaluation of the correlation between gross lung score and microscopic diagnosis for swine pneumonia in Korean slaughterhouses." Korean Journal of Veterinary Research 57.4 (2018): 227-233. Click
Kim, Hang-Ah, et al. "Integrated analysis of microRNA and mRNA expressions in peripheral blood leukocytes of Warmblood horses before and after exercise." Journal of veterinary science 19.1 (2018): 99-106. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "Systemic infection of Mycobacterium avium subspecies hominissuis and fungus in a pet dog." Journal of Veterinary Medical Science 78.1 (2016): 157-160. Click
Lee, Seungwoo, et al. "Expression of microRNAs in horse plasma and their characteristic nucleotide composition." PloS one 11.1 (2016): e0146374. Click
Lee, Jeong Ha, et al. "Ectopic hepatoid gland adenomas in two dogs." Journal of veterinary clinics 32.1 (2015): 120-122. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "Metastatic lipid-rich mammary carcinoma in a dog." Korean Journal of Veterinary Research 54.4 (2014): 265-268. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "Identification and characterization of microRNAs in normal equine tissues by next generation sequencing." PloS one 9.4 (2014): e93662. Click
Lee, So-ra, et al. "Metastatic thyroid C-cell carcinoma in a beagle dog." Korean Journal of Veterinary Research 53.3 (2013): 189-192. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "Evaluation of a side population of canine lymphoma cells using Hoechst 33342 dye." Journal of veterinary science 14.4 (2013): 481-486. Click
Research Track
After finishing my PhD, I hesitated about starting a postdoc and wrote to Weizhou Zhang (my boss at UF), saying I wasn’t sure if I was qualified to be a researcher. He told me, “Smartness and diligence — you have both. Just do it.”
Now I realize that Weizhou himself truly embodies smartness. As for me, I may not be the smartest person, but I’ve learned that steady effort and genuine curiosity can take you a long way. So don’t worry if you feel uncertain — you’ll grow as you move forward.
Ogunmola, Temitope Mary, et al. "Senescent regulatory T cells retain potent suppressive function in clear cell renal cell carcinoma." Cancer Research 86.7_Supplement (2026): 7398-7398. Click
Shin, Jung-Hae, et al. "Ginsenoside Rs3 (G-Rs3) inhibits agonist-and oxLDL-mediated platelet activation and attenuates in vivo arterial thrombosis." Journal of Ginseng Research (2026): 101020. Click
Ogunmola, Temitope M., et al. "Updates on Clinical Trials and Molecular Characteristics of Locally Advanced and Oligometastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma." International Journal of Molecular Sciences 27.5 (2026): 2189. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "High-resolution single-cell RNA sequencing using canFam4 reveals novel immune subsets and checkpoint programs in healthy dogs." Frontiers in immunology 16 (2025): 1680437 Click
Maharjan, Chandra K., et al. "Dual Targeting of IKKβ and NR4A1 for AML Therapy." bioRxiv (2025): 2025-09. Click
Yoon, Jimin, et al. "Diminished SUV3 expression and its functional implications in the IFN-enriched monocyte subset of childhood Sjögren’s disease." Rheumatology 64.7 (2025): 4393-4403. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "Single-cell transcriptomics unveil profiles and interplay of immune subsets in rare autoimmune childhood Sjögren’s disease." Communications Biology 7.1 (2024): 481. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "Leveraging single-cell transcriptomic data to uncover immune suppressive cancer cell subsets in triple-negative canine breast cancers." Frontiers in Veterinary Science 11 (2024): 1434617. Click
Wang, Lei, et al. "PROTAC-mediated NR4A1 degradation as a novel strategy for cancer immunotherapy." Journal of Experimental Medicine 221.3 (2024): e20231519. Click
Zhou, Jing, et al. "Altered characteristics of regulatory T cells in target tissues of Sjögren’s syndrome in murine models." Molecular Immunology 174 (2024): 47-56. Click
Wang, Lei, et al. "Epithelial IL-2 is critical for NK cell-mediated cancer immunosurveillance in mammary glands." BioRxiv (2024): 2024-04. Click
Ryu, Min-Ok, et al. "Glucocorticoid-Dependent Retinal Degeneration and Vision Impairment in Mice Susceptible to Prenatal Stress-Induced Behavioral Abnormalities." Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology 45.1 (2024): 7. Click
Wang, Lei, et al. "Breast cancer stem cells: signaling pathways, cellular interactions, and therapeutic implications." Cancers 14.13 (2022): 3287. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "CD177 modulates the function and homeostasis of tumor-infiltrating regulatory T cells." Nature communications 12.1 (2021): 5764. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "Updates on immunotherapy and immune landscape in renal clear cell carcinoma." Cancers 13.22 (2021): 5856. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "Reduction in mitochondrial oxidative stress mediates hypoxia-induced resistance to cisplatin in human transitional cell carcinoma cells." Neoplasia 23.7 (2021): 653-662. Click
Maharjan, Chandra K., et al. "Natural and synthetic estrogens in chronic inflammation and breast cancer." Cancers 14.1 (2021): 206. Click
Hwang, Sung‐Hyun, et al. "Glucose starvation induces resistance to metformin through the elevation of mitochondrial multidrug resistance protein 1." Cancer science 110.4 (2019): 1256-1267. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "Hypoxia promotes acquisition of aggressive phenotypes in human malignant mesothelioma." BMC cancer 18.1 (2018): 819. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "A subset of microRNAs defining the side population of a human malignant mesothelioma cell line." Oncotarget 8.26 (2017): 42847. Click
Kim, N. Y., M. C. Kim, and Y. Kim. "Hypomethylation reduced the aggressive potential of human malignant mesothelioma cells." Cancer Gene Therapy 23.12 (2016): 425-432. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, et al. "An integrated analysis of the genome-wide profiles of DNA methylation and mRNA expression defining the side population of a human malignant mesothelioma cell line." Journal of Cancer 7.12 (2016): 1668. Click
Lee, Seungwoo, et al. "A novel biomarker of exercise-induced stress in horses." Korean Journal of Veterinary Research 55.4 (2015): 247-252. Click
Kim, H. A., et al. "Inhibition of hedgehog signaling reduces the side population in human malignant mesothelioma cell lines." Cancer gene therapy 22.8 (2015): 387-395. Click
Kim, Myung-Chul, Feng-Ji Cui, and Yongbaek Kim. "Hydrogen peroxide promotes epithelial to mesenchymal transition and stemness in human malignant mesothelioma cells." Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 14.6 (2013): 3625-3630. Click