Dr. Lisa Cox has been involved with the Barker Veterinary Museum and the OVC since 2010. She holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in History from the University of Guelph and a B.A. (Honours) in History and Environment & Resource Studies from Trent University. She was first hired in 2010 to contribute to a variety of heritage projects at the OVC ahead of the college’s 150th anniversary in 2012. During the course of those projects, which included the publication, with Dr. Peter Conlon, of Milestones: 150 Years of the Ontario Veterinary College, she was introduced to the BVM collections and began working with them. She was named its full-time curator in 2016.
Dr. Cox’s scholarly research focuses on the history of zoonotic disease management in Canada and the United States and she is currently working on a project examining the history of clinical veterinary medicine in Montreal. Dr. Cox is passionate about building and promoting the Barker Veterinary Museum and has led the redevelopment of the museum’s collections. Additionally, she has taken in several new collections since becoming its curator. In addition to serving as curator of the Barker Veterinary Museum, she also manages the Macdonald Institute Collection at the University of Guelph and is involved in a number of other heritage projects at the university, including historical walking tours of campus and campus historical plaque installations. She serves as an occasional instructor in the College of Arts, teaching experiential learning courses using campus artifact collections for undergraduate and graduate students. She is also involved in numerous other outreach initiatives for the university, including Doors Open and the University of Guelph’s presence at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.