The Washington State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital will welcome two new faculty members to their equine medicine team in the coming months and will say farewell to an experienced and well-respected member of their team.
Dr. Sandra Diaz Yucupicio will join the equine medicine team in September.
Originally from Mexico City, Diaz Yucupicio earned her veterinary degree at Universidad del Valle de Mexico before completing equine internships in Kansas and California, followed by a large animal internal medicine residency at University of Illinois, where she also earned a master’s degree. Her special interests are neonatology, gastrointestinal disease, and respiratory disease.
Dr. Ali Botting will begin his clinical faculty position at WSU in January.
He completed his veterinary education at Bristol Veterinary School in his home country of England. After graduating in 2014, he moved to Florida for an equine medicine and surgery internship. He has since gained diverse experience working with various equine disciplines ranging from racehorses to polo ponies to backyard pets in England and across the United States, including California, Florida, and Louisiana. In 2023, Ali completed an equine internal medicine residency at Louisiana State University, where he continued as a clinical instructor and the primary equine ambulatory veterinarian.
These two talented new faculty members will be joining Drs. Debra Sellon and Erin Pinnell on the existing equine medicine service. Sellon and Pinnell have been at WSU for 27 years and a year, respectively. Together, this team of four equine internists is privileged to provide clinical service for horses in the Pacific Northwest and clinical education for professional veterinary students at WSU. The WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital’s Equine Service offers comprehensive primary, emergency, surgical, and reproductive care for horses, backed by an experienced team of board-certified veterinarians and state-of-the-art facilities.
Dr. Macarena Sanz, who has served as a faculty equine medicine clinician at WSU since 2015, will be departing in January of 2025 to pursue new professional opportunities. Sanz has been a passionate and effective advocate for the equine and agricultural animal services in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and has played an integral role in expanding technical and house officer support for the large animal services.