Celebrating Dr. Cynthia Otto’s Contributions: Including Advancing Diagnostics for Ovarian Cancer

Dr. Cynthia Otto has done so much in her career. She is the recipient of the 2025 AVMA Career Achievement in Canine Research Award. The American Veterinary Medical Association press release below doesn’t offer details – but I do here – on Dr. Otto’s work to support early detection of ovarian cancer.

Following pet writer and broadcaster Darlene Arden’s long battle with Ovarian cancer, after her passing in 2017, she directed dollars being spent to train dogs at Dr. Otto’s University of Pennsylvania’s Working Dog Center to detect ovarian cancer. That research greatly proved successful as dogs were able to detect chemical markers, which may now lead to an early diagnostic blood test.

For most women ovarian cancer isn’t diagnosed until stage three or four, which makes the disease typically fatal. An earlier diagnosis would safe countless lives.

This research was funded by Arden and at that time the non-profit Ovarian Cancer Symptom Awareness.

If Dr. Otto’s work succeeds for ovarian cancer, the same technology – beginning with a dog’s nose – may be used to detect other cancers where early diagnosis is currently difficult.

As the press release below details Dr. Otto has done so much more, particularly since 2012, when she founded the Penn Vet Working Dog Center. The list of what she has taught dogs goes well beyond initial expectations, which was to support search and rescue dogs, which they have done. However, dogs there have also been trained to sniff out everything from COVID-19 to invasive lantern flies – that’s not to mention the cancer detection work.

Here’s the press release regarding Dr. Otto’s extensive contributions to veterinary medicine and human health:

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has named Dr. Cynthia Otto, DVM, PhD, professor of working dog sciences and sports medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) and founding executive director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, as the winner of the 2025 AVMA Career Achievement in Canine Research Award.

This award honors an AVMA member’s long-term contribution to the field of canine research. The AVMA Council on Research selects the recipient.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to receive this award,” said Dr. Otto. “Throughout my veterinary career, it has been a true privilege to advance canine knowledge and care—especially the extraordinary working dogs—to support their human partners, and to educate and inspire those whose lives are touched by these remarkable dogs.”

A dual board-certified specialist in veterinary emergency and critical care canine sports medicine and rehabilitation, Dr. Otto has authored or co-authored over 150 publications and received more than $6.9 million in research support. Her contributions span a wide range of canine-focused research areas, including scent detection, occupational hazards and working dog health and welfare.

Dr. Otto first came to national attention following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, when she deployed with FEMA’s Pennsylvania Task Force 1 to care for search-and-rescue dogs at Ground Zero. That experience inspired a two-decade-long research program to study the long-term health of these canine heroes, which continues to produce valuable scientific insights.

In 2012, Dr. Otto founded the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, a national model for interdisciplinary canine research, training, and education. The Center’s dogs are trained in life-saving roles, from urban search-and-rescue and narcotics detection to public health applications such as identifying diseases like cancer, COVID-19, and chronic wasting disease through scent detection. Of the nearly 200 dogs raised and trained through the center, 93% have gone on to successful working careers in detection and service.

Under Dr. Otto’s leadership, the Working Dog Center has become a world-renowned hub of canine science, advancing knowledge in exercise physiology, behavior, training, health monitoring, and One Health applications. She has also helped develop standards for detection dog training and care through her work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

From her first clinical trial for dogs with parvovirus to her current collaborative NIH-funded study examining a heparin-like molecule for treatment of canine septic peritonitis, she has been committed to changing the trajectory of care available to critically ill canine patients and translating these findings to advance human health care. Her commitment to a One Health approach was crucial to the development of the Veterinary Clinical Investigation Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

She has also passed along her passion for this approach to a multitude of veterinary students and residents, including formal mentorship of four veterinarians who completed their Master’s in Translational Research at Penn’s Medical School.

Her extraordinary impact has been recognized with numerous awards, including the AVMA Bustad Companion Animal Veterinarian of the Year Award (2018), the Asa Mays Excellence in Canine Health Research Award from the AKC Canine Health Foundation (2021) and the Kennel Club Charitable Trust’s International Canine Health Special Award (2024).

“Dr. Otto’s career reflects an extraordinary dedication to advancing the health, performance, and welfare of working dogs,” said Dr. Sandra Faeh, president of the AVMA. “Her pioneering research in canine scent detection, trauma care, and sports medicine has had a profound impact on veterinary medicine and public safety alike.”