September 10, 2025
Dr. Luis Gimenez-Lirola, associate professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), has been named the recipient of the 2025 Zoetis Award for Veterinary Research Excellence at CVM.
Gimenez-Lirola has over 20 years of experience in the field of infectious diseases. His background blended in the interface of academia-industry. His research activity is commitment to the highest standards in “science with practice” towards conducting original research to design, develop, and implement new in vitro pathogen-specific detection tools as well as the development of in vitro/ex vivo culture models to investigate the immunopathogenesis of viral diseases with particular emphasis on swine.
His research group is focused on the characterization of re/emerging animal (PEDV, PHEV, PDCoV, PHEV) and human (SARS-like CoVs, NL63, HEC, etc) coronaviruses. His applied research has been translated into over 90 peer-reviewed and 40 non-refereed articles, 524 proceedings, abstracts and oral presentations.
A 2022 recipient of the CVM Early Career Achievement in Research Award, Gimenez-Lirola was also a member of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory’s Public Health Testing Services Unit that received the CVM Team of the Year Award in 2021.
Gimenez-Lirola is a member of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, the National Swine Improvement Federation, the American Society for Virology, the American Society for Microbiology and the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians.