Adronie Verbrugghe

Royal Canin Veterinary Diets Endowed Chair in Canine and Feline Clinical Nutrition | Graduate Coordinator | Associate Professor

DVM, PhD, Dip ECVCN

averbrug@uoguelph.ca
Office: CS 2148
519-824-4120 Ext. 54034
Personal Website
@OVCPetNutrition
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Profile

Dr. Adronie Verbrugghe graduated as a companion animal veterinarian (DVM) from Ghent University, Belgium in 2005. She completed her PhD focusing on nutritional modulation of carbohydrate metabolism in cats in 2009 and stayed at the same university for two additional years as a postdoctoral fellow. She became board certified for the European College of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition in 2010.

In 2011, Verbrugghe joined the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC), University of Guelph, as Royal Canin Veterinary Diets Endowed Chair in Canine and Feline Clinical Nutrition. Her academic responsibilities at OVC include development and delivery of the small animal clinical nutrition curriculum for the DVM program. She also works as a clinical nutritionist for the OVC Health Science Centre's Clinical Nutrition Service.

Research Interests

Companion animal nutrition
Link between nutrition, gut microbiota, health and disease
Alteration of metabolic pathways through nutrition
Nutritional modulation of inflammation and immunity
Nutrition perceptions and communication

As one of the few board-certified veterinary nutritionists active in academia in Canada, Verbrugghe provides a research program in companion animal nutrition that is unique in Canada. The internationally recognized OVC Pet Nutrition research program focuses on how advances in nutrition and feeding management can optimize the life of pets. This is achieved through basic, applied and clinical nutrition research, including animal trials and survey research. Verbrugghe's current research focuses on pet obesity, gastro-intestinal health and alternative diets.

Verbrugghe holds research funding through the Canadian and Ontario government, charitable organizations, and from pet food industry and ingredient suppliers. In 2019, she received a U of G Research Excellence Award in recognition of her achievements in canine and feline nutrition research.

Graduate Student Information

Dr. Verbrugghe supervises a number of graduate students. Students work and learn in a collaborative and interdisciplinary training environment, partnering with a wide range of academic collaborators in various disciplines and interacting with pet food industry, ingredient suppliers and commodity groups.

Verbrugghe and her OVC Pet Nutrition Team provide hands-on, approachable, respectful and supportive mentorship in an inclusive and diverse environment, generating new research ideas and supporting knowledge translation. Verbrugghe teaches by example and is passionate and enthusiastic about the field of veterinary nutrition. She models curiosity, intellectual rigor, respect and professionalism. Students are encouraged to gain independence and grow and develop as fledging researchers. As a supervisor, Verbrugghe aims to see that all students obtain a high-quality learning experience that progressively develops not only their mastery of knowledge and technical skills, but also their ability to integrate knowledge, develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills and foster creativity and innovation.

Verbrugghe currently supervises graduate students for the following programs: