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Our 50th Year Anniversary

June 1st, 2022 was The National Veterinary Laboratory's 50th anniversary! Yes, 50 years, one-half century ago, we started the lab in Dr. Hardy's garage in New Jersey. To our knowledge, we are the oldest private veterinary diagnostic laboratory in the United States. We are a specialty lab testing for only "the 3 common cat pathogens." Read more >>>.

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The Staff of the National Veterinary Laboratory:

William D. Hardy, Jr., V.M.D.: Founder and Director

Dr. Hardy graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine in 1966. He interned at the Henry Bergh Memorial Hospital of the ASPCA in New York City in 1966-67 and joined the staff of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) at the end of 1967 where he remained for 24 years. He then became the Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at The Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center, Bronx, NY and was appointed Professor of Medicine at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in 1991. In 1972 Dr. Hardy established the National Veterinary Laboratory, Inc., a retrovirus and Bartonella veterinary specialty-testing laboratory, the oldest private veterinary laboratory in the country. He is presently a Consultant to the Infectious Disease Service at Memorial Hospital, MSKCC, and Adjunct Professor of Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

For the past 43 years Dr. Hardy has been studying feline and human retroviruses, the feline leukemia virus (FeLV), feline sarcoma viruses (FeSVs), the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and the human retroviruses HIV-1, HIV-2, HTLV-I and HTLV-II and Bartonella, the cat scratch disease bacteria.

In 1970 he developed the first test for the feline leukemia virus (FeLV), the immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) test for detection of FeLV infection in cats. In 1973 he and his colleagues, using the IFA test, discovered that FeLV is spread contagiously among cats. He then established the first commercial laboratory for FeLV testing, The National Veterinary Laboratory. In 1999 he developed the first practical test for detection of Bartonella infection in cats, the FeBart Test. Using this test he, and his colleagues, have defined numerous Bartonella-induced diseases of cats.

Dr. Hardy and Dr. Lloyd J. Old, a MSKCC physician, established the Donaldson-Atwood Cancer Clinic at the Animal Medical Center in NYC in 1975. Dr. Hardy was a Special Fellow and Scholar of the Leukemia Society of America and is a recipient of the 1978 Ralston Purina Small Animal Research Award, the American Animal Hospital Association's Award of Merit in 1979, the Centennial Medal from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine in 1984, was elected to the National Association of the Professions in 1987, received the Centennial Medal from the New York State Veterinary Medical Association in 1990 and was inducted as a member of the Spanish Royal Society of Veterinary Science.

Dr. Hardy has served on retrovirus and AIDS expert panels and ad hoc review committees: 1) Ad Hoc Member, Committee on Primate Research Centers, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 1988. 2) Ad Hoc Member, Committee for In Vivo Test Systems for Combined Chemotherapies Against HIV, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 1990. 3) Member, Expert Panel to the American Veterinary Medical Association on feline leukemia virus and feline immunodeficiency virus testing methods and feline leukemia virus vaccines, March, 1991. He was a member of the Editorial Board of Cancer Investigation for 15 years. Dr. Hardy is a member of numerous veterinary, scientific and environmental professional societies. He organized and established the Veterinary Cancer Society which now has over 400 members and the Society for Aquatic Veterinary Medicine and served as Alumni President for the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine during the school's centennial year. He has authored 255 scientific articles and abstracts and is co editor of a textbook on the Feline Leukemia Virus.

Evelyn E. Zuckerman, B.S.: Laboratory and Research Director

Ms. Zuckerman graduated from Finch College in New York City with a B.S. in Biology. For the past 34 years, Evelyn has been the Laboratory Manager and Technical Director of Dr. Hardy's laboratories at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), the Center for Infectious Diseases at The Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center, the Albert Einstein School of Medicine, Bronx, NY, and The National Veterinary Laboratory, Inc. She established the first feline FeLV-induced non-producer lymphoid cell line, isolated more than 150 FeLVs, one of which has been used in a current FeLV vaccine, isolated several FIVs, and 12 feline sarcoma viruses (FeSVs). One of these FeSVs contained the kit oncogene which has subsequently been shown to be a major gene that causes several animal and human cancers and also plays an important role in the physiology of many normal cells. There are now more than 6,475 scientific articles concerning the kit gene. Evelyn has performed many of the experiments that documented the cat's immune response to FeLV, the concepts which helped to enable the present FeLV vaccines. She worked with the human HIV-1 retrovirus in the early stages of the research. She developed the first routine HTLV-I retrovirus test for human blood donors, an IFA test, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 6 months before any licensed HTLV-I test was available. Recently, Evelyn has developed the very sensitive and specific western immunoblot test for detection of antibodies to Bartonella in cats, dogs and people and the comparative therapy titration test which enables determination of successful Bartonella therapy. She has coauthored 75 scientific articles and abstracts.

NVL Staff:

The National Veterinary Laboratory has an experienced and dedicated scientific and clerical staff. The staff has a combined 136 years of specialty veterinary testing experience (average 22 years per person). Each individual's experience is as follows: Valerie Sellen, A.S., Laboratory Supervisor 34 years, Susan Hardy, A.A., accounting and data entry 25 years, Mari Bertero, A.A., Senior Bartonella technician 23 years, Gloria Longo, Senior FIV and Bartonella technician 23 years, Marian O'Connor, B.S., data entry 4 years, Suzanne Kane, B.A., data entry 2 years, Christine Diekhaus, client supplies 3 years, and Mrs. Shipp, client communication 25 years (retired at 90 years of age—10 years ago).