Ever since high school, Tracy Gieger has guided her career with the same speed, focus and precision her linear accelerator employs to attack its target in cancer patients.
When the LSU junior entered the vet school’s combined, six-year undergraduate/doctor of veterinary medicine program in 1992, there were no cancer specialists to educate students or to provide high-tech treatment to pets.
Gieger’s first exposure to the discipline came during her out-of-state internship. “I found it very interesting from a scientific point of view because a lot of the treatment parallels human oncology,” she says. Not only did Gieger become intrigued with the cancer care, she became an expert—board-certified in internal medicine, medical and radiation oncology.
Nationally, Gieger says 25% of dogs and 33% of cats die of cancer. Of those pets treated, 25% receive radiation therapy. “Cancer in animals is a treatable disease, and we use the same types of treatments—radiation, chemotherapy and surgery—as in humans,” she says.
After training in New York, Georgia and California, Gieger returned to Louisiana last spring to serve as her alma mater’s service chief of medical and radiation oncology. Since the services of the nation’s 68 veterinary radiation oncologists and 170 medical oncologists are highly prized, Gieger’s decision to come to Baton Rouge stunned some of her colleagues. However, Gieger’s motivation was simple. “Baton Rouge is like home, and it’s close to my parents,” she says.
The St. Charles Parish native is now one of two veterinary radiation oncologists and one of three medical oncologists in the entire state. Besides coordinating the treatment of 300 pets and providing constant communication to their owners, Gieger teaches students, conducts research and assists with the spaying and neutering of feral cats during LSU Spay Days.
While the demand to provide high-quality, state-of-the-art cancer treatment for pets is growing, the cure rate remains at 20%. So, Gieger says, “The most important thing we do is give the best quality of life for as long as is possible. [For that reason,] most people who treat their pets for cancer are happy with their decision.”
Age: 36
What is the one thing Baton Rouge can do to help attract and retain highly educated young people?
“I think the hardest part is to get people to consider [coming to Louisiana]. Once they see it, they realize there’s more diversity to offer. People ask, ‘What is there to do in Baton Rouge?’ Besides the big thing—sports—we need something downtown, a more solid art museum and different types of music.”
Click here for the complete list of 2008's Forty Under 40 winners.
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