Veterinarian Overview
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.