by Michael Stoskopf, DVM, PhD, DACZM

About His Story

"Even invertebrates deserve proper medical attention, but sometimes our knowledge is limited, and their special needs create challenges. Octopi are amazing and very intelligent animals. I wish we had more tools to help them when they are ill."

About the Author

Michael K. Stoskopf is a professor at North Carolina State University. He received his veterinary degree from Colorado State University, earned a Ph.D. in toxicology from Johns Hopkins University, and is a Diplomate in the American College of Zoological Medicine. In the course of his varied career, Dr. Stoskopf has run an unusual ambulatory practice in the mountains of Colorado, served as the veterinarian for the Overton Park Zoo in Memphis and the Baltimore Zoo, and taught on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He was the founding chief of medicine for the National Aquarium in Baltimore before taking on the challenges of teaching at a veterinary college. Married to Dr. Suzanne Kennedy-Stoskopf, also a professor at NCSU, he lives on a small farm outside Raleigh, where he and his wife devote much of their energy to providing the next generation of veterinarians the knowledge and the skills necessary to make the world a better place for wildlife, people, and their domestic animals.