Dr Rosanne Jepson

BVSc MVetMed PhD DipACVIM DipECVIM PGCertVetEd FHEA MRCVS
Professor in Small Internal Medicine & Nephrology

Department: Clinical Science and Services

Research Groups: Cardiovascular and Renal Biology, CPCS (Research Programme)

Clinical Groups: Small Animal Internal Medicine

Rosanne is Professor of Small Animal Internal Medicine and Nephrology, recognised RCVS, ACVIM, ECVIM Specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine and a founding member of the American Colllege of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology. Her particular areas of interest include canine and feline nephrology and urology and systemic hypertension. She is a member of the RVC GFR Service, co-director of the QMHA renal replacement unit and is one of two clinicians offering minimally invasive urological procedures including laser lithotripsy and laser ablation of ectopic ureters at the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (QMHA). She has an active research profile in feline and canine renal disease and hypertension with an extensive publication record both in peer reviewed journals and as author of numerous text book chapters. As well as lecturing both nationally and internationally, Rosanne is involved in both undergraduate and postgraduate (Royal Veterinary College CertAVP Medicine Module leader and ACVIM/ECVIM residency training) level education. She is also Head of the Infection Protection and Control Committee at the QMHA.

Rosanne graduated from the University of Bristol in 2003 completing a rotating small animal internship at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC). After a period in small animal practice she returned to the RVC to undertake a PhD entitled 'Proteinuria and the kidney' evaluating the role of both proteinuria and hypertension in cats with chronic kidney disease. During and after her PhD Rosanne worked as an Honorary Research Assistant at the BIOMICS Centre, St George’s Hospital, London. In 2012 Rosanne was awarded the International Renal Interest Society (IRIS) Prize for her work evaluating feline chronic kidney disease.

Rosanne completed a Senior Clinical Training Scholarship in Small Animal Internal Medicine at the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (QMHA) in 2011 becoming an ACVIM, ECVIM and RCVS Specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine. She has remained at the RVC as a Lecturer and subsequently Senior Lecturer dividing her time between research, clinical activities and teaching. She is currently strand leader for the Urogenital Strand teaching of the BVetMed years 1-4.

Rosanne continues to be a frequently invited speaker at national and international conferences (ACVIM, ECVIM, IRIS Renal Week, ISFM) at both practitioner and specialist level. She has authored over 20 peer reviewed publications and text-book chapters and is part of the editorial board for JFMS. She has been a member of the ACVIM and ISFM hypertension consensus panels (2017) and is currently president of the European Society of Nephrology and Urology.

Aside from her interest in nephrology and urology, Rosanne is also Head of the QMHA Infection Protection and Control Committee and QMHA representation on the RVC Biosecurity and Infection Control Group. She has worked closely with all departments in the QMHA to develop guidelines for judicious antimicrobial use in the specialist environment and continues to have a particular interest in this area in relation to urinary tract infections.

Rosanne’s research interests have focused on feline hypertension and chronic kidney disease (CKD). She was awarded the International Renal Interest Society (IRIS) award in 2012 for the work she completed during her PhD evaluating the early development of CKD in cats and the effects of systemic hypertension on this condition and the BSAVA Blaine Award for her contributions to Small Animal Nephrology and Urology in 2021.

Rosanne works within the Kidney Special Interest Group www.rvc.ac.uk/Research/Programmes/Comparative-physiology-and-medicine/RenalBiology.cfm. Much of her research to date has been performed through senior cat clinics which have been established as a resource for the investigation of common conditions affecting the aging cat at the Beaumont Sainsbury's Animal Hospital in Camden.  www.rvc.ac.uk/BAH/Services.cfm 

Rosanne currently co-supervises two post-doctoral students working in the field of feline chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder, oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction in feline CKD. Rosanne supervises numerous undergraduate and post-graduate research projects both in the fields of nephrology and urology and infection control. Rosanne has strong collaborative links with researchers at other institutions and in parallel groups at the RVC including current and on-going work investigating Cutaneous Renal Glomerular Vasculopathy (CRGV), platelet function in acute kidney injury and outcome after minimally invasive urological procedures.

  • Sargent, H J; Jepson, R E; Chang, Y-M; Biourge, V C; Bijsmans, E S; Elliott, J.
    Fibroblast growth factor 23 and symmetric dimethylarginine concentrations in geriatric cats.
    Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 2019
  • Acierno M, Brown S, Erickson A, Jepson RE, Stepien R, Syme HM ACVIM Hypertension Consensus Statement Submitted J Vet Intern Med Aug 2018
  • Jepson RE, Cardwell J, Cortellini S, Holm LP, Walker DJ Cutaneous Renal Glomerular Vasculopathy: What do we know to date? Submitted Veterinary Clinics of North America Sept 2018
  • Stevens KB, Jepson RE, Holm LP, Walker DJ, Cardwell JM Spatiotemporal patterns and agroecological risk factors for cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (Alabama Rot) in dogs in the UK Vet Rec 2018 pii: vetrec-2018-104892 doi: 10.1136/vr. 104892 [Epub ahead of print]
  • Skulberg R, Cortellini S, Chan DL, Stanzani G, Jepson RE Description of the use of plasma exchange in dogs with cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy Front Vet Sci 2018 5; 161 doi: 10.3389/fvets.2018.00161 eCollection 2018
  • Stevens KB, O’Neill D, Jepson RE, Holm LP, Walker DJ, Cardwell JM. Signalment risk factors for cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (Alabama Rot) in dogs in the UK Vet Rec 2018 doi: 10.1136/vr. 104891 [Epub ahead of print]
  • Van den Broek DHN, Chang YM, Elliott J, Jepson RE. Prognostic importance of plasma total magnesium in a cohort of cats with azotemic chronic kidney disease J Vet Intern med 2018 32 (4) 1359-1371 doi: 10.1111/jvim. 15141
  • Cole L, Jepson RE, Humm K. Systemic hypertension in cats with acute kidney injury J Small Anim Pract 2017 58 (10): 577-581. doi: 10.1111/jsap.12726.
  • Bijsmans ES, Jepson RE, Wheeler C, Syme HM, Elliott J. Plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, vascular endothelial growth factor, and cardiac troponin I as novel biomarkers of hypertensive disease and target organ damage in cats. J Vet Intern Med. 2017 31(3):650-660. doi: 10.1111/jvim.14655.
  • Taylor S, Sparkes A, Briscoe K, Carter J, Cerventes-Sala S, Jepson RE, Reynolds BS, Scansen BA, ISFM Consensus guidelines on the diagnosis and management of hypertension in cats J Feline Med Surg 2017 19 (3): 288-303 doi: 10.1177/1088612Z17693500
  • van den BroekDHN, ChangY-M, ElliottJ and Jepson RE,Chronic Kidney Disease in Cats and the Risk of Total Hypercalcemia; J Vet Intern Med. 2017 Feb 12. doi: 10.1111/jvim.14643. [Epub ahead of print]

Rosanne is a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority. At the RVC she is responsible for the supervision and education of undergraduate and post-graduate (residents) students during clinical rotations through Internal Medicine and didactic teaching of final year BVetMed during post-rotational tracking. She is module leader for the RVC internal medicine components of the Certificate of Advanced Veterinary Practice (CertAVP). Rosanne has experience of integration of urinary teaching within a veterinary curriculum has lectured extensively at both general practitioner and specialist level at national and international conferences.

Rosanne’s clinical interests encompass all aspects of small animal medicine www.rvc.ac.uk/small-animal-referrals/internal-medicine but she has particular interest in feline medicine and canine and feline nephrology and urology. She has particular interest in both chronic and acute kidney injury, glomerular disease, lower urinary tract disease and urinary incontinence in both dogs and cats. She is a co-director of the extracorporeal therapies team at the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals (QMHA) providing advanced dialysis support for patients with acute kidney injury and plasmapheresis for patients with conditions such as immune mediated haemolytic anaemia, myasthenia gravis and more recently as a novel therapy for cutaneous renal glomerular vasculopathy (CRGV)  www.rvc.ac.uk/small-animal-referrals/advanced-techniques-and-specialist-procedures/continuous-renal-replacement-therapy She is also involved in the provision of newly emerging diagnostic and minimally invasive procedures for the management of urological conditions incuding laser lithotripsy for urinary tract stones and correction of ectopic ureters with laser ablation. www.rvc.ac.uk/small-animal-referrals/advanced-techniques-and-specialist-procedures/laser-lithotripsy 

  • Feline Chronic Kidney Disease Research

    Kidneys filter the blood and produce urine and so problems with kidney function can result in a variety of health problems for a cat. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is the persistent loss of kidney function over a period of time. CKD is the most common kidney disease affecting cats as they get older. The RVC’s Geriatric Cat Clinic was established in 1992 with the aim of researching the common conditions of older cats and to help with the care and medical management of the cats that attend the clinic.

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