Episode Details
Back to EpisodesWhen Is Research Ready to Publish? A Veterinary Cardiologist on Genetics, Negative Results, and Peer Review
Description
A lot of researchers quietly struggle with the same question: when is a study truly ready to publish, and how do you write it so someone actually uses it? From the AVMA Convention 2026, we sit down live with Dr. Joshua Stern, a veterinary cardiologist and geneticist whose work bridges cardiovascular disease, genomics, and clinical impact.
We start with Joshua’s path into cardiology, sparked by working with “super athlete” animals like racehorses and sled dogs, then move into what he learned from publishing early in his career, including a genetic screening project in boxer dogs that came back completely negative. The twist: those results still mattered, and they taught him how to frame significance, define impact, and tell the truth clearly without overselling. We also talk about how to decide when to stop collecting “just one more” datapoint and instead share findings that can help patients, clinicians, and other researchers now.
From there, we get practical about scientific writing and peer review. We unpack how to distill complex datasets into an approachable manuscript, when to move tables and niche analyses into supplementary materials, and why a massive supplement can be a sign you’re trying to write two papers. Joshua also shares his go-to mindset for reviewing and responding to reviews, including the simple habit of reading critiques, walking away, and coming back with a clearer lens. We close with a research challenge he hopes the field tackles next: the optimal timing of medical or surgical intervention in dogs and cats as advanced therapies expand.
If you care about veterinary research, manuscript publishing, and clinician-scientist career skills, subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave us a review with your biggest peer review lesson.
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