Dr. Mokres is an equine veterinarian whose involvement with horses began when she was 10 years old. By age 13, she had saved up to buy her own horse. Since that time, she has made both medicine and horses a lifetime pursuit.
Dr. Mokres attended the University of California San Diego, where she rode for the UCSD Equestrian Team. She graduated in 1999 with a BS in Physiology and Neuroscience. She then attended Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and graduated cum laude in 2003 with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and membership, still current, in Phi Zeta, the veterinary honor society. During vet school, Dr. Mokres trained and conditioned green horses.
In 2004, Dr Mokres completed an internship in equine medicine
and surgery at Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center in Los Olivos, CA, followed
by a yearlong position as lead intern at Peninsula Equine Medical and Surgical
Group Practice in Menlo Park, CA.
During her first year of internship, Lucia found her current horse, Smoothie,
a retired Grand Prix jumper.
Dr. Mokres' equine patients have provided continual lessons in nonverbal communication. Equine veterinarians pay close attention to the horseís body language, both as an to aid to diagnostic assessment and to ensure their own safety. And because so much of veterinary medicine involves euthanasia, vets are called upon more often than most MDs to communicate with clients who are experiencing extreme emotional distress and loss. While these interpersonal skills are mandatory in veterinary practice, they are often neglected in human clinical practice. The Medicine & Horses students love Dr. Mokres' section on the clinical examination of the horse, taught with many analogies to performing the history and physical on a human patient.
Dr. Mokres is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford, investigating changes in gene expression and lung morphology following long-term mechanical ventilation in newborn mice. She would like to pass on to students the skills and sensitivities that she developed in veterinary medicine in order to improve the doctor-patient relationship, help physicians gain the trust of their patients, and create more confident, self-aware, and centered individuals in medical practice.
When Dr. Mokres is not working 12 to 24-hour shifts in the
lab or working with Horsensei, she spends her time in the saddle either
with Smoothie or on her bike.
650.868.3379
