Mississippi State plans 2027 laminitis center, hospital expansion

By Daniel Okafor

Mississippi State University says its 12,500-square-foot Nancy Fair Link Laminitis Research Center, scheduled to open in fall 2027, will be the world’s largest research center dedicated to laminitis in horses. The Starkville project sits beside a $50 million state-funded expansion of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s teaching hospitals. Construction began in November 2025.

What will the laminitis center contain?

The building will include a multi-investigator laboratory, clinical research and farrier space, and positron emission tomography and computed tomography scanners. The plans also include an adjacent 24-stall equine research barn.

Nancy Link’s gift will cover construction, operation, equipment, faculty salaries and maintenance. Link has a longstanding relationship with MSU, and the university says laminitis is the second most common cause of equine euthanasia.

Heath King, DVM, director of MSU’s Animal Health Center, told WCBI: “We’re looking at how better to prevent laminitis, and how better to treat that condition, which is extremely painful and can be quite debilitating in horses.” MSU identifies prevention and treatment as the center’s central goals.

Takeaway: The center combines imaging, laboratory work and farrier services in one equine research facility.

How was the $50 million approved?

The expansion begins with a new farm animal hospital and an outpatient cattle handling facility, both scheduled to open in 2027. It also covers upgrades to the college’s equine and small animal hospitals, whose existing buildings date to the 1970s.

State lawmakers approved the money in two rounds: $18 million in 2024 for the cattle handling facility, inpatient farm animal hospital and new Center for Rural Veterinary Practice; and $32 million in 2026 for upgrades to the equine and small animal hospitals.

The 2024 allocation paid for the first two phases of a four-phase facilities plan, according to College of Veterinary Medicine Dean Nicholas Frank, DVM, PhD, DACVIM.

Takeaway: Two state allocations now support a four-phase rebuild of the college’s clinical facilities.

What changes for cattle and rural veterinary practices?

The cattle facility will include a drive-through loading and unloading area, plus new cattle handling and restraint systems. The inpatient hospital should improve safety and biosecurity while allowing a larger farm-animal caseload.

The new Center for Rural Veterinary Practice aims to increase the number of veterinarians in rural areas through student recruitment, advising, teaching and postgraduate coaching. It includes business and financial coaching for students and veterinarians starting a practice or buying into one.

Takeaway: New handling and inpatient space should improve safety and permit a larger farm-animal caseload.

What changes for horses and companion animals?

The farm animal hospital’s location required moving the equine entrance, and an evaluation area is being installed beside it. MSU says the renovated equine hospital will offer 24/7 emergency care, new operating rooms and stalls, and dedicated space for evaluating lameness.

For companion animals, the small-animal project remains in early stages. Current plans call for a larger emergency room and intensive care unit, with oncology and dermatology moved closer to patient waiting areas.

Construction also includes new private consultation rooms. MSU plans to add client consulting rooms and expand its Community Veterinary Services unit, giving students more exposure to common diseases and wellness care in general practice.

Takeaway: Equine services gain planned emergency and lameness capacity, while companion-animal work remains early in development.

What does this mean at the exam table and in the barn?

For food animals, the immediate practice-level change occurs at MSU: safer handling, stronger inpatient biosecurity and capacity for a larger cattle caseload. The Center for Rural Veterinary Practice also seeks to expand the number of veterinarians serving rural areas.

For companion animals, the proposal expands emergency and intensive care space and brings selected specialties nearer waiting areas. The small-animal work remains in early stages, and the announcement provides no completion date.

For public health, the announcement identifies no surveillance program, outbreak study or regulatory initiative. It links the project to rural workforce capacity and farm-animal biosecurity, but it gives no staffing targets or public-health outcome measures.

This is a facilities and education announcement, not a clinical study. It reports no sample size, comparison group, drug, vaccine or treatment result, so its claims concern planned capacity rather than proven efficacy.

Takeaway: The announcement establishes new capacity, not proof of better clinical outcomes or sustained rural workforce growth.

What happens before the 2027 opening?

MSU still must complete construction, install the imaging equipment, establish the equine barn and finish the equine and small-animal upgrades. Its prevention and treatment work will become assessable only after the center opens and produces results.

Takeaway: The 2027 opening is the next test of whether the investment becomes working research, training and animal-care capacity.