Dr. Julia Albright is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and an associate professor at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. She obtained both a master’s degree in experimental psychology and her DVM from the University of Tennessee before completing a residency and fellowship in animal behavior at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Albright’s research interests include reducing stress in animal facilities, psychopharmacology, and the human-animal bond. She is also actively involved in national animal sheltering organizations. She is a consultant for the ASPCA and the current chair of the National Council on Pet Population, an organization dedicated to bringing research to the shelter community. She lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, with her two beloved black cats and various other two- and four-legged family members. She and her daughter are avid horse lovers.
Dr. Kelly Ballantyne graduated from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in 2005. She started her career as a primary care veterinarian and within a few years developed a strong interest in behavioral medicine. She completed a behavioral residency under the mentorship of Dr. John Ciribassi and in 2015 became board-certified in the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists. Dr. Ballantyne is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. She runs the college’s behavior service at its Chicago satellite practice and also teaches veterinary students about animal behavior.
Dr. Sara Bennett received her DVM in 2006 from Purdue University. She spent three years in general practice in southwestern Indiana before returning to Purdue to complete a residency in animal behavior with a shelter medicine focus and earn her master of science. She obtained certification as a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists in 2012. After board certification, she practiced veterinary behavior in the Chicago and greater Midwest area, seeing private patients and consulting with a variety of sheltering organizations for several years. Dr. Bennett is currently a clinical assistant professor of clinical sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine of North Carolina State University. She is also a co-instructor for the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine online learning course Shelter Animal Behavior and Welfare, part of the Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program. She particularly enjoys addressing problem behaviors in sheltered and rescued animals—helping to protect animal welfare, making these pets more adoptable, working to strengthen the budding human-animal bond, and helping to keep these animals in their new homes.
Dr. Sharon Crowell-Davis earned her DVM at Auburn University and her PhD, focusing on neurobiology and behavior, at Cornell University. She was the youngest of the founding diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists. She has served as president of that organization and of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, as well as in multiple other offices. She is currently a professor of behavioral medicine at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. In addition to seeing cats in the clinic, she has conducted research on domestic cats living in homes and feral cats surviving on the periphery of human existence. Her best teachers about cat behavior have always been the cats themselves. She has had many cats over the decades who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge and currently has fifteen cats, all rescues. They teach her about the complexity of cat social life and communication. Each cat has a different voice and can modify that voice based on context. Dr. Crowell-Davis can tell who is vocalizing in another room and what is going on. The distress meow and the “another stupid squirrel has broken into the house that smells like predators” meow (that’s really not a good term for it, but we haven’t developed the right term yet) send her running. For everyone out there who has color biases, her tortoiseshell and calico cats are all sweet, wonderful pets.
Dr. Terry Curtis graduated with honors from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in 1997. She worked as a feline-only practitioner in Florida until the summer of 2000, when she began her residency in veterinary behavior at the University of Georgia. Concurrently, she received a master of science in psychology, investigating grooming behavior in the domestic cat. Completing her residency in June 2003, she joined the team at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine, heading up the Clinical Behavior Service. Dr. Curtis, a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, does house calls in Florida and South Georgia and teaches two behavior courses at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. She is a regular contributor to the North American Veterinary Community’s VMX conference and is the coordinator of a yearly behavior symposium there. Author of a number of articles in journals such as Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice and chapters in books such as the 6th edition of Blackwell’s Five-Minute Veterinary Consult, she is also a member of the editorial review board for Today’s Veterinary Practice magazine and the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, and she serves on the advisory board for BlueCare. She was a panel contributor to the 2014 AAFP and ISFM Guidelines for Diagnosing and Solving House Soiling Behavior in Cats. Dr. Curtis has worked with the Hemingway House cats in Key West, discussing the subject on ABC’s Nightline (July 2007), and appeared on NBC’s Today show (July 2008) talking about fears and phobias in dogs.
Dr. Leticia Dantas earned her DVM at the Universidade Federal Fluminense in sunny Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2003. She obtained a master of science in feline medicine and welfare in 2008, and a PhD in feline social and agonistic behavior and environmental enrichment for communally housed cats in 2010. Dr. Dantas has over fifteen years of experience working in academia. She has taught ethology, behavioral medicine, bioethics, and animal welfare science and has trained senior veterinary students in clinical behavioral medicine. In 2009, she started working at the Behavioral Medicine Service at the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital, where she also did her residency. She is currently a clinical assistant professor in the Behavioral Medicine Service and its director. Dr. Dantas is the cofounder and director of ZooPsych, a consulting business in behavioral medicine and animal mental health, and a member of the advisory panel for the Fear Free Initiative. Her cat, Tiger, is a celebrity at UGA. Found very sick on the streets as a young adult, he was fostered temporarily and then adopted by Dr. Dantas’s family. Besides saving another life, Dr. Dantas wanted to show veterinary students that an adult cat could learn and adapt just like a kitten. Tiger’s amazing resilience and sweetness allowed him to learn to enjoy veterinary handling. For years, he went to work to teach students in low-stress handling labs and to demonstrate behavior therapy techniques. He is now eight and retired. He spends most of his days hunting in his outdoor enclosure or simply sunbathing. He is a very loud purrer and loves Christmas decorations.
Dr. Margaret Gruen is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and an assistant professor of behavioral medicine at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She completed her internship and residency at North Carolina State University and then obtained a PhD in comparative biomedical sciences, with a project focused on understanding pain behavior in cats with arthritis. She completed a postdoctoral program at Duke University with the Canine Cognition Center, studying cognitive development in puppies. Her research focuses on pain, cognition, and human-animal interaction, including how animals communicate with us. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, children, and furry family members.
Dr. Rachel Malamed is a native of Toronto, Canada. She attended the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, and graduated in 2001 with a bachelor of science. She then attended Ontario Veterinary College, the oldest veterinary school in Canada, and graduated in 2005 with a DVM. During her clinical behavioral medicine rotation, she realized that veterinary medicine went beyond treating animals for physical illness. She witnessed firsthand how stress could impact or exacerbate medical conditions and came to understand that addressing an animal’s behavior was just as important as treating his physical health. In 2006, she moved to sunny California and did an internship, after which she did a three-year residency at UC Davis and became board-certified in clinical behavioral medicine. Dr. Malamed currently lives in Los Angeles and owns a private behavioral medicine practice. When she is not seeing patients, her two young girls keep her busy.
Dr. Kelly Moffat was born and raised in Arizona. She graduated with a bachelor of science in biology from Arizona State University and attended veterinary school at Colorado State University, graduating in 1993. She completed a residency in behavior and went on to pass her certifying exam to become a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists in 2004. Dr. Moffat practices as a veterinary behaviorist while maintaining her general practice caseload and serving as medical director at the VCA Mesa Animal Hospital in Mesa, Arizona. She has quite the family at home, including one amazing daughter, four dogs, three cats, a horse, two guinea pigs, ten chickens, a tortoise, and a plethora of fish. She enjoys jogging and helping with local community service organizations.
Dr. Amy Pike graduated from Colorado State University in 2003 and was commissioned as a captain in the US Army Veterinary Corps. Treating military working dogs spurred her initial interest in behavioral medicine. Dr. Pike did her residency program under Dr. Debra Horwitz, DACVB, and became board-certified in 2015. She is chief of the Behavior Medicine Division at the Veterinary Referral Center of Northern Virginia. She is a member of the Fear Free advisory panel and the editorial staff of the American Veterinarian, and she was recently named one of the Top Veterinarians of Northern Virginia by Northern Virginia magazine.
Dr. Sabrina Poggiagliolmi is truly a world traveler: She was born in Tuscany and grew up around the world (Canada, North Africa). She returned to Italy to attend veterinary school at the Università degli Studi di Milano, where she graduated with a doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1994. Dr. Poggiagliolmi was in private practice in Italy until she moved to the United States in 2006 to enroll in a three-year comprehensive clinical residency in veterinary behavioral medicine at the University of Georgia, where she was awarded a master of science with a major in veterinary and biomedical sciences. Dr. Poggiagliolmi is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and an integral member of the Long Island Veterinary Specialists Behavior Medicine Department. LIVS is the only facility on Long Island with a behavioral medicine department, which is committed to helping owners communicate with their pets in a more positive and productive way in order to manage behavior issues. Dr. Poggiagliolmi is an active member of both the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior. When not at work, she enjoys trips to New York City, vacationing on the beach, and spending time with her two cats, Mirtillo and Patata.
Dr. Lisa Radosta graduated from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine in 2000. She completed a residency in behavioral medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. During her residency, she was awarded the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists resident research award two years in a row. Dr. Radosta lectures nationally and internationally to veterinarians, their staff, and laypeople. She has written book chapters for textbooks, including the Handbook of Behavior Problems of the Dog and Cat, Blackwell’s Five-Minute Veterinary Consult, and Canine and Feline and Small Animal Pediatrics. She is also the coauthor of From Fearful to Fear Free. She has published scientific research articles in Applied Animal Behaviour Science and the Veterinary Journal, and has written review articles for Advances in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery, Compendium, Veterinary Team Brief, NAVC Clinician’s Brief, and NEWstat. She is the section editor for Advances in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Radosta serves on the Fear Free executive council and the American Animal Hospital Association Behavior Management Guidelines Task Force. She has been interviewed for many publications, has appeared frequently on television, and has a podcast on VETgirl.
Dr. Kersti Seksel is fascinated by animals and why they do what they do. She is passionate about helping people understand animals better so that she can improve the lives of people and their pets. Dr. Seksel graduated from Sydney University, then worked in the United Kingdom, where she learned that many pets died each year because of their behavior. She has a bachelor of arts in behavioral sciences (major in psychology) and a master of arts (hons). She is a board-certified specialist in behavioral medicine in the Australian, American, and European colleges. She pioneered puppy preschool and kitten kindergarten classes, teaches the distance education course in behavioral medicine for the Centre for Veterinary Education at the University of Sydney, and is an adjunct senior lecturer at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. She presents at conferences nationally and internationally, runs webinars, writes textbook chapters, wrote the book Training Your Cat, is a regular presenter on radio and TV, and is a consultant on the Veterinary Information Network.
Dr. Leslie Sinn obtained both her undergraduate degree in animal science and her DVM from the University of Georgia. She completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery while overseeing the exotic, avian, and wildlife caseload at the teaching hospital. After five years in private practice, she joined the faculty of the Northern Virginia Community College Veterinary Technology Program. During her tenure there, she taught a variety of courses to veterinary technician students, including anesthesia and behavior. She served as dean of the program for fifteen years. Dr. Sinn is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and currently runs a behavior referral practice in the Washington, DC, area. In addition to seeing clinical cases, she consults with rescue groups, shelters, and other organizations on animal welfare and behavior issues. Dr. Sinn enjoys writing and speaking about behavior and has presented nationally and internationally on a variety of animal behavior topics, including both normal and abnormal behavior in cats.
Dr. Beth Strickler is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists. She has a master’s degree in psychology from Penn State University and received her DVM from the University of Tennessee. She spent several years in general practice before completing her residency in behavior, during which she completed a research project evaluating client reports of feline play. She is the owner of a specialty referral practice, Veterinary Behavior Solutions, which serves behavior patients in both Tennessee and Kentucky. She has been a visiting instructor at several veterinary colleges and enjoys lecturing regionally and nationally. She shares her life outside of work with her two active sons, two horses, and two dogs. She misses having cats in her life after the passing of her favorite kitty, Zayak, this past year.
Hawaii native Dr. Karen Sueda chose to pursue her veterinary education in the cooler climate of Northern California. She obtained her veterinary medical degree and completed her clinical animal behavior residency at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine before moving with her cat, Tyler, to balmy Los Angeles. In addition to seeing veterinary behavior cases at VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital, Dr. Sueda travels throughout Southern California to work with feline patients and their owners in their homes. When time permits, she enjoys cooking, discovering new restaurants, and catching up on TV shows with Tyler on her lap.
Dr. Wailani Sung has a passion for helping owners prevent or effectively manage behavior problems in companion animals, enabling them to maintain a high quality of life. Dr. Sung obtained her master’s degree and doctorate in psychology, with a special interest in animal behavior, from the University of Georgia, and her DVM from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine. She has practiced veterinary behavioral medicine in dogs, cats, and birds in the greater Seattle area for the past ten years. She does not consider any patient or problem hopeless, and her treatment protocols are based on scientific information about animal behavior, psychopharmacology, and learning theory. Dr. Sung is a frequent contributor to HealthyPet magazine and the websites Vetstreet and petMD. She is a coauthor of From Fearful to Fear Free, in which she collaborated with Dr. Marty Becker, Dr. Lisa Radosta, DACVB, and Mikkel Becker. Dr. Sung currently works at the San Francisco SPCA. She enjoys spending her free time with her husband and their family of two dogs, a senior cat, a red-bellied parrot, and a citron-crested cockatoo.