Laboratory Animal Sciences 2019

Dr. Szczepan Baran is the Global Head, Animal Welfare and Compliance Training at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. Dr. Baran received a Bachelor of Science in Pre-Veterinary Medicine from the University of Delaware, a Veterinary Medical Doctoral degree from the ... University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and a Master of Science in Comparative Medicine from the University Of Washington School Of Medicine. In 2005, he joined Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center where he was a member of the team that discovered the first canine embryonic stem cells. Then in 2007 Dr. Baran founded and became COO of the Veterinary Bioscience Institute before his current employment at Novartis. Dr. Baran founded the LinkedIn group "Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine," the largest group in this field. He also served as, Graduate Course Director, Drexel University College of Medicine, Assistant Professor at Delaware Valley, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, Wake Forest School of Medicine and most notably as Director at Large for the Academy of Surgical Research as well as a Board Member of Americans for Medical Progress. His research interests include use of microfluidics in safety pharmacology and toxicology, the development and validation of online surgical training programs, and the development and validation of rodent endoscopic procedures. Dr. Baran's hobbies include boxing, micro-facial expressions and psychology of adolescent communication.

Andrea Gay is Regional Sales Manager for the Southern Territory of the U.S. as well as the International Sales Representative for The Andersons Bedding Products. Andrea graduated from MacMurray College in Jacksonville, IL with a bachelor's degree in elementary education and ... learning disabilities. Andrea has been involved in the Lab Animal Industry for 13 years. Prior to working for The Andersons Bedding Products, Andrea worked at Shepherd Specialty Papers. Andrea joined The Andersons Bedding Products in 2008 as Regional Sales Manager. Andrea is a member of National AALAS, LAMA, ATA, District IV and District 7 branches of AALAS, as well as the IAT and ANZLAA international branches. Andrea serves on the Exhibitor Advisory Council for AALAS and also serves as the Awards Chair for the Research Triangle Branch Executive Council in North Carolina, as well as being a member of The National Weights and Measures Southern Branch. Andrea has published an article in The Enrichment Record on Nesting & Thermoregulation.

Ann graduated from Newbury College in Boston MA with a Veterinary Technology degree in 1984. She worked in clinical veterinary practice for three years and then joined Georgetown University Research Resources Facility in Washington DC from 1987-2000, with increasing ... responsbilities in positions ranging from Veterinary Technician, husbandry management to oversight of the Animal Core Facility for Vincent T. Lombardi Cancer Center. Acting as a liaison coordinator for all in vivo studies at the Cancer Center, she interfaced with Study Directors and Principal Investigators ensuring all facets of technical, managerial, operational and study support. In the year 2000, she accepted a position as an Operations Specialist with Pathology Associates International/Charles River Laboratories. In 2005, her scope of responsibility expanded and she is currently the Director of Business Development and Marketing for Charles River, Insourcing Solutions. Ann has served on a variety of committees for local and national American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS), Society of Laboratory Animal Veterinary Technicians and held the Board of Trustee position for AALAS in District 3.

Already as an undergraduate student in Animal Sciences, I realized that there was more to animal science than making cows give more milk. When graduating in 1994, I had settled for ethology and animal welfare as my professional habitat, which I haven't left since. Having ... completed my PhD in ethology, also at the Swedish University of Agricultural University, in 2001 I started my postdoc career by going against all recommendations, moving to work with something I had never worked with - laboratory rodent behaviour and welfare - in a place where nobody worked with this topic. This resulted in the establishment of the Laboratory Animal Science group at the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMC) in Porto, Portugal, a research group I coordinate since 2005. What saved my academic sanity when changing topic, institution and country was largely the collaboration initiated in 2002 with Professor Peter Sandøe, Danish Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment. This collaboration is now the basis for a productive line of empirical research into the ethics of animal research and technology, developed in parallel with the research into behaviour and welfare. Having learnt about the difficulties in breeding mice the hard way, I have a particular research interest in maternal behaviour and pup survival. I'm a member of the editorial board of the journal Laboratory Animals, former council member and present member of the ethics council of the International Society for Applied Ethology and executive board member of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics. I'm the executive secretary of the institutional animal ethics committee and coordinate our accredited FELASA Cat C course in laboratory animal science.

Brian L. Ermeling, DVM, MS, DACLAM is the Director, Animal Resources Center at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida. He also serves as a voting member of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC). In ... addition to his institutional responsibilities he also serves on the Awards Committee for the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine. Dr. Ermeling recently served 50% time as the Director, Animal Resources Center and Attending Veterinarian (AV) at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI), Jupiter, Florida. In addition to these responsibilities he was a Consulting Veterinarian serving as the Director, Animal Resources Center and Attending Veterinarian at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, Fort Pierce, Florida. Previously Dr. Ermeling was the Director, Animal Care Quality Assurance at the University of Missouri; Deputy Associate Chief of Staff at the St. Louis VA Medical Center; the Director, Animal Resources Center, Dartmouth College, and the Associate Veterinarian, Dartmouth College. In addition to these responsibilities he was a member of the Council on Accreditation for the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC), and an Adhoc Consultant for AAALAC. Dr. Ermeling was a founding member and President of the Northern Mountain branch of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS), a member of National AALAS, ACLAM, AVMA, FVMA, Palm Beach Veterinary Association and the Treasure Coast Veterinary Medical Association among other professional activities. Dr. Ermeling received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from the University of Missouri - Columbia. He practiced small animal medicine in Franklin Park, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri prior to returning for his Master of Science degree and Residency in Laboratory Animal Medicine at the University of Missouri. His research interests included polyclonal antibody production in chickens, vascular physiology, and development of a trans-hepatic shunt model in swine. He was previously enlisted in the U.S. Army for 4 years as an Animal Care Specialist (91T), performing work in a research laboratory at the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research working to develop vaccines for Canine Ehrlichiosis, and various rickettsial diseases, including Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Scrub Typhus.

Christian Lawrence is currently the Manager of the Aquatic Resources Program (ARP) at Boston Children's Hospital (BCH). ARP administers the zebrafish program at BCH, which is one of the largest and most active of its kind in the world. Mr. Lawrence also serves as a faculty ... member for the Health and Colony Management of Laboratory Fish course at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, and was a Fulbright Specialist at the Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Medicine in Safed, Israel in 2013. He is co-author of The Laboratory Zebrafish, and has written a number of scientific publications on zebrafish biology and culture.

Dr. Cynthia G. Alvarado is a clinical veterinarian at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, ME. She received her veterinary degree from the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary. She completed residency training in the Comparative Medicine Program and earned a MS in ... Biomedical Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Cynthia is a Diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine.

I am a licensed laboratory animal veterinarian with over 25 years of experience supporting biomedical research that improves human and animal health. I provide innovative solutions to the challenges in managing the resources and services essential for the conduct of critical ... biomedical research. As a private consultant at LeeWay Consulting and Staffing Services (LWCSS), I help clients improve the quality of their animal care, welfare, and research programs. I have extensive experience with nonhuman primate, housing, healthcare, regulatory compliance, and animal models. I have developed an overall Quality Management Program (QMP) that applies innovative strategies to improve the efficiency of the animal programs, quality of support services, and project management. I am available for part-time or full-time consulting services or staffing.

Debra Hickman, DVM, MS, DACLAM, is the Director of the Laboratory Animal Resource Center at Indiana University Medical School in Indianapolis, IN. She obtained her veterinary degree and completed residency training in laboratory animal medicine at the University of Illinois at ... Urbana. She is a Diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine and been active in leadership positions for AALAS, ASLAP, and ACLAM and is currently an ad hoc site visitor for AAALAC, International. Dr. Hickman leads an active research laboratory that identifies possible improvements to husbandry practices and evaluates the effect of these changes on the welfare of animals that are used in biomedical research.

He obtained his veterinary medicine degree at the University of Zaragoza (Spain) in 1990, and was for 17 years Director of the Laboratory Animal Services at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. In parallel, between 2003 and 2008 he was also a member of the Association ... for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC International) Council on Accreditation. He is member of the Ethics Committee of the University of Navarra since its creation in 1997 (now as external member). Current position In 2008 he joined AAALAC International Senior Director and Director of European Activities. Since 2013 he is Senior Director for Europe and Latin America. Other related activities He served first as Secretary (2002-2008) and later as President (2009-2010) of the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations (FELASA). Since 2011 he is member of the ICLAS Governing Board Since 2010 he is representative of the Spanish Association for Laboratory Animal Science (SECAL) to the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS). Since 2010 he is member of the Council of Management of the journal Laboratory Animals Ltd. and since 2011, member of the Executive Committee. He is Past-President of SECAL, the Spanish Assocation for Laboratory Animal Science.

Jeff Everitt received his DVM from Cornell University and then completed a residency in comparative pathology at the University of Pennsylvania and a postdoctoral research appointment at the University of Illinois. Dr. Everitt served for 17 years on the senior scientific staff of ... the CIIT Centers for Health Research where he attained Senior Scientist status. At CIIT he led the animal care and use program as well as a multidisciplinary research program that examined the health effects of inhaled fibrous particulate. He currently serves as a Director of Comparative Biology and Medicine at GlaxoSmithKline and as an Adjunct Professor of Pathology at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, NC. Dr. Everitt is board certified in anatomic pathology (ACVP) and in laboratory animal medicine (ACLAM) and is a Fellow in the International Academy of Toxicologic Pathologists (FIATP). He has served in leadership positions in multiple professional organizations in laboratory animal science, pathology and toxicology during the past twenty years. Dr. Everitt has lectured and published widely on best practices for the control of variability and bias in the conduct of in vivo studies.

Joanna Cruden currently works at GSK in the role of Animal Welfare Office and Named Information Officer. She has worked with laboratory animals for over 25 years, her work experience ranges from mouse breeding, academia and pharmaceutical. The main species has been mice and she ... has over 8 experience focusing on transgenic mice prior to coming to GSK and working with a range of animals. She has a BSc (hons) in Animal Technology and is currently studying to gain a PhD in animal behaviour and welfare at the University of Lincoln focusing on Laboratory rabbits. Joanna is keep to improve the welfare of laboratory animals and encourage people to develop networks and share information which will help refine the procedures, housing and care, and reduce the numbers of animals included in research.

Dr. Storves attended veterinary school at the University of Georgia and completed her laboratory animal medicine residency in the Unit for Laboratory Animal Medicine and the University of Michigan. She completed a comparative medicine fellowship in the Jobst Vascular Laboratories ... at the University of Michigan and was published in Thrombosis Research. Upon completion of her residency, she became a clinical veterinarian at MPI Research in Mattawan, Michigan and is now the Associate Director for Animal Welfare and Compliance at MPI. Her background is in regulatory compliance and rodent medicine. She has presented at numerous regional and national AALAS presentations and is current secretary for the Committee on Laboratory Animal Training and Research. She spends time outside of work traveling with her husband, relaxing with her dog and cat, and Jazzercising.

Dr. Klas Abelson obtained a degree of Master of Medical Sciences in 2001 and a PhD in Comparative Medicine and Lab Animal Science in 2005, from Uppsala University, Sweden. The area of his research was originally focused on the development of experimental models for studying pain ... pharmacology in rats, but turned more and more towards the welfare of the animals. At present, he is working on the development of objective measurement of pain and stress in rats and mice, together with the development of novel methods for alleviating pain and stress in this species. During the years 2006-2008, he was an Assistant Professor in Lab Animal Science at the Medical Faculty of Uppsala University. In 2009, he moved to the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, where he is currently working as an Associate Professor. Besides conducting research in animal welfare, he is responsible for a wide range of teaching and training activities in lab animal science and animal experimentation for post-graduates, PhD students, master students, and animal technicians at the faculty.

Dr. Lara Helwig is currently serving as the Director of Animal Care at Brown University. In this capacity she serves as the Attending Veterinarian for Brown University and provides oversight for the AAALAC accredited animal care and use programs at the affiliated teaching ... hospitals - Rhode Island Hospital and the Providence Veteran's Administration Medical Center. Prior to assuming her current position, Lara served as the Assistant Director of the Division of Teaching and Research Resources (DTRR) at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University (TCSVM) for over 9 years including a period in which she served as Interim Director and Attending Veterinarian. While at Tufts, Lara was actively involved in planning the Laboratory Animal Medicine Master's degree curriculum and served as a lecturer in the program as well. In her role at Tufts she provided clinical care to the animals used in research and teaching, trained investigative staff and served on the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). In addition to these roles, she served as the faculty advisor to the student chapter of the American Society for Laboratory Animal Practitioners (ASLAP) and the Teaching Dog Socialization student group. Lara maintains an adjunct Associate Professor position in the Department of Environmental and Population Health at TCSVM and delivers lectures on a variety of topics in the Laboratory Animal Masters curriculum. She also serves as a fellow in the Center for Animal and Public Policy at TCSVM where she delivers lectures on issues relating to the use of animals in research. Lara is a diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine. Lara's professional interests include animal model development and refinement of animal research methods with an emphasis on analgesia and humane endpoints.

Letty Medina earned her BS in Biology at the University of Notre Dame and her DVM degree from Texas A&M University. She completed her Laboratory Animal Medicine post-doctoral training at the University of Illinois, Chicago. She is a Diplomate of the American College of Laboratory ... Animal Medicine (ACLAM). She is currently the Director of Animal Research & Compliance at AbbVie Inc. Her primary responsibilities are to ensure that AbbVie adheres to all animal regulations, adopts the most ethical animal research practices, and continues to enhance an ethical culture for animal research with innovative 3Rs research and other initiatives. She is the past chair of the 3Rs Leadership Group of the Innovation and Quality Consortium. She is dedicated to promoting more transparency about ethical animal research to ensure public understanding and support for biomedical research. She is a frequent speaker about animal welfare compliance and the 3Rs at national meetings.

Dr. Perret-Gentil serves as University Veterinarian and Director of the Laboratory Animal Resources Center (LARC) at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) as well as Attending Veterinarian for the South Texas Accelerated Research Therapeutics. His experience involves a ... Veterinary career since 1987, and Laboratory Animal Medicine since 1993. He has helped a number of institutions attain AAALAC International accreditation. Dr. Perret-Gentil received a B.S. in Animal Science & Industry, and a D.V.M. from Kansas State University. After obtaining his D.V.M., he practiced Veterinary Medicine in the U.S. Army. He later completed a residency in Laboratory Animal Medicine and an M.S. in Comparative Medicine at the University of Washington followed by an experimental/minimally invasive surgery post-doctoral fellowship at Ethicon Endo-Surgery. His industry and academic experiences include positions at Merck, Associate Clinical Professor in Animal Care Services and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine at the University of Florida. He also obtained an academic appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, where he also served as the Institutional Veterinarian and Director of the LARC. Past research interests focused on minimally invasive surgery. His current interests are in rodent experimental surgery and biomethodologies as well as preparing programs for AAALAC International accreditation. As of August 2015, Dr. Perret-Gentil has published or contributed to 53 papers, articles, abstracts, two book chapters. He has presented (including scheduled presentations) 310 special presentations and workshops at various academic and research institutions, including national and international meetings. He serves as ad hoc Specialist for AAALAC International and consultant to the government, biotechnology industry and other institutions of higher education in the U.S. and abroad.

Matt entered the research field over 24 years ago as a lab animal technician at the TSI/Mason contract research facility. Since then, he has worked at contract facilities such as TSI and OREAD Biosafety as well as in industry at Pharmacia, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, and Biogen ... During that period he has performed a variety of surgical procedures including device implantation, transplants, orthopedic defect, ocular and vascular implants, cardiac surgery, and brain and spinal procedures. His experience ranges from mice and rats to non-human primates and livestock. In addition, he holds four patents for novel surgical devices and implants and has been training technicians, scientists, veterinarians, and physicians in surgical techniques and procedures for over 18 years. Outside of the surgical realm, he has been a study director, sonographer, Safety Pharmacology scientist, and manager. Currently Matt supervises a team of associates at Biogen who conduct surgical and non-surgical studies. Matt was also on the board of directors for the Academy of Surgical Research for over ten years, serving as their program chair for three of them as well as educational chair for two. Currently he is the program chairman for the New England branch of AALAS.

Dr. Nancy Halpern represents animal owners, animal-related businesses, veterinarians, animal research facilities, and nonprofit associations in support of their interests in the humane use of animals, and to promote animal and public health at Fox Rothschild LLP, a national law ... firm. Dr. Halpern, also a patent attorney, represents clients in intellectual property and life sciences. A licensed veterinarian in the State of New Jersey, Dr. Halpern previously served as Director of the Division of Animal Health for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture and New Jersey's State Veterinarian where she was responsible for: the state's emergency response regarding animal care concerns to natural or man-made disasters; supervision of the only animal health diagnostic laboratory in New Jersey; and implementation of regulatory and statutory provisions governing animal care, well-being and safety, as well as animal disease surveillance and control. Dr. Halpern serves on the Board of Directors for Americans for Medical Progress. Dr. Halpern provides the American Veterinary Medical Association with legislative and regulatory services (excluding services covered by the Lobbying Disclosure Act, 2 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq.), represents the New York Pet Welfare Association, and was appointed to the Government Affairs Committee of the New Jersey Association for Biomedical Research.

Dr. Nicole Duffee is the Director of Education & Scientific Affairs for the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science. She leads the AALAS Learning Library development team for the online learning platform and courses in laboratory animal science. She oversees and ... contributes to print and digital publications of AALAS educational resources. She directs the Grants for Laboratory Animal Science program. Dr. Duffee is a former president of the Laboratory Animal Welfare Training Exchange (LAWTE).

Dr Kostomitsopoulos graduated from the Veterinary Faculty of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1985 and obtained his PhD on Laboratory Animal Science from the Medical School of the University of Athens (1992-1997). During 1996 he attended a four months training ... program on Laboratory Animal Management and Medicine in Veterinary Resources Program (VRP) of National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) at National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, United States of America. He served as National expert of the Greek Ministry of Agriculture on Laboratory Animal Welfare issues in the Council of Europe and in the European Union (1991-1994). He worked, as a post-doctoral associate researcher, in the Laboratory for Experimental Surgery and Surgical Research of the Medical School of the University of Athens (1996-1999) with main interests on management, anesthesia, analgesia and post-operative care of the animals. Since 1996, he contributed as technical consultant to the design and the construction of the Animal Facilities of the Center for Experimental Surgery of the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens. Since 2002, he is working in the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), Greece as Senior Research Scientist and head of the laboratory animal facilities. His scientific interests are focusing on the proper care and use of laboratory animals, the ethical evaluation of research protocols and the planning, the design and the management of laboratory animal facilities. He was FELASA Vice President for International Liaisons (2009-2014) and Governing Board member of ICLAS (2005-2015). He is ad hoc expert of AAALAC Int. He is member of the COST Action BM 1308 on Sharing Advances on Large Animal Models (2014- ) and member of COST Action B24 on Laboratory Animal Science and Welfare (2003-2008) Dr Kostomitsopoulos have been co-author in over 50 peer reviewed articles in International and Greek scientific journals and 1 book chapter.

Patricia V. Turner, BSc, MS, DVM, DVSc, is a Professor in the Department of Pathobiology and Program Leader of Laboratory Animal Science at the University of Guelph. She also manages the university laboratory animal diagnostic pathology core and provides consultative laboratory ... animal pathology services (diagnostic, phenotyping, modeling, and toxicology). Her research interests include impact of environment on affective behavior and disease susceptibility in laboratory animals, infectious diseases of laboratory animals, and lab animal anesthesia/analgesia. Pat currently teaches comparative medicine and pathology, toxicologic pathology, and animal welfare at the University of Guelph and is a Diplomate of both the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine and the American Board of Toxicology.

He obtained his veterinary medicine degree at the University of Zaragoza (Spain) in 1990, and was for 17 years Director of the Laboratory Animal Services at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. In parallel, between 2003 and 2008 he was also a member of the Association ... for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC International) Council on Accreditation. He is member of the Ethics Committee of the University of Navarra since its creation in 1997 (now as external member).

Prof. Sandor Gyorgy Fekete was born 1951 in Kiskunfelegyhaza, Hungary, where he attended to basic schools. He studied vet. med. (1969-74) at the Univ. Vet. Sci. Budapest and obtained his DVM degree in 1974 with the distinction "Sub auspiciis rei publici popularis". In 1983 he ... became vet. specialist in Animal Hygiene, in 1987 received his PhD of Animal Nutrition (Moscow-Budapest), and in 2004 he became Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Vet. Sci.). His work experiences include: (1974-76) vet. surgeon in a mixed practice in Hungary, from 1976 he entered the Dept. Anim. Nutr. of his mother institution and in 1991 became full professor and head of the department, between 1998-2004: chairman of the Inst. Anim. Breeding, Nutr. Lab. Anim. Sci. of Fac. Vet. Sci. Budapest, and from 2004 he is the head of the Unit for Laboratory Animimal Science and Bioethics. Scholarships, sabbaticals included: (1979) 4 months at INRA France, (1984-86) 3x2 months in Vet. Acad. Moscow (working on the PhD through correspondence preparing his PhD on rabbit digestive physiology and cleared the regulation mechanism of the caecotrophy), (1990) 3 months in UC Davis CA (USA), 5 months in Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT (USA), 5 months in Cornell Univ. NY (USA). His teaching responsibilities are in the areas of Vet. Dietetics, Lab. Anim. Sci. and Bioethics, as well as Animals in Art History. He was awarded with the degree of Doctor of Science of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, owing to his work about the body composition of cow, rabbit, chicke, rats and mice and mycotoxin researches. His actual research field of interest is the zoomusicology. i.e. the effect of human music on the animals. Prof. Fekete has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, numerous book(chapter)s. Recently wrote and edited the Veterinary Nutrition and Dietetics international textbook with 31 co-authors (2008). He is mastering besides the Hungarian, English, French, German and Russian languages. He used to be a founding Diplomat of the European College of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition (1998), actually he is the president of the Hungarian Lab. Anim. Sci. Association (HLASAS: 2006-2020) and National Representative of the FELASA, ICLAS and ESLAS (2008-).

Sheera Gaskin serves as the IACUC and Compliance Director at Temple University. She is responsible for overseeing the IACUC and IBC offices. She ensures all regulatory requirements for the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee are in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act ... USDA Animal Welfare Regulations, Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Animal Care International (AAALACi), and the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW). Sheera earned her Master's degree in Laboratory Animal Science from Drexel University. She is an AVMA accredited Graduate Veterinary Technologist, and a PRIM@R Certified Professional IACUC Administrator. Sheera has worked in the field of veterinary medicine for 18 years, specializing in emergency medicine and anesthesia. She has served on an IACUC since 2002, and has specialized in animal research and compliance for 8 years. Sheera is active in public outreach that involves educating the public on the importance of humane animal research and the important role of the IACUC. Sheera has been the recipient of the Bio-Serv Enhancement and Improvement of Animal Welfare Award 2012 and the Drexel University Academic Achievement Award 2007-2009. Sheera has served as the IACUC Chair at Camden County College since 2012. She is a member of the National Honors Society and professional organizations including DVB AALAS, National AALAS, PRIM&R, NABR, NJABR, NJVTA, IACUCAA, and PSBR.

Dr. Stacy Pritt is the Director of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) Office at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. In this capacity, she oversees regulatory compliance for one of the largest animal research programs in ... the United States. Dr. Pritt holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the California State Polytechnic University at Pomona and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Washington State University. Additionally, she holds a Master of Science degree in Managerial Science and a Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Management. She is a Certified Professional IACUC Administrator (CPIA) and a charter diplomate by examination of the American College of Animal Welfare (ACAW). During her career, Dr. Pritt has held numerous positions in both academia and industry. She has been on faculty at the Harvard Medical School where she served as Associate Director for Animal Care, Training, and Operations and was the Director of Regulatory Compliance and Animal Welfare at Covance, Inc. Dr. Pritt is a nationally recognized authority on animal program regulatory compliance including IACUC operations, adherence to federal regulations and policies, maintenance of Good Laboratory Practice procedures as dictated by the US FDA, and managing the audit process. She regularly speaks to research audiences across the United States and has authored more than 25 publications on management and regulatory compliance, including book chapters. In 2012 she was awarded the TurnKey Animal Facility Leader of the Year Award and in 2014 she served as Program Chair for the University of Texas System IACUC Symposium focusing on process improvement. In 2015, she was Awarded the Ron Orta Memorial Award for the most outstanding presentation at a meeting of the Laboratory Animal Management Association and the Founder's Award for exceptional education in the field of laboratory animal science by the Laboratory Animal Welfare Training Exchange. She serves in numerous leadership positions within organized veterinary medicine.

Sylvie Cloutier is a Research Assistant Professor in the Center for the Study of Animal Well-being, Department of VCAPP, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman WA. She received her PhD in psychology from the Université du Québec à Montréal ... (1997), Montréal, Canada. She pursued post-doctoral research at Washington State University, Center for the Study of Animal Well-being before being promoted to her current research assistant professor position. She is the ISAE (International Society for Applied Ethology) representative on the AAALAC International Board of Trustees, and also a member of the Washington State University Environmental Enrichment Committee. She is a past president and current board member of the Society for Veterinary Medical Ethics. The focus of her research is on animal welfare and human-animal interaction in the laboratory environment.