Speakers

• Michaela G. Austel, Dr.med.vet., DACVD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Dermatology

  Dr. Austel has been a veterinarian for 27 years, 22 of those were dedicated exclusively to dermatology. She received her veterinary degree from the College of Veterinary Medicine of the Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich, Germany in 1992. She received her specialty training in dermatology at the College of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Georgia from 2001 to 2004. Dr. Austel is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Dermatology and spent more than two decades in academia and seven years in private practice in the US and in Europe. She is the proud parent of six furry family members. Three of them have severe allergies.

• Stephen Divers, BVetMed, DZooMed, DACZM, DECZM (herpetology), FRCVS

  Professor of Zoological Medicine Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery. Born in England, Stephen Divers graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in London in 1994. He obtained the Diploma in zoological medicine from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), is an RCVS recognized Specialist in Zoo & Wildlife Medicine, a Diplomate of both the American and European Colleges of Zoological Medicine, a European Veterinary Specialist in Zoological Medicine (zoo health management), and an International Fullbright Specialist in zoological medicine. He obtained his RCVS fellowship (PhD) for his work on exotic animal endoscopy and endosurgery. He has served on the ABVP subspecialties in small mammal and reptile/amphibian specialties helped create the new zoological companion animal (exotic pet) examination through the ACZM, and the new European College of Zoological Medicine, herpetology and zoo health management subspecialties.

• Leticia Dantas, DVM, MS, PhD, DACVB

  Dr. Dantas earned her DVM at the Universidade Federal Fluminense in sunny Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2003. She obtained a M.S. on feline medicine and welfare in 2008 and a Ph.D. on domestic cat social behavior, aggression and environmental enrichment for shelter and communally housed cats in 2010. Dr. Dantas has over 16 years of experience working in academia. She has taught Ethology, Behavioral Medicine, Bioethics and Animal Welfare Science and trained senior veterinary students in Clinical Behavioral Medicine. In 2009, she came to work at University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital’s Behavioral Medicine service, where she also did her residency. She is the co-founder and co-director of ZooPsych, Inc., a consulting business in behavioural medicine and animal mental health, is a member of the advisory panel for the Fear Free initiative and certified Fear Free professional, and is currently the director and attending faculty of our VTH’s Behavioral Medicine Service.

• Gregg Rapoport, DVM, DACVIM(Cadiology)

  Dr. Rapoport is an Assistant Professor of Cardiology at the University of Georgia, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery. He received his DVM in 1999 from the University of Wisconsin

• Travis Laver, VMD, PhD, DACVIM

  Dr. Laver is an Assistant Professor of Oncology at the University of Georgia. He earned his PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He then went on to earn his VMD from the University of Pennsylvania. Following a rotating small animal medicine and surgery internship at the Veterinary Specialty Hospital of the Carolinas, he recently completed a residency in medical oncology at the Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University.

• Nicole Northrup, DVM, BS, Dip. ACVIM(Oncology)

  Dr. Nicole Northrup received her DVM degree from the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1994 and completed a 1-year internship in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery at the Animal Medical Center in New York City the following year. She served as an associate veterinarian at the Alex Lewyt Veterinary Medical Center at North Shore Animal League for the next 2 years. Dr. Northrup’s residency training in Small Animal Oncology in the Harrington Oncology Program of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine led to board certification by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Specialty of Oncology in 2000. That year she joined the Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine and was the first veterinary oncologist to practice in the state of Georgia.

• Jorg Mayer, DVM, MS, DABVP (ECM), DECZM

  Dr. Joerg Mayer grew up in Germany where he received his primary education. He went to Budapest / Hungary to study veterinary medicine shortly after the “iron curtain” fell. During his studies he was fortunate to be able to work with veterinarians in South Africa and Namibia for 6 months. He always had a strong interest in exotic animal medicine. After he received his doctoral degree from the University of Budapest/Hungary, he went to the USA for an internship in ‘Zoological Medicine and Surgery’ at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, RI. At the end of the internship he was part of a research team to study wild tree kangaroos in the rainforest of Papua New Guinea for 3 months. After this exciting experience, he went to the Royal veterinary College in London / England to study for his Masters of Science degree in wild animal health. The masters project which focused on lead toxicity in the common loon, brought him to the Tufts Wildlife Clinic in the USA. There he was hired to serve as a clinical associate professor and as the head of the clinical service for exotic animals. After 10 years at Tufts University he moved to Athens, Georgia in 2010 to take the job of Associate Professor in Zoological Medicine at UGA.

• Heather Lindell Tally, PharmD, BSPH, RPh, FSVHP, DICVP

  Dr. Heather Lindell is a PharmD at the University Of Georgia College Of Veterinary Medicine. She also keeps current on her human medicine by working part-time at Northside Hospital Forsyth. She is a member of the University Woman’s Club, Atlanta Academy of Institutional Pharmacy, RC Wilson Pharmacy Association, Georgia Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists and the Society of Veterinary Hospital Pharmacists. She specializes in Veterinary pharmacy and is a Diplomate of ICVP and Fellow of SVHP.

  She has written drug information articles for medical journals and was a contributing writer for Mane and Tail Magazine. She is involved in the University community, the local community, and the horse community. She combines her love of horses and volunteering to help others. Her efforts to support the UGA Women’s Varsity Equestrian Team included being on the coach search committee, contributing to the Facility Fund, founding the Booster Club and the Scholarship Fund. In founding the Booster Club she led the way for a base of support for the Team riders.

  Dr. Lindell teaches classes at the University Of Georgia College Of Veterinary Medicine, the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy and Mercer University. She has given lectures in the community and continuing education classes to veterinarians, veterinary technicians, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. She has been the lead pharmacists in over 30 clinical research trials that have come through the UGA Teaching Hospital. She enjoys answering calls she receives from veterinarians and clients seeking drug information.

• Laura Adelina Bolanos Aguilar, MVZ

  Dr. Aguilar graduated from Vet School in 2013 in Querétaro, México. Laura attended the fourth year of Vet School at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain. She graduated from the three-year specialty of Zoo and Exotic Pet Medicine at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico in 2018. At the moment, Dr. Aguilar is doing her Zoological Medicine Residency program at the University of Georgia.”

• Sara Elizabeth Gonzalez, DVM, MS

  Dr. Sara Gonzalez received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (2011) and Master of Science (2007) degrees from the University of Florida. After graduation, she spent several years in small animal private practice in Manhattan, Kansas. Following this experience, she joined the faculty at Kansas State University as Small Animal Emergency Clinician in the Veterinary Health Center and Clinical Veterinarian in the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. In 2019, Dr. Gonzalez moved to Georgia, where she serves as Clinical Assistant Professor of Community Practice in the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery.

• Ira Roth, DVM, MS

• Noelle Browning, LCSW

  Noelle Browning is a social worker with the last six working in the human hospice and bereavement field. She received her Masters of Social Work from the University of Central Florida in 2011. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Georgia and Florida. The last two years she has worked exclusively with children and adult traumatic loss, bereavement, and pet loss. She has worked to develop programs with other not-for-profits in using equine therapy and art therapy to support those coping with grief and trauma. She has specialty training in trauma, grief, mediation, and facilitating groups. Currently, she is the Clinical Counselor for the University of Georgia’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital working with clients to provide support and resources. In this program, she assists with communication training for house officers and staff. She is the mother to two children and nine fur babies.

• Samantha Salmon, DVM, MS

  Dr. Samantha Salmon graduated from Colorado State University, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in 2016. Following graduation from veterinary school, she completed a one-year rotating internship at the University of Minnesota in Saint Paul, Minnesota then entered into a cardiology residency at the University of Georgia in Athens. Following completion of the residency program in July of 2020, she plans to move back to Colorado to work in a private practice.

• Benjamin Lee, DVM

  Dr. Lee is the third year, medical oncology resident at the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine. He earned his DVM from Mississippi State University. He then went on to complete a rotating internship at Colorado State University.