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Our Mission

We’re committed to enhancing the health and welfare of wildlife and domestic animals by fostering and empowering an international community of veterinarians to increase the worldwide capacity for care. Veterinarians International’s work is focused on education, training and empowerment of vets and communities on a local level. Together, we can create a healthy, harmonious, and sustainable world where humans and animals can survive and thrive together.

How We Take Action

Groundwork Icon | Veterinarian International
building infrastructure

We provide site infrastructure such as wildlife hospitals, dormitories, rehabilitation centers as well as other resources for the self-sustained expansion of animal health and welfare in communities around the world.

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Immediate Aid

We supply critical care to animals in need through access to medicines, rescues, and equipment to address immediate and future needs.

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Veterinary Training

We empower veterinarians by providing scholarships for advanced degrees, workshops and conferences, as well as hands-on training opportunities. Qualified vets help ensure optimal outcomes for animals and people.

Community Collaboration

Our community is a global one made up of stewards who manage their members, lands and cultures on a local level. We operate at a local level with a compounding impact that creates a positive world-wide effect on human and animal health.

Increasing Veterinary Capacity

The Case for Kenya
THE CASE FOR KENYA
  • Build Kenyan veterinary training program in partnership with the University of Nairobi
  • Establish a Mobile Veterinary Clinic in Laikipia
  • Improve remote community access to veterinary care

A Lifeline for Asian Elephants

The Case for Sri Lanka
THE CASE FOR SRI LANKA
  • Empower veterinarians with training
  • Provide additional equipment and medicine

Safeguarding from Zoonotic Diseases

The Case for Guatemala
THE CASE FOR LATIN AMERICA
  • Minimize distemper + rabies in Chile and Guatemala
  • Provide low cost spay/neuter services
  • Provide hands-on training to recent veterinary graduates

The Mental Health Crisis in Veterinary Medicine

The Case For Vet Mental Health & Revitalization
THE CASE FOR VET MENTAL HEALTH & REVITALIZATION
  • Access to physiatrist & holistic health practitioners
  • Well-being Retreat Scholarship: puravidavetwellness.com
  • Revitalization retreats to the field in Latin America, Kenya & Sri Lanka

What We Do & Why It Matters

At Veterinarians International, we recognize the importance of the One Health approach: the health of people is closely connected to the health of animals and our shared environment.

The CDC estimates that 75% of emerging infectious diseases originate in wildlife. Care for animals truly means care for all, and veterinarians are a critical link in global health as advocates for animal well-being and for prevention of dangerous diseases passing from animals to humans.

VI Triangle Icon - What We Do & Why It Matters Chart
Care

Improving health of animals, environment, and communities is the cornerstone of our efforts on a global level.

Connection

Empathy comes from education and exposure. Empowering the world with education opens up opportunities for harmonious collaboration and curation of our plants and animals.

Coexistence

The health of the human species is entirely reliant on the health of our animal populations and our physical environment.

Care, Connections and Coexistence Chart
CARE

Improving health of animals, environment, and communities is the cornerstone of our efforts on a global level.

CONNECTION

Empathy comes from education and exposure. Empowering the world with education opens up opportunities for harmonious collaboration and curation of our plants and animals.

COEXISTENCE

The health of the human species is entirely reliant on the health of our animal populations and our physical environment.

Our Accomplishments to Date

As we are increasingly reminded of our global connectedness and the link between human and animal health, we strive to provide veterinary care to animals and communities that need it most worldwide, healing our planet one step at a time.

  • Yale Executive MBA Social ROI (SROI) assessment for VI was 21.35. For every dollar donated to VI, it has a twenty-fold reach!
  • Vaccinated 45,000 cats and dogs globally for rabies and distemper
  • Spayed or neutered over 5,000 animals globally
  • Helped build a low-cost veterinary hospital in Valdivia, Chile, offering veterinary care to the impoverished in South America’s only temperate rainforest
  • Taught kindness, empathy, and welfare needs of pets and captive elephants to over 5,000 children in Chile, Guatemala, and Thailand, through our humane education programs
  • Built 2 mobile veterinary clinics offering veterinary care to 200 elephants in Surin, Thailand
  • Trained Burmese government officials in forensic analysis to curb elephant poaching
  • Enabled the first elephant blood transfusion in Sri Lanka in 2019
  • Provided equipment (CBC, chemistry machine, and hemocytometer) enabling vital health data to be obtained on hundreds of wildlife and elephant patients at the Elephant Transit Home in Sri Lanka
  • Enabled 20 orphaned elephants to be released back into the wild in Sri Lanka
  • Purchased medical equipment (ultrasound and portable x-ray machine) and provided food and medical aid to 35 baby chimpanzees rescued from the illegal pet and bushmeat trade
  • Provided animal health services to over 700 households, saving the lives of over 265,000 sheep and goats, and over 200 donkeys in Marsabit, Kenya

Annual Reports

See our impact through the years.

2021202020192018201720162015

Kindness and compassion to animals is our message, and ensuring their health and welfare is our responsibility.

Veterinarians International team caring for a dog

Get to Know Us

Our Team of Visionaries

Dr. Scarlett Magda
Founder & President

Steve Tannehill
Treasurer

Julie Stone
Board Member

Bonnie S. Klapper
B.A. Esq., Legal Counsel

Ilaria Borghese
Board Member, MS, MA, OT

Daizie Labelle, DVM, MBA, CCRP
Secretary

Julie Koch-Beinke
Board Member

Dr. Scarlett Magda
Founder & President

Lauren Steinberg
Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Grace Watene
Kenya Representative, Director of Kenya Veterinary Training Program

Ashley Grimes
Development Director

Gift Del Campo
Executive Assistant

Jean Fordyce
Bookkeeper

Ambrose Letoluai
Kenya Media Manager

Geoffrey Mboya
Communication Liaison/Kenya Youth Ambassador

Kylie Gifis
Social Media Specialist Volunteer

Sonya Pihura
Grant Writer Volunteer

Amanda Tsai
Grant Writer Volunteer

Carmela Federico
Grant Writer Volunteer

 

 

Dr. Maria Brömme
Veterinary Recruitment Coordinator

Dr. Arlene F. Gardsbane
Project Coordinator For The African Rabies Prevention Program

Guillermo Perez
Director – Healthy Pets Program

Dr. Elena Garde
Director – Healthy Pets Program

Dr. Beth Miller
Healthy Farms Program Director

Veronica Mcmahan
Marketing and External Affairs

Lynnwood Bibbens

Dr. Janine Brown
Asian Elephant Health Task Force – Expert

Dr. Khyne U Mar
Asian Elephant Health Task Force – Expert

Dr. Willem Schaftenaar

Ellen Dierenfeld
Advisor And Animal Nutritionist

Dr. Madhulal Valliyatte
Advisor And Elephant Field Veterinarian

Dr. William B. Karesh
Senior Technical Advisor & Founding Board Member

Joyce Turk
Advisor

Dr. David Waltner-Toews
Advisor

Dr. Lonnie Kasman
Advisor

Dr. William Karesh
2019

Carl Safina
2018

Cornelia Guest
2017

Dr. Jane Goodall
2017

Penni Ludwig
2017

Christie Brinkley
2016

Richard Lair
2016

Andrew Sabin
2015

Gerald Barad
2015

Christine Evangelista

Missy Hargraves

Anna Cley

Dwayne Hill

Asher Jay

Kavita Channe