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
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.
Immediate Aid
We supply critical care to animals in need through access to medicines, rescues, and equipment to address immediate and future needs.
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.
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.
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
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
Get to Know Us
Our Team of Visionaries
- Board of Directors
- Staff
- Field Experts
- Kenya Vet Training Specialist Task Force
- Asian Elephant Health & Welfare Task Force
- Technical Advisory Board
- Honorees
- Ambassadors
Steve Tannehill, MBA
Board Treasurer
Karen Cooper, Fundraising Executive
Board Member
Dr. Gayle Pohl, Associate Professor at University of Northern Iowa
Board Member
Dr. Dale Smith, Professor Emeritus of the University of Guelph
Board Member
Ilaria Borghese, MS, MA, OT
Board Member
Julie Koch-Beinke, Partner and Co-Founder, Alternatives
Board Member
Laura Berger, MCC, Master Coach Executive
Board Member
Dr. Scarlett Magda
Founder & President
Lauren Steinberg
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Jenna Wallace
Chief Veterinarian
Dr. Grace Watene
Kenya Representative, Director of Kenya Veterinary Training Program
Dr. Lonnie Kasman
Director of Global Experiences
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
Amanda Tsai
Grant Writer Volunteer
Natan Rapaport
Grant Writer Volunteer
Bonnie Klapper
B.A. Esq., Legal Counsel
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
Dr. Ed Ramsay
DVM and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine
Dr. Dale Smith
DVM and Professor Emeritus of the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Dr. Shachar Malka
DVM Diplomate ABVP & Diplomate ACEPM
Dr. Panayiotis Azmanis
DVM, PhD, Dip ECZM (avian)
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
Dr. Scarlett Magda
Senior Technical Advisor & Founder
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
Youth Ambassadors:
Margo Moog
Charlotte Moog
