Leadership

Roger Williams Park Zoo

1000 Elmwood Ave. | Providence, RI 02907

Kim has been actively involved in ARAV since becoming a student member in 2006. She has previously served two terms as a member-at-large and the co-chair of the Legislative and Animal Welfare Committee. In 2015 she received the ARAV Presidential Service Award for her contributions to the organization. She graduated from Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, followed by internships in both small animal medicine and surgery and zoological medicine. She completed the Chicago Zoological and Aquatic Animal Residency Program and is currently employed at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. She shares her home with a variety of furred and scaled pets including a rosy boa, ball python, blue-tongued skink, red-eared slider, and red-footed tortoise.

Oasis Veterinary Hospital

6635 Alhambra Ave. | Ste. #100 | Martinez, CA 94553

Louisa Asseo is the proud owner of Oasis Veterinary Hospital in Martinez, CA. She opened this small animal and exotic animal medicine full service hospital in the East Bay of San Francisco, CA in April 2016.

She has been an active member of the Association of Amphibian and Reptilian Veterinarians (ARAV) since graduating from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 2002.

She has been serving on the ARAV committee for membership and PR since 2011 and has since served as the co-chair of this committee since 2013.

The Critter Fixer of Central Florida

PO Box 621679 | Oviedo, FL. 32762

James Bogan is a 1994 graduate of The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine and is double board certified through ABVP in canine and feline practice as well as reptile and amphibian practice. Additionally, he is a certified aquatics veterinarian through the World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association. James has also been a member of ARAV since 1994 and served as treasurer from October 2014 through 2017. He is the owner of a mobile practice, The Critter Fixer of Central Florida, as well as the Chief Veterinary Officer for Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens.

His veterinary interests include medicine and surgery of snakes and crocodilians.

Avian and Exotics Department, The Animal Medical Center

510 East 62nd St. | New York, NY 10065

Dr. La’Toya Latney is an Assistant Professor and Service Head for Clinical Zoo and Exotic Animal Medicine Services at PennVet. As Cornell undergrad alum and Ross Veterinary school alum, Dr. Latney then finished her last year at Louisiana State University, home of raptors and reptiles, under the tutelage of Mark Mitchell DVM, PhD, DECZM (Herp), Thomas Tully, DVM, MS, DABVP-Avian, ECZM (Avian), David Sanchez Migallon Guzman, LSV, MS, DECZM (Small Mammal, Avian), DACZM (Avian), and Javier Nevarez, DVM, MS, PhD, DECZM (Herp), DACZM (Herp). Latney then completed an all exotics internship under Heidi Hoefer, DVM DABVP (Avian), at Island Exotics Veterinary Care in Long Island, NY. After completing the Exotics Residency at PennVet, Latney has remained at PennVet for 9.5 years and serves as a consulting veterinarian for Brandywine Zoo and Elmwood Park Zoo. At PennVet, she teaches 4 courses, including a 16-hour course on reptile medicine and surgery. In addition to serving as a clinical instructor on service at PennVet for fourth year students, Latney serves turtle rehabilitation laboratory instructor for the National Wildlife Rehabilitation Association (NWRA), and lectures regularly on reptile medicine and surgery at NWRA, CVC, PVMA, NYSWRC, FWRA, and NAVC. For students, Dr. Latney hosts reptile handling laboratories biannually for the Special Species Symposium at PennVet and most recently at the national SAVMA symposium, in which 40 students were in attendance for two 2 hour laboratories. She serves as a proud mentor who has trained 8 specialty interns, one of whom co-chairs the Education Committee for ARAV.

She is a diplomat of the European College of Zoo Medicine (Zoo Health management) and the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners Reptile and Amphibian specialty. She is credentialed to sit for the American College of Zoological Medicine specialty exam 2018. Most of her publications review reptile and amphibian nutrition and novel treatment approaches, and a brief overview can be found at http://www.vet.upenn.edu/people/faculty-clinician-search/LA'TOYALATNEY. Her special interests include adaptive critical care, reptile nutrition, comparative anatomy, novel development of surgical techniques, evidence based medicine, infectious diseases, and classical Indian dance.

Avian and Exotic Animal Hospital of Georgia

118 Pipemakers Circle Suite 110 Pooler, GA 31322

Stacey Leonatti Wilkinson is a 2006 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. Since that time she has been an associate veterinarian at Avian and Exotic Animal Care in Raleigh, NC, a practice devoted exclusively to the care of exotic animals. She recently left that position to start her own practice, Avian and Exotic Animal Hospital of Georgia, in the Savannah, GA area, continuing to treat only exotics. Stacey became an ABVP Diplomate of Reptile and Amphibian medicine in 2013. She has been a member of ARAV since 2006, and has been the chair or co-chair of the In Depth Session at the annual conference every year since 2011. She has also spoken at the conference and served as a lab instructor, and is a member of the Legislative and Animal Welfare Committee.

She is very excited about the position of treasurer and the opportunity it provides to become more involved in ARAV. The ARAV does an excellent job of serving and representing exotic animal veterinarians. She believes her experience as a private practitioner in the trenches would be a great fit for this. She and her husband have a collection of over 50 reptiles, and her favorite reptile is the Grand Cayman blue iguana, which she finally got a chance to see in their native habitat this past year.

Bulger Veterinary Hospital

141 Winthrop Ave| Lawrence MA 01843

Dr. Mike Corcoran is a 2008 graduate of the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine. He started working in emergency medicine in the Pacific Northwest before pursuing his real passion of working with exotic animals, initially as a part time mobile practice in the Portland, Oregon region. In exotic animal medicine he has worked as an associate veterinarian at Arizona Exotic Animal Hospital, VCA Wakefield Animal Hospital in the Boston area, an associate veterinarian at The New England Aquarium in Boston and now currently at Bulger Veterinary Hospital.

Mike has been a member of ARAV for several years and has served on the Membership and PR committee. He is proud to be serving the membership on the Executive Board and looks forward to giving back to ARAV.

In addition to professional interests, Mike is a SCUBA instructor and enjoys spending as much time as possible underwater.

The Pet Hospital of Granbury

1851 Acton Hwy Granbury, TX 76049

Dr. Kenneth Ford is an associate veterinarian and future part owner of The Pet Hospital of Granbury in Granbury, Texas. Dr. Kenneth Ford is a graduate of Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine. Upon graduation he was accepted into the small animal medicine and surgery internship at his almamater. During his internship, Dr. Ford also was able to have complete case responsibility for all exotic cases that entered the hospital.  This may have increased the necessary work load but exotic animal medicine was always his passion.  During the internship, Dr. Ford lead several labs, lectures and hands-on workshops for students who had an interest in exotic animal medicine.

Upon completion of his internship, Dr. Kenneth Ford decided to move to the great state of Texas and enter private practice.  He began with Banfield The Pet Hospital in Fort Worth, where he would become Chief of Staff and one of the top doctors in his market.  Dr. Ford did much to try and grow the field of exotic medicine in the area.  He was even asked to be an internal reference for all the area Banfield hospitals. He would volunteer time by doing small doctor meetings in exotic animal medicine to improve the care they can offer their patients.

After four years with the practice, Dr. Ford decided it was time for a change and left to join The Pet Hospital of Granbury.  Upon joining the The Pet Hospital, Dr. Ford quickly expanded the practice to include exotic animal medicine and surgery. With the expansion of the practice, Dr. Ford also volunteers a lot of time in the community to fight the negative stigma of reptiles in the area.  He has done educational talks for many adult social clubs, community centers and elementary schools in his area.  Dr. Ford also enjoys working with local pet shops and breeders so they better understand the importance of exotic pets care prior to these pets being sold to the public.

Dr. Kenneth Ford is a member of several professional organizations including ARAV, AEMV and AAZV.  His special interest include soft tissue surgery, endoscopic medicine, reptile nutrition and community outreach. Dr. Ford plans to achieve the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners certification in Reptile and Amphibian practice. Thus, much of his spare time is used for self study and keeping up with the ever expanding field.  Dr. Ford enjoys working on his classic car, maintaining his personal reptile collection and trying to keep up with his two year old daughter.

2100 E Beach Blvd | Gulfport, MS 39501

I am currently a PhD candidate at Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine. I completed my undergraduate degree at the
University of California, Santa Cruz, earning a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Behavior. Then I completed my Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Western University of Health Sciences in 2013. Since graduating veterinary school, I’ve completed internships in both emergency and critical care and small animal medicine and surgery at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine and practiced in the Marathon Veterinary Hospital in the Florida Keys. I’ve continued practicing both emergency and zoological medicine during my PhD. My dissertation topic focuses on the development of artificial reproductive technologies in captive reptiles as a translational model for endangered species. I’ve authored and co-authored peer reviewed journal articles and popular press articles for Reptiles Magazine; in addition to book chapters in Mader’s Reptile Medicine and Surgery, Current Therapy in Exotic Pet Practice and Veterinary Clinics of North America. My professional interests include, Theriogenology in zoological species, specifically reptiles and amphibians, minimally invasive imaging and surgery, emergency and critical care in exotic species, and aquatic animal medicine.

Dept. of Vet Small Animal Clinical Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences

Texas A&M University College Station | TX 77843

A native Texan, Jennifer Jill Heatley graduated from Texas A&M University with a doctor of veterinary medicine degree in 1995 and then practiced privately for three years as a small and exotic animal and emergency veterinarian. She completed an internship in wildlife, zoo and exotic medicine at Louisiana State University in 1999 and completed a combined residency in zoological medicine and a master of science degree program in Louisiana State University in 2002.  She served as clinical assistant professor of zoological medicine and attending veterinarian of the Southeastern Raptor Center at Auburn University from 2002-2006.

She is currently associate professor with tenure of Zoological Medicine at Texas A&M University. Her veterinary medical research interests include application of emergency and critical care techniques, clinical pathology of zoological species and ecosystem health monitoring through native species with special emphasis on avian, reptilian and amphibian species. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners, Certified in Avian practice as well as a Diplomate of the American College of Zoological Medicine. She has served as Liaison of Board of Directors of the Association of Avian Veterinarians to the American association of Zoo Veterinarians, Treasurer for the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians and President of the Horned Lizard Conservation Society. Her current research topics include health monitoring of wild populations of monk parakeets, investigation of avian bornavirus in free-living avian species and electrolyte comparisons of multiple species of exotic animals, including Texas Tortoises.  

Neffsville Veterinary Clinic

2555 Lititz Pike | Lancaster, PA 17601

I first discovered my love of scaly creatures in high school when I got my bearded dragon, Draco. Nine years later, he is still with me, along with two ball pythons, a special needs iguana, a Florida kingsnake, a tarantula, a parrot, two rabbits, and the family cats and dog. Having graduated from veterinary school as part of the Tufts University class of 2020, I am currently building my career as a mixed small animal/exotics general practitioner in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Although many people believe reptiles cannot love their caretakers because of their intrinsic lack of oxytocin, they can certainly build a phenomenally trusting bond. Reptiles remind me to slow down and enjoy the sunshine, and I’m looking forward to sharing my passion for them by helping others to care for their scaly and slimy companions.

MJB Management

PO Box 1868 | Mt. Juliet, TN 37121

Wendy received her B.S. in Business Administration from Nazareth College in Rochester, NY in 2003.  She previously worked in marketing for 8 years at an Orlando theme park where she transitioned into another marketing role in an Orlando human healthcare system for 2 years.

She joined the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians (ARAV) in October 2018 where she began to serve as their Executive Director but has worked as a Marketing Manager for the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) since September 2016.

721 Inverness DriveWest Chester, PA 19380-6888

Dr. Wilbur Amand is a 1966 graduate of the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Following an internship and residency at Penn, he joined the junior faculty during which time he developed an interest in exotic companion animal medicine and zoo/wildlife medicine. Dr. Amand joined the Philadelphia Zoological Garden in 1974 as Senior Veterinarian while also returning to the faculty at Penn as an Adjunct Professor of Zoological Medicine. He developed a number of courses in avian, reptile and zoo mammal medicine. He retired from the Philadelphia Zoo in 1992 as Emeritus Vice President for Animal Health.

Dr. Amand served as the Executive Director of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians for nearly 20 years and was the Editor of the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine for 10 years. He joined the Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians as the Executive Director in 1994. In addition, he serves as the Executive Director of the American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition and is a member of the Animal Policy Committee for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD, and the Board of Elephant Care International.