Dr. Sara Pizano
Shelter Consultant
Dr. Pizano has served as the Director of Veterinary Services at the Humane Society of Broward County in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Director of Miami-Dade Animal Services in Miami, Florida. She joined Target Zero in 2013 and was instrumental in creating and developing a holistic model to transform high euthanasia public shelters and end euthanasia as population control. She created Team Shelter USA, LLC in August of 2017 in an effort to offer a wider scope of services to help shelters of all types and sizes, regardless of their challenges and resources.
Aimee St.Arnaud
Clinic Consultant
Aimee St. Arnaud is a business partner in two full-service veterinary clinics (Community Pet Care Clinic in Ohio and Open Door Veterinary Care in North Carolina) that focus on removing barriers to care and increasing access to veterinary services while still maintaining a net positive revenue. She has created a non-profit mentorship Open Door Veterinary Collective for clinics that want to replicate their business model, including giving back through their revenue, providing incremental care and creating strong community partnerships with human social service and animal non-profits to remove barriers to care.
Dr. Cindi Delany
Director of the Online Learniverse
Dr. Cindi Delany has an undergraduate degree in Business/Economics from UCLA and a DVM from UC Davis. She became the first ever Shelter Veterinarian at Sacramento County Animal Care and Regulation in California under the newly created UC Davis Shelter Medicine Program in 2001. She acquired expertise in improving animal outcomes, environmental enrichment, shelter animal behavior and training, shelter data collection and analysis, and maximizing operational efficiencies in a limited resource environment. The driving force behind sheltermedportal.com, she is the Director of the Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge MMPC Online Learning Program, Learniverse.
Cameron Moore
Shelter Consultant
Cameron Moore oversaw shelter engagement for the Million Cat Challenge, a project of Maddie’s Fund®, the Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida, and the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program designed to save the lives of millions of cats in animal shelters. She was instrumental in helping the City of Jacksonville build a successful animal welfare program, including launching the renowned Feral Freedom community cat management program, which led to the development of Target Zero. Since 2013 she has completed over 100 shelter assessments in 18 states and Puerto Rico.
Jessica Dolce
Certified Compassion Fatigue Educator
Jessica Dolce, MS CCFE, is a Certified Compassion Fatigue Educator, receiving her training from TEND Academy and The Figley Institute. Jessica brings twenty years of experience working with and for companion animals to The Compassion in Balance Program, her online educational platform. She is an adjunct faculty member at Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program at UF, where she teaches wellbeing courses for both veterinary students and animal welfare professionals. She has worked with organizations such as the ASPCA, Animal Legal Defense Fund, BC SPCA, Two Green Threads, and the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants.
Heather Cammisa
Clinic Consultant
Heather has 25 years of experience in community animal welfare, innovation, and mission impact, with more than a dozen of those years as the chief executive of two non-profit organizations. She is a Certified Animal Welfare Administrator, holds a graduate certificate in Wildlife Forensics and Conservation from UF, and is a certified animal control office and animal cruelty investigator. Heather is known for innovating efficient approaches to welfare challenges and developing strategic partnerships for maximizing impact. She is a frequent speaker at conferences and has served on the Thought Leadership Council of PetSmart Charities.
Dr. Cynthia Karsten
Outreach Veterinarian & Lead Coach
Dr. Cynthia Karsten became board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice in 2017. Her main areas of interest include teaching and mentoring undergraduate and veterinary students in the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program, working with shelters on change management, and providing accessible, affordable veterinary care. She has helped identify and implement protocols and capacity for care models at shelters across the United States, Australia, and Canada to help improve the welfare for both animals and people. She is on the boards of Mercer Veterinary Clinic for Pets of the Homeless and Compassion Without Borders.
Keegan Spera
Outreach & Data Specialist
Keegan Spera oversees data collection, cleaning, analysis, and visualization for Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge and Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program at UF. She maintains a database of 154 brick-and-mortar shelters in Florida and 1,500 shelters in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and Canada. She provides and presents Florida statewide data for a variety of animal welfare organizations and coordinates with local, state, and national organizations to assess needs and coordinate assistance for shelters both pre- and post-storm as the primary contact for animal shelters in Florida when disasters are imminent.
Naima Cortes-Stoneberger
Consultation Mentorship Coordinator
Naima Cortes-Stoneberger brings more than 10 years of project management experience in the nonprofit sector to the Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge and the Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program at UF. Using her skills in developing structure, streamlining processes, and building collaboration, she coordinates the work that brings these programs to life. Naima has served on the Board of Directors for Gainesville Pet Rescue and now for Humane Society of North Central Florida, an organization formed from the partnerships of Gainesville Pet Rescue, Alachua County Humane Society, and Helping Hands Pet Rescue.
Dr. Julie Levy
Founder
Dr. Julie Levy is the Fran Marino Professor of Shelter Medicine Education at UF, focusing on the health and welfare of animals in shelters, feline infectious diseases, and humane alternatives for cat population control. She founded Operation Catnip, a nonprofit university-based community cat trap-neuter-return program that has spayed, neutered, and vaccinated more than 65,000 cats. In 2008, she joined Dr. Cynda Crawford to found Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program at UF, and in 2014 joined Dr. Kate Hurley to launch the Million Cat Challenge, a campaign to save millions of cats in North American shelters.
Dr. Kate Hurley
Founder
Dr. Kate Hurley began her career as an animal control officer, leaving after six years to attend the UC Davis School of Veterinary. She was the first in the world to undertake a residency in Shelter Medicine, during which she investigated and characterized one of the first documented outbreaks of Virulent Systemic Feline Calicivirus. She has done extensive research on diseases affecting dogs and cats in shelters and the relationship between their housing, health, wellness, and adoption. She is director of the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program and co-founder of the Million Cat Challenge.
PATNERING ORGANIZATIONS
MADE POSSIBLE BY MADDIE
Maddie’s Fund® is a family foundation established in 1994 by Dave and Cheryl Duffield and is the fulfillment of a promise to an inspirational dog, Maddie. She provided them much joy from 1987 – 1997 and continues to inspire them today.
The Foundation has awarded over $255 million in grants toward increased community lifesaving, pioneering shelter medicine education and establishing foster care as a standard across the U.S.
Maddie’s Fund® proudly offers the industry a national voice, important funding opportunities for bold ideas, learning resources and access to collaborate and share innovative solutions. The Foundation invests its resources in a commitment to keeping pets and people together, creating a safety net of care for animals in need and operating within a culture of inclusiveness and humility. #ThanksToMaddie.
A collaboration of UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program, Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program at UF, Open Door Veterinary Collective, and Team Shelter USA.
Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge is creating transformative “communities of practice” that deliver access to care through humane, community-centric programming—inside and outside of the shelter—to achieve the right outcome for every pet. Our consultative mentoring services are holistic, deep and practical, and delivered by the proven team who brought you the Million Cat Challenge, in expanded partnership with Open Door Veterinary Collective. This program is made available at no cost to participants, #ThanksToMaddie