I started my lab animal career as a summer student, washing rodent cages and providing animal husbandry and care to rodent colonies. I was impressed by the level of care and concern the facility staff and researchers had for the animals and felt an immediate connection to the community laboratory animal medicine professionals like you. When accepted as a veterinary student at Ontario Veterinary College (OVC), my goal was to specialize in laboratory animal medicine. After graduating from OVC, I was employed as a clinical veterinarian in several research institutions close to my home in southwestern Ontario, Canada and my enthusiasm for teaching and training continued to grow. However, it was when I moved south of the border for a position at Cornell University that my role in teaching and training soared to new heights. Identifying with the struggles I saw in others, coupled with my service-mindedness and creative abilities, I developed further as an empathetic and effective teacher and trainer.

As the former Assistant Director of Training Services at Cornell University, I created a trademarked training method, Translational Training ToolsTM (The 3Ts). My intention of for the 3Ts was to provide a training method that would serve the 3Rs by implementing a series of inanimate training tools – some commercially available and others DYI – into the institutional animal user training program at Cornell University. With support from Cornell and the CARE Training Team, I shared The 3Ts method with the lab animal medicine community, internationally through webinars, workshops, learning resource centers, and now through The Joy of Training with Dr. WOW Inc.