In this video with dvm360 during the 2025 AVMA Convention, Jeba Jesudoss Chelladurai, BVSc, MS, PhD, DACVM (Parasitology; Immunology), shares more on what parasites are showing the most concerning signs of resistance, and how veterinarians should react 

dvm360 interview with Jeba Jesudoss Chelladurai, BVSc, MS, PhD, DACVM (Parasitology; Immunology)

 at the 2025 American Veterinary Medical Association Convention in Washington, DC, Jeba Jesudoss Chelladurai, PhD, BVSc, MS, DACVM (Parasitology; Immunology), a professor at the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine, shared her perspective on canine hookworm resistance in companion animals, including which parasites are showing to be the most concern and what veterinarians should do if they have a canine suspected of having hookworm resistance. 

Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity. 

Jeba Jesudoss Chelladurai, PhD, BVSc, MS, DACVM (Parasitology; Immunology):

 Veterinarians should approach every case on a case-by-case basis. As far as anthelmintic resistance is concerned, especially with hookworms, we feel…there are hookworm populations that are still susceptible. And without knowing [whether] you have a susceptible or resistant population, it is hard to just give blanket advice.

Veterinarians should spend some time doing some diagnostics, confirming that they have resistant parasites, before they go [trying] to treat them with anything extralabel. Veterinarians should try to use [on-label] drugs for these hookworms; very specifically, we have some combinations that can be used of just FDA-approved drugs at label doses. By doing that, you are staying well within what the FDA wants you to be doing, instead of going extralabel with unknown drugs.

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Jeba Jesudoss Chelladurai, PhD, BVSc, MS, DACVM (Parasitology; Immunology), emphasizes the importance of individual case assessments for anthelmintic resistance, particularly in canine hookworms.

Insights on canine hookworm resistance

An international animal housing provider has created a new leadership role and announced who will be taking it on, and the Pride Veterinary Medical Community (PrideVMC) has a new CEO. Meanwhile, Gallant, an animal health biotechnology company developing off-the-shelf stem cell therapies for pets, announced a new director of veterinary affairs.

Continue reading to learn more about each of these individuals.

Rebecca Windsor, DVM, DACVIM, director of veterinary affairs, Gallant

Rebecca Windsor, DVM, DACVIM. (Image courtesy of Gallant)

Rebecca Windsor, DVM, DACVIM, has joined Gallant as its director of veterinary affairs where she will spearhead the company’s veterinary education initiatives while the company seeks approval from the FDA for its 

“ready-to-use” stem cell therapy for feline chronic gingivostomatitis.

With almost 20 years of experience in clinical and research experience, Windsor has held leadership roles in specialty hospitals throughout the US, with her most recent role being chief of the Neurology Department as well as neurology internship coordinator at Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital in Colorado. At Wheat Ridge, Windsor investigated the effect of stem cells in Pugs with a presumptive early form of necrotizing meningoencephalitis. Last year, Windsor received the “Best in Colorado Top Doctor” recognition for excellence in veterinary medicine.

PrideVMC recently welcomed Stephanie Goss (she/her/hers) as its new CEO, a position she assumed on July 1, 2025. Goss has more than 20 years of experience in veterinary practice and multi-site management and is the founder of VetMedLife, a veterinary coaching initiative.

Goss has a background in strategic planning, team building, change management, facilitating educational content that leaves an impact, and developing and maintaining partner relations. According to PrideVMC, Goss holds a passion about creating and supporting high-performing teams, as well as helping develop leaders in the veterinary profession.

Avi Solomon, chief technology officer, CASCO Pet

Avi Solomon. (Image courtesy of CASCO Pet)

At CASCO Pet, a global animal housing provider, Avi Solomon is leading as the new chief technology officer—a recently created position at CASCO PET—to advance product development and technological innovation. Solomon has more than 2 decades of experience and is a founding member of Modern Animal. In his prior roles, Solomon was a product manager at IDEXX and a veterinary nurse. He also worked at DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital, where he applied technology to support clinical operations, developed the first blood bank management system for veterinary use, and cofounded the global educational platform atdove.org.

“After 25 years in the veterinary industry, I’ve learned that real breakthroughs grow from compassion and a respect for the day-to-day realities of practice,” said Solomon in a news release by CASCO Pet.

 “CASCO Pet couples a proven business with a bold spirit of innovation, and that combination is rare. I’m honored to be joining the team to help build on this great work, spark new ideas, and deliver tools that lighten clinicians’ workloads while improving life for pets and their families.”

Gallant names Dr. Rebecca Windsor director of veterinary affairs as company advances its off-the-shelf stem cell therapy for cats. News release. Gallant. May 13, 2025. Accessed July 18, 2025. 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gallant-names-dr-rebecca-windsor-director-of-veterinary-affairs-as-company-advances-its-off-the-shelf-stem-cell-therapy-for-cats-302453391.html

PrideVMC welcomes Stephanie Goss, PrideVMC CEO. News release. PrideVMC. June 26, 2025. Accessed July 18, 2025. 

https://pridevmc.org/2025/06/26/pridevmc-welcomes-stephanie-goss-pridevmc-ceo/

Avi Solomon joins CASCO Pet as CTO to drive product development. News release. CASCO Pet. May 15, 2025.

New leadership moves, recognition, and achievement.

Paws and profits: New leadership at company developing stem cell therapy, and more

“The reason that got me here, they made a movie about me [and it’s] still so surreal to me, but I think it's amazing that after so much time has passed, people are still interested in hearing my story,” Megan Leavey said to the crowd during her keynote address at 2025 American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Convention in Washington, DC.

Leavey is a former Marine Corps corporal and military police canine handler who, once she left the Marine Corps, fought to adopt Rex, the dog she was paired with during her deployment in Iraq. Leavey’s story and her fight for Rex gained popularity in the media and eventually went on to become a major motion picture in 2017 titled 

Throughout her keynote address, Leavey shared with attendees her journey to joining the Marine Corps and becoming a K9 handler, her time in Iraq, and what her fight for Rex looked like.

Leavey had no original plans to pursue a military career. In fact, she did not really have a post–high school plan for herself in any sense, besides going to college. She told attendees that besides both her grandfathers serving in World War II and her uncle serving in the Vietnam War, she had no other real ties to the armed forces. The turning point for her was when she was away at college in 2001 and a month into her first semester, the tragic events of 9/11 unfolded in a city that was near and dear to her, and then she lost a close family friend who was only 20 years old. She told the crowd that after she had been home for a while, her parents had her go back to school for the second semester despite not wanting to go back, and while there, her lack of effort made it so she was not welcomed back for the next year.

Leavey went on to try community college and got a job. Every day on her way to work, she would walk past a Marine Corps recruitment center, and one day, she decided to go in. After asking them one question, did she have to cut her hair to join, she enlisted.

Megan Leavey sharing her stories with attendees, including her cameo in the film 

“I heard the Marines were considered the toughest branch in service. I've been known to do things to the extreme. So I thought, if I'm going to do this, I'm going on. I signed my contract to join the Marines, and at the time, I happened to be studying criminal justice, so my recruiter thought it would be fitting if I joined as a military police officer, so that would be my job once I finished boot camp. Never did I dream that K9 would be an opportunity for me down the road,” Leavey explained.

After completing boot camp, Leavey entered military police school in Missouri, and K9 handlers came to speak to their class about becoming a handler. After weeding out those who were not qualified, Leavey was one of the few left who had the potential to be selected, and in the end, she was.

“Then I was off to Lackland Air Force Base to go to K9 school, where I was very proud. I finished [as] what they call the ‘top dog’ in your class, and then I was off to be stationed at Camp Pendleton in California. I was 20 years old, and that would be my first time traveling to the West Coast. So when I got there, there was no dog available for me yet, and that is where I initially met Rex. He was a very, very good working dog, very scary,” Leavey explained.

Rex and Leavey were together for her first deployment, and he became a source of comfort for Leavey as she was going through a tough time in her life, with her parents splitting up—her comfort came from throwing herself into work with Rex. She also said that because there were not many women in Iraq, her fellow soldiers were a little skeptical of her, but they always wanted to work with Rex. This first deployment was a big learning experience for her, but it was a good one, so she felt confident and more prepared when she returned for her second deployment in 2005.

Days before leaving for her second deployment, Leavey received a call that her sergeant had been killed by a suicide bomber, with 2 other handlers hurt badly. The death of her sergeant marked the first dog handler to be killed in the line of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In Iraq, she explained, there was a bounty on dog handlers and their dogs because they played a really important role in identifying improvised explosive devices on the ground.

On September 4, 2006, Leavey and Rex were with a team when they noticed a car heading toward their convoy, something that was not unusual. They had them stop, and Leavey and Rex began to approach the vehicle to check it out, and the blast went off.

“I remember coming to and not being able to see anything but dust and smoke all around me. My body hurt. My ears were ringing. Could feel my arms and my legs, and then I remember pulling on my leash, hoping and praying that Rex was still on the other end of it,” Leavey expressed.

“I always tried to have his leash attached to my flap jacket, just in case situations like this happened. I was lying down on the ground, and I dragged him toward me, and thank God, he was still on the other end of that leash. I was trying to look him over when 2 soldiers finally ran up to us, and they said, ‘My God, we couldn't find you. We were worried we lost you.’ They helped us back up, and we got back in our Humvee,” she continued.

Despite being injured, Leavey and Rex continued to work since they were the only handlers out there. After coming under fire, they returned to base. Leavey was medically evacuated out of base but had to leave Rex behind to be cared for by a veterinarian.

After this, and with Leavey having 1 year left on her contract, she did not want to be deployed anymore, despite her love for being a dog handler. In that year, she and Rex did physical therapy together, and she trained the next class of K9 handlers. Rex was also classified as nondeployable and maintained his certifications to be able to remain on the base.

Leavey expressed to the handlers and kept in touch with them to make sure that they all knew she wanted to adopt him when it was time for him to retire. Leavey waited "4 long years" and then she got a call from a former chief trainer letting her know Rex was having neurological issues and he was not going to be able to work anymore, so if she wanted Rex, she had better make some moves. Having all of her paperwork in order, there was only one thing stopping her: A veterinarian had written in Rex’s medical records that he was not a candidate for adoption because of his aggressive behaviors, and they did not sign off on his paperwork.

She contacted someone she trusted at her local Veterans Affairs office, and he told her to gather all her paperwork and he would pass it off to someone who could get it on a senator's desk. Then her story was everywhere.

“It was a wild experience being thrown into the public eye. What a whirlwind. Suddenly, my phone was ringing off the hook. My pictures were being printed in the newspaper. I was being interviewed left and right. I went on 

 to advocate for our adoption, and all I could think was, please, please, let this work. I'll never forget when I got the call that his adoption was fine. I couldn't believe I was going to be reunited with my boy,” Leavey said.

Along with getting Rex back, Leavey told the crowd that the president of the New York Yankees personally called her and told her he not only wanted to pay for all the travel expenses but also all of his future veterinary bills. She flew out to California to attend his retirement ceremony, and Leavey said that in true Rex fashion, he barked through the entire thing, and then she was able to take him home.

Leavey said 8 months after welcoming Rex home, she had to make the difficult decision to euthanize him because his quality of life was deteriorating. However, he spent those 8 months playing with her other dogs, seeing snow for the first time, and having his own welcome home ceremony at Yankee Stadium.

Leavey, who would go on to become a veterinary technician after trying to find a career that complemented her K9 handling background and love for animals, decided to participate in the movie about her and Rex’s story because to her, it could help someone else fighting to adopt a dog like Rex.

“I just want to remind you all here in a world where we are so used to instant gratification, I waited 4 years to adopt Rex. I waited 4 years for a movie about us to be made. And in your profession, when things are getting hard and you start to question if all your hard work is going to be worth it one day, I'm here to tell you, do not give up on something that you love,” Leavey concluded.

Megan Leavey took the stage at the 2025 AVMA Convention to talk about her life as a K9 handler in the armed forces, and her fight to adopt the dog she worked with 

Everything runs down leash

The American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) House of Delegates (HOD) announced that Jennifer K. Quammen, DVM, MPH, was victorious over Mary Ergen, DVM, to become the next president of the AVMA. The election was held during the AVMA Convention in Washington, DC, and she will officially take over during the 2026 AVMA Convention in Anaheim, California, in July 2026. Isaac Bott, DVM, the Society for Theriogenology delegate who nominated Quammen stated that she is a caring and has a compassionate nature as well as a header who embodies genuine leadership.

Standing with her sister Joanne, best friend Brittany, and partner Ryan Smith, Quammen addressed the delegates following the election, thanking the HOD for its vote and shared her “heartfelt appreciation” to Ergen, according to the AVMA.

Jennifer K. Quammen, DVM, MPH, surrounded by friends and family as she addresses the House of Delegates during the 2025 AVMA Convention (Image courtesy of R. Scott Nolen) 

“My fellow candidate and a true partner in this journey,” Quammen stated during her speech.

 “Mary, your leadership, clarity, and dedication to veterinary medicine have made this process stronger and more meaningful. Thank you for your grace and strength. I’m grateful for your friendship.”

Check out Quammen’s recent episode of The Vet Blast Podcast presented by dvm360 

Quammen graduated from The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2011 and has taken on multiple roles through her career in veterinary medicine. Quammen started as a licensed veterinary technician, worked her way up to associate and relief veterinarian, and then became medical director of a multi-location private practice. Currently in her career, Quammen serves as the chief veterinary officer at Otto, a digital platform that helps veterinary clinics streamline communications with clients and is a member on the Kentucky Board of Veterinary Examiners.

As for leadership in the industry, Quammen was elected as the 2022 AVMA vice president where she served the full 2-year term serving as the AVMA’s liaison for the Student AVMA and its chapters, plus veterinary college deans and faculty.

 She also is an alumna of the AVMA Future Leaders Program and served as chair of the AVMA Council on Veterinary Service.

She also was the Kentucky VMA (KVMA) president from 2018-2019 as well as a co-facilitator of the of the KVMA’s Power of Ten leadership program. Quammen also worked with the Veterinary Leadership Experience and Veterinary Leadership Institute for 8 years beginning in 2011.

Known for being an advocate for wellbeing, Quammen cofounded Veterinarian Coaching in 2014 where she helped students, practices, and individual veterinarians on topics from stress management to career transition and even sleep hygiene.

“This moment is not about one person—it’s about all of us,” Quammen concluded.

 “Whether you’re in academia, shelter work, large animal, solo practice, or industry—whether you’re a student, technician, associate, or practice owner—you matter. And I’m here to listen, to learn, and to lead with intention, humility, and heart. Let’s keep building a strong future together.”

Quammen wins vote for AVMA president-elect. News release. American Veterinary Medical Association. July 19, 2025. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.avma.org/events/avma-convention/convention-daily-news-2025/quammen-wins-vote-avma-president-elect

Jennifer K. Quammen, DVM, MPH won against Mary Ergen, DVM, to lead the American Veterinary Medical Association

AVMA announces 2025-2026 president-elect 

Preventive care is essential for both quality and quantity of life for patients, and it is an area that also requires owner compliance, which may not always be the easiest to get.  For preventive care compliance, does your team have a protocol in place, and how well is it utilizing its credentialed veterinary technicians?

Leveraging Technicians to Maximize Preventive Care Compliance

 at the 2025 AVMA Convention in Washington, DC, Kaitlyn Boatright, VMD, shared how veterinary teams can work together and utilize each other to get a formal preventive care protocol in place, plus what role credentialed veterinary technicians play in the process.

When a practice has a protocol, it helps to ensure that all the clinics in the clinic receive consistent recommendations from the veterinary team members and can improve efficiency as team members because it helps determine what samples could be needed during an appointment. These standard operating procedures (SOP) should be treated as such for the clinic, not a wellness packages that clients purchase.

Veterinary clinics that are creating a new protocol, or updating an existing one, management should involve the entire team. According to Boatright, but getting input from team members in and out of management positions, it can ensure that the people provide the care to patients are invested in the protocols development. Then, work together to create a script that everyone can utilize.

“I really encourage my team members to follow those recommendations for their own pets and then work on written guidelines make sure they're accessible to everyone and for our newer team members or if we're changing protocols work on developing a written script,” Boatright said to attendees.

Including the team in your protocol creations can also help identity team members who are maybe more passionate or ‘better at’ getting compliance with clients. If you have a technician that is good at getting owners to agree with certain testing, have them share with the rest of the team. By sharing what works and what does not, it can help team members develop their own presentations of the protocols to help them get the same success as that other technician has had.

Technicians in the clinic can take on many roles, including promoting preventive care to clients. The expertise and training that technicians receive puts them in the position to be an irreplaceable asset in improve compliance by using education and improving efficiency through performing technical tasks, according to Boatright.

During visits, technicians can provide more detailed information to clients about preventive care recommendations, in response to any owner questions once they are checked in. They can also sit with the clients to review recommendations for future visits, review treatment plans, and present estimates. Then, once the any test results come in, they can call or email the client once it has been reviewed by a veterinarian. As a technician, they are qualified to deliver the results due to your background, making technicians a great resource to help educate clients and answer medical questions.

Technicians can also improve efficiency. Veterinary practices can have clients schedule technician appointments for booster vaccinations, wellness testing, and other preventive service when a veterinarian’s examination is not required. For a regular veterinary visit, these technicians can start the appointment by collecting and preparing samples to be tested as well as read in-house fecal samples.

“I want [technicians] to elaborate on the recommendations in the exam room. I want them to go over treatment plans and estimates of clients. And then a lot of times I'm reviewing the results, and once I'm getting them, I am delegating back to my technician to go over the results with the client,” said Boatright.

“So we are partners in communication. You guys are often doing that initial history collection. You're starting to identify some of the barriers or concerns that the client might be coming into the visit with, and we know that there is data that shows that client decision making is improved when both a credentialed veterinary technician and a veterinarian are involved in the dialog and so the more that we can partner together, the better our overall client experiences will be”

Veterinarian technicians are a crucial part of every veterinary clinic, so utilizing them to the best of their capabilities will help your team improve in all aspects, including preventive medicine. Having a protocol in place with technicians assisting in educating patients can help their owners make the most informed decisions when it comes to their pets care, in result keeping more pets happy and healthy.

Leveraging Technicians to Maximize Preventive Care Compliance. Presented at: American Veterinary Medical Association Convention; Washington, DC: July 18-22, 2025.

Plus, the role technicians can play in owner compliance for preventive care

Creating preventive care compliance protocols 

, is the most important parasite of dogs in North America, explained Christopher B. Adolph, DVM, MS, DACVM (Parasitology), senior veterinary specialist-parasitology at Zoetis, during a lecture at the 2025 American Veterinary Medical Association Convention in Washington, DC.

Although it is not the most common parasite of canines, the significant damage the parasitic worm does to its host’s organs and arteries, as well as its challenging nature to treat, render it the most important parasite of dogs.

 By the time the potentially fatal disease is detected in a dog, the disease has already started, and the damage it has caused can be permanent.

Although not the most prevalent parasite of canines, the parasite poses a growing threat. During the session, Adolph showed the audience a map of melarsomine dihydrochloride (Diroban; Zoetis) sales distributions in the US, which broadly mirror human population density across North America, revealing the disease’s widespread presence.

Contributing factors in its growth across the US, as well as its increasing resistance, include natural disasters, changes in natural climate conditions, online adoption sources with pet transportation options, nonadherence with medication, and an increase in pet owner travel with dogs. Currently, more than 40 species of mosquitoes are known vectors of the disease, making full vector control impossible, further contributing to the parasite’s increasing presence and resistance.

’ life cycle and why missed treatment doses are critical

The parasite’s life cycle involves adult heartworms living in the pulmonary arteries of dogs, other canids, or cats, and producing microfilaria—ie, baby worms—that circulate in the dog’s bloodstream.

 When an infected dog is bitten by a mosquito, the mosquito ingests the microfilaria, which then undergo 3 molts inside the mosquito. Once the microfilaria reaches the third molt, L3, it becomes an infective larva that can then be transmitted to a new host when the mosquito bites another animal. At that point, the L3 larvae will develop into L4 within 3 to 12 days. Afterward, the L4 will develop into immature adults, formerly called L5. The L4 parasites molt into immature adults at days 50 to 70.

 heartworm preventives target the parasite’s L3 and L4 stages, killing them before they can mature into adults and cause disease. “They're L4 guys for about 50 to 70 days, so if you're giving your monthly product every 30 days on time, and you're encountering susceptible worms...[the medication is] killing all of those L4s [within] hopefully the 30-day stage before they can continue their term,” said Adolph.

However, because all preventives are labeled for the L3 and L4 stages, missing just 1 dose can allow L4 larvae to develop into adults as early as day 50, bypassing the medication’s target window. “One missed dose is a hole in the net, and that can lead to infection,” stressed Adolph. “We can't be missing doses. [We need to dose] every month, year-round.”

“These immature adults are going to start arriving in the vasculature around days 67 to 70, and that is when you start the clock on damage. That's when damage starts,” Adolph continued. Around day 120, the immature adults will start arriving in the pulmonary arteries, with veterinarians still being 2 months from being able to detect them.

The more worms a patient has, the more pathology there will be, emphasized Adolph. “Every beat of the heart is slamming worms into the vascular endothelium, creating progressive, irreversible damage,” he said.

“This is [the]...reason why I...test all the time,” he continued. “Test at least once a year if they're compliant, and every time they have a gap, test now [and] test again in 6 months. Test, test, test because you want to find these things early in the [disease] process and make these worms dead as soon as possible with [melarsomine dihydrochloride] and all the other ancillary treatments.”

Adolph CB. Mapping the path forward: key findings from heartworm surveillance research. Presented at: American Veterinary Medical Association Convention; Washington, DC; July 18-22, 2025.

What is heartworm disease? American Heartworm Society. Accessed July 18, 2025. https://heartwormsociety.org/pet-owner-resources/heartworm-basics

An overview of heartworm disease from a session by Christopher B Adolph, DVM, MS, DACVM (Parasitology) at the 2025 AVMA Convention