Jennifer Welser DVM, DACVO, is a Veterinary Innovation Council board member and the global Chief Medical Officer at Mars Veterinary Health. She is a former private practice owner, former multispecialty practice medical director, former chief medical officer of BluePearl Veterinary Partners, and an inventor. She is passionate about advancing the industry in a manner that serves all – people, pets and planet.

I am an experienced veterinary surgeon, having worked in practice for 13 years before completing a PhD in Veterinary Patient Safety in 2017 at Nottingham University. Veterinary work taught me to think on my feet, work under pressure and make decisions both on my own and as part of a team. It taught me to communicate effectively, to ask careful questions, listen to the answers and to lead people with empathy and professionalism. The PhD has taught me to think both critically and creatively, to objectively analyse information, effectively facilitate meetings and handle large sets of data. It has developed my reasoning skills and knowledge base and has resulted in regular public speaking and multiple scientific publications.

My current role has allowed me to turn research into outcomes in the development of a unique national error reporting system and database for the veterinary profession. This has involved managing and integrating a large and complex project, a diverse team of people and a wide skills requirement. In addition, I have designed multiple complimentary training programmes. My current role as Veterinary Risk manager has developed my ability to appraise veterinary risk through my activities as part of the VDS underwriting team. I continue to supervise and promote research which advances the field of human factors and patient safety in the veterinary profession.

Albert W. Wu, MD, MPH is a practicing general internist and Professor of Health Policy & Management and Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is director of the Center for Health Services & Outcomes Research, and online Masters of Applied Science in Patient Safety & Healthcare Quality, and is Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management. He is an expert in research on quality of care and outcomes research with over 500 publications and book chapters. He was Senior Adviser for Patient Safety to WHO, and coined the term “second victim.” He is co-director of the RISE (Resilience in Stressful Events) peer support program and during the pandemic has helped to organize peer support for Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Andrew Blackie is a highly experienced safety investigation specialist with a deep understanding of human factors.

Between 2007 and 2017 Andrew was a Senior Inspector (Operations) at the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch conducting 47 large scale field investigations, numerous minor investigations and acting as the United Kingdom state representative on investigations conducted by other States.

With 25 years of aviation experience Andrew has had a varied career initially as a pilot on survey and surveillance aircraft in support of UK coastguard operations, through classic airliners like the 1940s DC-3 to corporate jets for a world championship winning Formula 1 team and ultimately large jet airliners.

Andrew has a Masters degree in “Safety and Accident Investigation” and is a Chartered Ergonomist and Human Factors specialist.

Andrew works in a range of industries and his recent projects have included an operational capability and safety review of an Asia-Pacific government special mission aviation unit, a collaboration with a university and a hospital charity to develop and deliver a series of bespoke safety investigator training packages for the National Health Service of England and an urgent independent investigation of a mainline rail incident for a train operating company in the UK.

Magnus Lord is one of Europe’s leading experts in Healthcare Continuous Improvements and Healthcare Operational Excellence.

For 25 years Magnus Lord has worked with Continuous Improvement transformations in healthcare as well as other industries, both in a consultant and management role. As Strategy Director of Lund University Hospital, he led the transformation that is today considered benchmark for CI transformations of hospitals in Scandinavia.

He is an international keynote speaker and author of the book ”Befria sjukvården” (”Free Healthcare”).

Kathrine qualified as a vet in 1997 and worked in primary care practice for 22 years before joining Linnaeus as Clinical Standards and Quality Improvement Manager where she works to improve medical quality and patient safety.

Dr. Karen Faunt is a small animal internist by training and has worked for the last 2 decades to improve patient outcomes by developing organization wide quality programs focused on creating supportive cultures, systems and learnings.

Dr. Morrison is a small animal internist and the current Director of Science and Quality at Banfield Pet Hospital.

VP Global Quality Advancement and Patient Safety

Business Unit or Practice: 14 years with VCA

Years of service with Mars: 6 months with Mars Veterinary Health

Area of focus: Continual improvement in patient safety, patient care and ultimately patient outcomes.

Interests or Hobbies: Anything outdoors, hiking, surfing, skiing

Pets: 5 dogs, 2 horses, 2 alpacas and 5 chickens