AVMA appoints new assistant director of Animal Welfare Division

Schaumburg, Ill.

-- Dr. Cia L. Johnson, newly appointed assistant director of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) Animal Welfare Division, hopes to use her food-animal experience to implement new policies and objectives.

Dr. Cia L. JohnsonCUTLINE

“Animal welfare is one of my true passions. I have worked with livestock from an early age and enjoy working with producers and large-animal veterinarians. I’m excited to have the opportunity to continue to share my passion in a different capacity,” Johnson says in a prepared statement released by AVMA.

“I think it is very important that someone who has a working knowledge of food production and who is familiar with large-animal medicine be sitting at the table when livestock welfare is being discussed. Animal welfare is such a hot topic right now, and it’s exhilarating to be right in the middle of it all.”

Supporting the efforts of the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee and its division will be one of Johnson’s main roles. She will work with committee members and other volunteers to ensure that AVMA’s animal-welfare policies are rooted in science and offer social responsibility.

Johnson earned her doctorate in veterinary medicine this year from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she also completed her undergraduate studies. She grew up working on her family’s farms, raising beef cattle, pigs and rabbits, and showing horses. She plans to pursue a master’s degree later this year in animal sciences, with an emphasis in reproductive physiology of beef cattle.

“We are very pleased Dr. Johnson has decided to start what looks like a very promising career with us at the AVMA,” says Dr. Gail Golab, director of the AVMA Animal Welfare Division, in a news release. “Many of her colleagues have commented that she has boundless energy when working on issues she’s passionate about, like animal welfare. We look forward to her sharing that energy with our division.”

Established in 2006, the division addresses all animal-welfare issues and the human-animal bond by providing scientific analyses and implementing AVMA-approved policies.