Veterinary Innovation Podcast

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak catch up with Neshmeen Faatimah , the founder and CEO of Nuzzle Technologies, Inc. , to discuss how AI-powered simulations are transforming veterinary communication training.   After losing her cat during a complex care journey marked by communication breakdowns, Neshmeen set out to solve one of veterinary medicine's most overlooked challenges: teaching vet...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Guilherme Coelho , Co-founder and CEO of Maven Pet , to discuss how AI-powered pet wearables are helping owners better understand their pets' health between vet visits. They discuss how Maven combines sensor data, app-based inputs, and artificial intelligence to build a "digital paw print" for each pet and detect early signs of illness before they b...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Dr. Lisa Beagan , founder of Your Vet Direction , to discuss how AI-supported triage can bring more structure, consistency, and safety to veterinary intake. The conversation explores one of the most overlooked risks in practice operations: asking front-desk teams to make triage decisions without the clinical tools or training to do so confidently. D...

International pet travel is one of those topics that sends both pet owners and veterinary teams into a quiet panic. This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak sit down with Marisa Hoskins , the founder of Paws Abroad Inc. , to discuss the growing need for better infrastructure around global pet travel. Drawing on her experience moving internationally with her rescue dogs—a journey that also inspired...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak chat with Dr. Ragen T.S. McGowan from Petivity powered by Purina about how the brand's Smart Litter Box Monitor provides a voice for cats. They discuss how AI-powered tracking of weight and elimination patterns can alert owners to changes that might indicate early signs of illness, such as FIC or urinary blockage, before they become clinical emergencies. Dr...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Brendan Baker , founder and CEO of PawthosX , to talk about why the next generation of veterinary tech isn't more tools — its orchestration. Brendan shares how PawthosX acts as an AI-native operating system, coordinating over 45 AI agents to handle scribing, SOAP notes, reminders, and reporting, so clinic teams can reduce the heavy cognitive load by...

Veterinary medicine has long relied on "snapshots" of health taken during clinic visits, but what happens during the months in between? This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak speak with Eric Humbert , Head of Science & AI at Invoxia , about how wearable technology is helping veterinarians monitor pets more continuously and more objectively. Eric explains how the Biotracker uses advanced signal p...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Dr. Asaf Dagan , Chief Veterinary Scientist and Co-Founder of PetPace , to discuss how continuous monitoring is expanding clinical visibility outside the exam room. The conversation explores how real-time physiological data can help veterinarians detect changes earlier, better understand chronic conditions, and support more informed follow-ups betwe...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Sebastian Gabor , co-founder of Digitail , to talk about what the latest wave of AI investment means for veterinary medicine and how this momentum could accelerate the arrival of better, cheaper, and more capable AI tools for clinics. With visits down across the industry, they discuss how technology can help strengthen client retention, reactivate p...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome back industry growth consultant and Bird Bath host,  Ryan Leech , to talk about what 2026 might look like for veterinary medicine. After the biggest conferences of the year, a few themes kept coming up: vet care affordability, rising salaries, corporate consolidation, and growing pressure on margins. Ryan challenges the profession to stop searching...

In this episode, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Tanika Hall , serial entrepreneur and founder of ZooDoc , to discuss a significant shift in the veterinary industry: the transition from managing overcapacity to needing proactive lead generation. Inspired by her struggle to find care for a sick frog, Tanika built ZooDoc to connect pet parents with trusted professionals, especially those speci...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome David Nietzke , the Chief Operating Officer at Snout , to discuss a transformative approach to veterinary wellness plans. As veterinary costs rise and visit frequencies decline, many clinics struggle with "legacy" wellness models that create administrative nightmares and delayed cash flow. David shares how Snout has redesigned the experience by fina...

Veterinary clinics are currently facing a market shift where appointment volumes are down, revenues are tightening, and relief staffing has become both expensive and administratively messy. This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak chat with Dr. Andrew Ciccolini , co-founder of Serenity Vet , about a new subscription-based relief management model that replaces 20% transaction fees with a streamline...

Veterinary professionals are masters of the clinic environment, but what happens when the electricity goes out, supplies run low, or a patient is miles from the nearest hospital? This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak connect with Tom Roffe-Silvester from Veterinary Task Force and Exped Vet to discuss the evolution of Expedition Veterinary Medicine. Tom shares how his background in the British A...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Todd Zion , the Founder and CEO of Akston , a biotechnology company pioneering a new class of long-acting therapeutics for companion animals. Todd, who previously founded a company that engineered the first clinically tested glucose-responsive insulin, explains why his pivot from a $500M human health exit to the pet health market makes perfect sense...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Dr. Nathan Mitchell , co-founder of SIMON Education Systems, LLC , a company designing and distributing realistic and affordable veterinary diagnostic simulations. Dr. Mitchell, who started the company with his brother and mentor based on his own struggles learning diagnostics, shares how SIMON's ultrasound and ophthalmic simulators allow students a...

High-end monitoring tech for pets is often too expensive and complicated for the average practice, creating a major barrier to reliable care. This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak joined by hardware entrepreneur Yale Zhang , founder of Seismi Inc. , to discuss how his company is disrupting the space with affordable, non-invasive monitoring. Yale shares how Seismi makes continuous monitoring acc...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Kimball Carr , CEO and President of Inspire Veterinary Partners , to discuss how his company is challenging the consolidation status quo in veterinary medicine. Kimball shares his vision for a long-term growth model built on an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), designed to fight burnout and create wealth for doctors, technicians, and clinic staf...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak chat with David Teaster , Product Marketing Director at SATELLAI , about how smart wearables are moving way past "just GPS.". David explains how their AI-powered collars use advanced GPS and motion tracking to spot changes in your pet's activity, give you early clues about their health, and create customizable virtual fences. The discussion highlights the i...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak chat with Dr. Sonya G. Gordon , a professor of cardiology at Texas A&M University and member of the Cardiac Education Group . She shares a unique perspective on how AI is transforming veterinary education and clinical practice. Dr. Gordon explains that rather than replacing veterinarians, AI is a tool that enhances efficiency and improves patient care by st...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Alex Voda from The Cat Health Company to discuss how the startup became the first clinical-stage company focused on feline longevity. Alex explains why cats are better models than other species for pharmaceutical R&D and how repurposing existing drugs could accelerate new treatments.  He shares insights into why longevity companies still move slowly...

Puppies have clear care protocols — but what about seniors? This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak dive into conversation with Dr. Lisa Lippman from the Senior Dog Veterinary Society about how her team is closing one of the biggest gaps in veterinary medicine. She explains how the Society is closing a critical gap in veterinary education by offering CE-certified training and a certification prog...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak welcome Joe Chickerillo from Chckvet to speak about the company's evolution from an online booking tool into a five-in-one veterinary platform. Joe explains how Chckvet integrates booking, analytics, communications, reviews, loyalty programs, and client portals into one customizable solution. He shares how client feedback has guided product development and...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak chat with Dr. Elianne Mimoun from The Veterkin Society , a virtual animal hospital created to address a challenge many veterinarians face after leaving clinical practice or never in clinical practice: access to affordable tools, medications, and diagnostics. Drawing on her 20+ years in veterinary medicine, Dr. Mimoun explains how her membership-based model...

This week, Shawn Wilkie and Dr. Ivan Zak meet with Dr. Eve Hanks , the founder of MI:RNA Diagnostics to chat about her remarkable journey from clinical veterinary practice to becoming the CEO of a pioneering diagnostics company. Eve shares how her background in immunology led to the creation of an AI-powered platform that uses microRNA to detect disease earlier than ever before. You`ll discover ho...