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OUR TEAM
A Lasting Legacy
Thank You Dr. Cranfield
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With a heavy heart and deep sadness, I share with you the loss of a shining star amongst us, Mike Cranfield. Mike died on Monday due to West Nile Virus, a zoonotic disease (an animal disease affecting humans), after being bitten by a mosquito and falling into a coma for three weeks.
Although he was new to VIEW's Scientific Advisory Council, he was one the most respected and esteemed wildlife veterinarians in conservation. Mike was the Director of Gorilla Doctors for more than twenty years, improving the survival of one of the most critically endangered species while sharing his knowledge with untold students, early-career veterinarians, and conservationists. Mike is a rare example of how conservation should work: improving the survival of a species while passing knowledge to the people who will carry on with that legacy. His dedication and success is one to emulate.
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In addition to Gorilla Doctors, he was faculty at Johns Hopkins Comparative Medicine and former Director of Research and Conservation at The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. There will be many tributes to Mike in the coming days, and we will share links on our website.​​​​
Dr. Mike Cranfield, third from right, at VIEW’s 2023 Scientific Advisory Council meeting in Montana. From left: Dr. Raina Plowright, Josh Lichty, Dr. Lauren Ellis, Dr. Mike Cranfield, Dr. Dawn Zimmerman, Dr. Gretchen Kaufman.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The board members identify priorities, establish goals and objectives, and allocate funds to support decisions made around strategic programming.
DEBORAH MCCAULEY,DVM
Co-Founder / Executive Director
Dr. McCauley is a wildlife veterinarian who has worked with wildlife organizations including the Wildlife Conservation Society, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, and ZooMontana. Dr. McCauley graduated from Royal Veterinary College and has won numerous global leadership awards including the 2017 Ashoka Fellowship and the Emily Couric Women’s Leadership Award in 2019.
HEIDI SONEN
After earning a degree in meteorology from Penn State, Heidi worked as a television meteorologist for ten years before returning to a Penn State faculty position with the Weather Communications Group. In 1994, she co-founded Global Market Math which designs quantitative forecast models for financial markets. Heidi strongly believes in science and that data, not ideology, is the best path to the elusive answers of science. She was drawn to volunteer with VIEW because of its important mission and unique approach to wildlife conservation.
KATHERINE GRASS
Former Head of Innovation and Ventures for Amadeus IT Group and Edinburgh University graduate.
GRETCHEN KAUFMAN,DVM
Co-Founder / Associate Director
Dr. Kaufman is a wildlife veterinarian. She worked in academia for nearly three decades, and was former Director of the Tufts Center for Conservation Medicine at Tufts University. Assistant Director for Global Health Education and Training, Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health, Washington State University,
DAVID KIRUBI
David is a passionate advocate for sustainable business practices and wildlife conservation, leveraging his 21+ years of global business experience to serve on VIEW's board. An expert in building and leading high-performance teams, driving large-scale transformations, and managing nine and ten-figure transformations and P&Ls, David also has experience building and scaling start-ups and executing private equity transactions, most recently in the built environment and sustainability. A graduate of GE's premier leadership programs, Operations Management Leadership Program (OMLP) and the Corporate Audit Staff, he undertook his undergraduate studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a BSc in Industrial Engineering. David is dedicated to protecting endangered species for current and future generations.
ADVANCEMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL
The Advancement Advisory Council is a non-governing body of VIEW's top supporters formed to provide knowledge, and critical thinking in areas of their expertise and support organizational activities around philanthropy.
MARSHALL FIELD V
Fifth generation of a Chicago family whose activities have included merchandising, real estate, publishing, communications and civic affairs. Field has a strong interest in conservation.
DENNIS J KELLER
Co-Founder, Retired Chairman and CEO of DeVry Education Group, and Princeton and Chicago School of Business graduate. Dennis has supported VIEW since the beginning - serving on the board and advancement advisory council.
KAREN KRESS
Karen Bates Kress, former president of the Yellowstone Park Foundation, has 40 years of experience in nonprofit management and resource development. Previously, Kress served as the secretary of the NRPA Board of Directors. She has worked for The Nature Conservancy, the National Parks and Conservation Association, the American Farmland Trust, the National Wildlife Federation and had her own consulting business.
NATALIE ORFALEA
Deeply involved in philanthropy for over 30 years, providing vision, inspiration, and strategy behind her family foundations’ initiatives. Her focus is on global and community health, environmental conservation and education, leadership development, social justice, and documentary films.
YEMI ADESOKAN
Yemi Adesokan is an investor, scientist, and biotech entrepreneur. He is the CEO AND Chief Scientific Officer at Gnubiotics SA, a Lausanne, Switzerland biotech and digital health company pioneering immune-based solutions for human and animal disease applications.
SUE STANELY
Bio coming soon.
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COUNCIL
The Scientific Advisory Council is a non-governing body of VIEW's top scientists formed to give advice and support on programming activities such as recruiting, grant seeking and program project management.
DAWN ZIMMERMAN,DVM, MS
Director of International Programs for the VIEW, appointed assistant professor adjunct of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health, and affiliate faculty at the University of Nairobi. Her work utilizes a One Health approach for wildlife health issues at the human-livestock-wildlife interface, and for the conservation of endangered species.
GINGER STOUT, DVM, MCM
Dr. Stout is a veterinarian with experience in wildlife capture, field surgery, research, and disease surveillance. She has worked in many different environments, including sites across the U.S., Canada and Nepal. She has contracted with VIEW, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Wildlife Health Office. She graduated from Auburn University Veterinary School and has a Masters of Conservation Medicine from Tufts University.
MARK DREW,DVM, MS, Diplomat ACZM
Former Idaho Fish and Game State Wildlife Veterinarian for over 20 years.
TIERRA SMILEY EVANS, DVM, PhD
Wildlife veterinarian and epidemiologist. She has worked in Uganda, Rwanda, Nepal, and Myanmar on projects involving wildlife health monitoring, diagnostic development, and veterinary capacity strengthening. She received her B.S. from Santa Clara University, her Ph.D. in veterinary medicine, a post-graduate certificate in veterinary medicine from Tufts University, and a Ph.D. in wildlife epidemiology from the University of California Davis. She is a Fulbright scholar and has taught veterinary and wildlife management students at Makerere University in Uganda.
RAINA PLOWRIGHT,DVM MS PhD
Dr. Plowright is an infectious disease ecologist, epidemiologist, and wildlife veterinarian. She received her veterinary degree in Australia and worked as a domestic animal and wildlife veterinarian in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and Antarctica. She did a Ph.D. in Ecology and M.S. in Epidemiology at the University of California, Davis, and a postdoc at the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Pennsylvania State University. She is currently the Assistant Professor at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Montana State University.
COLIN GILLIN,MS,DVM
State Wildlife Veterinarian for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. He is also a past-president of the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians and is Chair for the U.S. Animal Health Association Committee on Wildlife Diseases. He also chairs several wildlife health working groups for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Colin graduated from the University of Wyoming and Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine.
VIEW SUPPORT TEAM
This team consists of VIEW's full/part time staff members and independent contractors dedicated to the VIEW's operations to further its mission.
JENNIFER YU,DVM, MS
Veterinarian
Dr. Jennifer Yu obtained her DVM from UC Davis and MS in conservation medicine from Tufts. She completed an internship with the Smithsonian's Global Health Program, and a wildlife rehabilitation medicine internship with the Wildlife Center of Virginia. She currently works part-time in wildlife rehabilitation, in small animal general practice, and as a WHIS Project Manager with VIEW.
LAUREN ELLIS,DVM
Veterinarian
University of Georgia graduate with DVM and a certificate in International Veterinary Medicine. Worked in pathology at the Great Ape Heart Project and completed an internship with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Global Health Program. Practiced mixed animal, zoo, and aquarium medicine alongside conservation projects including: disease risk assessments and vet pathology training for critically endangered ungulates in Chad, telemedicine and disease modeling for mountain gorillas in DRC, and working with public health vets in Belize to improve livestock disease surveillance and food security. Dr. Ellis will work in Rwanda to lead VIEW's field activities in Akagera National Park.
JOSH LICHTY
Software Developer
VIEW's software developer working on the newest version of the Wildlife Health Information System (WHIS).Currently, I'm working on improving the searchability and uniformity of the existing platform and setting the groundwork to create a mobile app for field data entry. Josh began programming simple video games and tools to do his math homework in his early teens.After a detour in the USMC infantry, he resumed his passion for programming and graduated from the University of Washington Tacoma with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in 2019.
ALEXANDRA CARPENTER
Graphic Designer
Obtained her bachelor’s degree from Montana State University in 2018 with a major in Business Management and minors in Spanish and small business entrepreneurship. While completing her studies, Alix held leadership roles in many on-campus organizations all while participating in internships at a diverse group of Bozeman businesses. Alix currently holds the position of Conservation Outreach Coordinator; this title hardly does justice since she has been able to put her broad-reaching skill set to good use and making a deliberate impact daily. This website was designed and built by her.
DAVID MURENZI,DVM
Veterinarian
University of Rwanda graduate with BVM. I completed internships at domestic animals clinics and was involved in the Human Dog Population Management project (HDPM) obtaining a certificate in Small animal practices and Field Surgeries. Highly interested in domestic and wild animals behavior and welfare.
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JUSTIN KAISER,DVM
Veterinarian
Dr. Kaiser grew up in Montana, where he received a degree in Organismal Biology before moving to moving to Colorado to receive his veterinary training. After graduating from CSU's vet school, he acquired a master's in Wild Animal Health at the Royal Veterinary College of London. His professional interests are focused on biodiversity conservation, keystone species, and emerging infectious diseases.
DASHA MAGHOOLI
Administrative & Communications Asst.
Dasha has been working in healthcare administration for most of her career, with a five-year hiatus teaching at universities in Thailand and South Korea. She has degrees in sociology and education from California State University and Harvard Graduate School of Education. Before joining VIEW, she founded a website highlighting conservation projects at AZA-accredited zoos, and currently serves as a docent at the Los Angeles Zoo and a transporter for California Wildlife Center. She is excited to be able to merge her professional skills with her passion for wildlife conservation.
TERRY PROFOTA
Consultant
Terry Profota, with Sage Solutions, has over 40+ years of work and consulting experience, with hundreds of businesses and organizations under her belt. In addition to my consulting projects, after 14 plus years, I retired as a non-tenure track Associate Teaching Professor at Montana State University’s Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship where I was awarded Montana State University’s 2016 Innovation in Teaching Award. She is involved with helping VIEW in many facets with a focus on its organizational and financial management.
VIEW VOLUNTEERS
Our volunteers help by contributing their time, skills, and experience to help further our mission's work. We are grateful for their passion and dedication!
BALBINE JOURDAN,DVM
Dr. Balbine Jourdan received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Public Health at The Ohio State University. She currently resides in Sacramento, California working as an associate veterinarian in a private practice. On the side, she has a passion for conservation medicine with a particular focus on zoonotic disease and conflicts within the human-animal interface. Using her skills in data organization and consolidation, she has collaborated on variety of projects spanning allostatic load in great apes (both ex situ and in situ), field anesthesia in wild mountain gorillas, morbidity and mortality in zoo-housed takin. and capacity-building for veterinary medicine in developing countries.
BAILEY CLARK
Bailey is a second year DVM student at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, working towards a career in conservation medicine. She previously conducted field research on tiger sharks for the Bimini Biological Field Station and worked as an intern for Smithsonian’s Global Health Program. Currently, she is assisting Dr. Dawn Zimmerman with various VIEW-related projects, including providing content for a partner-led project assembling “tools” used in the field of wildlife health.
KRISTEN TOBIN,DVM
Dr. Tobin is a small animal veterinarian with an interest in One Health and Zoological Medicine. She was a prior Smithsonian Global Health Program fellow and has worked on an OIE research project on Avian Influenza in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Current projects with VIEW include developing a series of wildlife Problem-Based Learning (PBL) cases with the University of Rwanda’s and Western University’s College of Veterinary Medicine to foster international collaboration between US and Rwandan veterinary students and increase interest and experiential opportunities in wildlife medicine. She is a graduate of Tufts University Veterinary School and completed a small animal internship in Red Bank New Jersey.
STEPHANIE MITCHELL
Stephanie Mitchell is a doctoral student at the University of Washington (fall 2023) with the Center for One Health Research working on emerging zoonotic diseases. She completed a fellowship and several internships with the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute. She's worked on projects in Peru, Tanzania, Chad, Niger, Kenya, and the Greater Virunga Transboundary Area involving infectious disease modeling in mountain gorillas, vector-borne disease monitoring in wildlife and livestock, and food and water security with local women’s organizations.