PsyMed™ Scientific Advisory Board

Veterinary Telecommunications founder and principal investigator Rolan Tripp, DVM, CABC,  is a UC Davis-trained veterinarian and internationally certified animal behavior consultant (CABC). He is the founder of the Veterinary Future Society, the Animal Behavior Network and PetHappiness.net, a televeterinary consulting platform that uses artificial intelligence to measure and treat pet behavioral conditions. 

Dr. Tripp has spent over 20 years developing specific behavior profile definitions to assess animal behavior qualities. His experience and expertise in the areas of veterinary behavior and AI-enabled veterinary diagnostics will be instrumental to the design and implementation of the proposed diagnostic software platform.

Dr. Joby Morrow is PsyMed’s human medical and behavioral consultant. Dr. Morrow completed medical school at the University of California, Davis, and trained simultaneously in mental health treatment and primary medical care through UC Davis’s five-year Combined Family Medicine and Psychiatry Residency, where he was the winner of the Outstanding Teaching Award. His training focused specifically on understanding the complex relationship between psychological and medical aspects of chronic disease. He has helped design several behavioral intervention techniques and technologies that promote the integration of mental health and primary medical care. 

Dr. Morrow’s particular clinical interest is in how people develop coping mechanisms for stress and trauma , fostering this expertise as he navigated his own personal and professional consequences from addiction. Now sober for over 10 years, Dr. Morrow regularly speaks to audiences about assessing their vulnerability to problematic behavior patterns. He also acts as the full-time medical editor for the medical communications agency SIRO, and has been a consultant for digital health companies across the globe.

Stephen White, DVM, DACVD, is the team’s veterinary dermatologist, with a strong interest in psychodermatology.  He is Chief of the Veterinary Dermatology service at the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine and has been a Professor of Dermatology at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine since 1998. He has also held faculty positions at Tufts’ School of Veterinary Medicine and Colorado State’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. 

Dr. White has thrice been a sabbatical professor at the National School of Veterinary Medicine in Nantes, France. His areas of interests include food allergy, cutaneous manifestations of systemic disease, rabbit/rodent dermatology, and equine dermatology. Dr. White has published over 100 scientific papers in refereed journals.

Media Release:  Dr. White received the 2022 AVMA Clinical Research Reward. (Click Here)

The team’s veterinary behavior and product commercialization expert is Valarie Tynes, DVM, DACVB, DACAW. Dr. Tynes is board certified in both veterinary behavior and animal welfare.  She was the behavior specialist for the multinational veterinary health products company Ceva Animal Health, one of the world’s largest animal health product corporations.  She is currently the veterinary behaviorist and chief of behavior services for the Texas SPCA.

Dr. Tynes graduated from Texas A&M University School of Veterinary Medicine, and completed a three-year residency in Clinical Animal Behavior at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Ty Vachon, M.D is the director of artificial intelligence and machine learning integration for the team. Dr. Vachon is a radiologist who has pioneered the use of informatics in both medical and veterinary AI imaging, and he has authored two books on this subject. 

A machine learning expert, he serves as a medical advisor for several informatics companies and for the University of California, San Francisco. 

Dr. Jason Watters is an internationally recognized zoo animal behavior and animal welfare researcher and practitioner. He received his doctorate in animal behavior from the University of California at Davis and went on to found animal welfare programs at two major zoos. Dr. Watters has worked with numerous species and develops and tests theories aimed at caring for the mental health of animals.

Dr. Watters is an Executive Editor Emeritus of Zoo Biology, the primary scientific journal in the field. He is a former behaviorist for the San Francisco Zoo, and currently an Adjunct Associate Professor of Animal Science at the University of California at Davis.

Allison Spengler Foster is an Award-Winning Executive Leader with over 17 years of experience driving business goals and growth through team leadership, strategic planning, and relationship development. She has proven successes in the fast-paced, highly competitive diagnostic technology industry.  Her 17 years of veterinary sales experience has been with IDEXX Labs, the global leader for companion animal diagnostic analyzers and lab services. 

She drives the success of individuals and teams by inspiring joy and recognizing the talents of unique individuals.  She has a solid ability to convey complex concepts in easy-to-understand terms and has demonstrated successes in leading teams to excel in high-stress, matrixed environments.

Allison lives close to Dallas, with her husband and spends her spare time volunteering as a career coach. Allison is passionate about innovation in animal healthcare and believes that pets bring out the best in people. She strives to find and commercialize solutions that expand the veterinary practice’s ability to meet the needs of pet owners.

Dr. Claudia Sihler is a world-class expert in canine behavior modification and owner-operator of The Better Companion in Wasilla, Alaska. Dr. Sihler is originally from Germany, where she achieved a doctorate in veterinary medicine. After working briefly as a veterinarian, she moved in 1999 to Wasilla, where in 2002 she opened the first year-round operating, full-time dog training business in Alaska, also being their lead trainer and behavior consultant. Her business focuses on force-free, positive reinforcement training and also mentors dog training students from the Animal Behavior College.

Claudia is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge and Skills Assessed (CPDT-KSA,) renewing every 3 years since 2003, an Accredited Dog Trainer through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC-ADT) and holds a Treibball Trainer certification in Germany.  She is also a CGC® (Canine Good Citizen) and STAR® Puppy evaluator with AKC (American Kennel Club), and a member of the APDT (Association of Professional Dog Trainers). 

Claudia has been using behavior modification software developed by Dr. Tripp for over ten years for her own clients with pets that developed behavioral problems, before joining the PetHappiness team as a member of their Scientific Advisory Board and lead Animal Behavior Consultant (ABC).