Dr. Erin Katribe, director of national veterinary programs

As Director of National Veterinary Programs at Best Friends Animal Society, Dr. Erin Katribe oversees the Best Friends National Shelter Medicine Program and provides medical guidance for all of Best Friends' lifesaving centers. Keeping shelter and community animals healthy while navigating the balance of population care and care for individual animals is an integral part of our efforts toward achieving no-kill nationwide by 2025.

Erin earned her DVM degree from Texas A&M University in 2009, already knowing that her future was in shelter medicine and animal welfare. Following graduation, she moved to Austin, Texas, where she practiced in high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter, local shelters, and non-profit clinics. Erin moved to Kanab, Utah, in January 2017 to work at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary as a Staff Veterinarian. In 2018, she completed the master's degree program in shelter medicine through the University of Florida and took on the role of Medical Director for Best Friends. In 2020, in addition to her role with Best Friends, she took on the role of interim Medical Director for

Palm Valley Animal Society in Texas, helping the shelter achieve no-kill status that same year through implementation of lifesaving shelter medicine programming. In 2021, she then moved to Houston, where, in conjunction with the Houston lifesaving center, the Best Friends’ High-Quality, High-Volume Spay/Neuter Workshop was created, a training program for veterinarians and technicians to increase their surgical capacity in order to advance lifesaving in their shelters. In 2022, the National Shelter Medicine Program was created to expand the shelter medicine outreach work in Best Friends’ partner shelters. Today, the National Shelter Medicine team works with shelters across the country to elevate their shelter medicine and population health programs in order to save more lives.