Alumna honored for international veterinary mission

Cathy King
Cathy King volunteers in Mexico in 2002.

PULLMAN, Wash. – Veterinary medicine alumna Cathy King has been recognized for service to the profession with a 2013 Meritorious Service Award from the American Veterinary Medical Association.

She is the chief executive officer and founder of World Vets, an international veterinary aid organization. More than 900 veterinarians volunteer with World Vets, which deploys a veterinary team nearly every week of the year to locations worldwide.
 
A 1997 graduate of Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine, King grew up in Sandpoint, Idaho. She completed her B.S. in veterinary science, M.S. in animal science and Ph.D. in animal physiology at the University of Idaho. She completed her second doctorate by the age of 25.
Before starting World Vets, she was a mixed animal practitioner for seven years and started Hometown Animal Hospital, a progressive small animal hospital located in Deer Park, Wash. She sold her practice in 2008 to provide full time leadership for World Vets.

The organization provides veterinary aid in 36 developing countries with programs focused on small animals, horses, livestock and public health. World Vets is the veterinary nongovernment agency that provides civilian veterinarians for U.S. military humanitarian aid missions and international disaster relief services.

World Vets runs an international veterinary medicine program geared toward veterinary and technician students and also runs the Latin America Veterinary Training Center, a year-round clinic in Nicaragua that provides surgical and anesthesia training programs for veterinarians and upper level veterinary students from all over Central and South America.