Scientific Programs

Bio: Dr. Jane Armstrong is a graduate of the Ontario Veterinary College in Canada. After pursuing advanced clinical and research training at the University of Illinois and Michigan State University, she joined the veterinary clinical faculty at North Carolina State University. She later became a faculty member in the Veterinary Clinical Sciences Department, University of Minnesota concurrently completing a Master of Business Administration at the Carlson School of Management and serving as Interim Department Head. Her research interests focus on clinical nutrition, especially in gastrointestinal disorders. She has authored over 140 refereed publications and book chapters, served on numerous review and advisory panels and lectured extensively internationally. Dr. Armstrong holds board certification in the ACVIM, served 3 terms on the Board of Regents of that organization, and is a co-author on the ACVIM 2021 Consensus Statement on Feline Pancreatitis. She just completed 4 years as Chair of the Continuing Education Committee of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA).

Bio: Geraldine graduated from the Vet School of Alfort (France) in 1994, defended her PhD on Lipoprotein metabolism and Hepatic Lipidosis in Cats and holds board certification in the European College of Veterinary and Comparative Nutrition (ECVCN) in 2002. She was president of this college 2010-2013.
Dr Géraldine Blanchard run a specialist consultation in veterinary nutrition (currently in Biarritz, France), and has been a consultant for the petfood industry worldwide.
Until 2006, she developed Clinical Nutrition at the Vet School of Alfort as associate Professor, and moved to Australia (UQ, St Lucia, QLD) in 2007, as Senior Lecturer in Nutrition.
Back to France, she launched in 2008 an online nutrition service cuisine-a-crocs.com. The site now offers balanced tailored recipes for dogs and cats for more than 140 situations (healthy and one disease or more) from Geraldine's logarithms (including home-made-diets, mixed diets or commercial pet food, and treats), in French and English.
In order to balance the mixed diets and the home cooked diets for dogs and cats, she launched a range of mineral vitamin supplements, Vit’i5, on the European market since 2008, and Australia since 2019.
Author and co-author of countless continuing education resources, books and book chapters, as well as original research on clinical nutrition, Dr Géraldine Blanchard is a renowned international resource within animal nutrition.

Bio: Iveta Becvarova, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVIM (Nutrition) currently serves as Sr Director of Global Academic and Professional Affairs at Hill’s Pet Nutrition, USA and she is an Adjunct Faculty member in the Department of Clinical Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University. She has been Director of Academic Affairs at Hill’s Pet Nutrition Europe from 2011-2018. Dr. Becvarova became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition (ACVN) in July 2007. She has been a Clinical Instructor and Clinical Assistant Professor – Veterinary Nutrition at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine (VMCVM) from 2006-2011. Dr. Becvarova completed her Master of Science degree in Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences and Nutrition Residency program at the VMCVM in 2006 and earned her DVM degree in 1999 from the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Czech Republic. She is a past president of the board of the ACVN, and a member of the American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition (AAVN). Dr. Becvarova conducted studies in cancer management, obesity, body composition and oxidative stress.

Bio: Nick Cave graduated from Massey University (NZ) in 1990 and worked in general practice for 6 years until 1997, when he returned to Massey for a residency in small animal internal medicine, and graduated with a Master’s in Veterinary Science in 2000. In 2004 he moved to the University of California, Davis, where he attained a PhD in nutrition and immunology. At the same time, he completed a residency in small animal clinical nutrition and became a diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Nutrition in 2004. In 2005, he returned to Massey University, where he was Associate Professor in small animal medicine and nutrition until this year, when he escaped academia to return to private practice and consulting. He was a founding member of the WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee and is a founding board member for the Massey University Centre for Working Dogs. He has served on numerous editorial boards, is an associate editor for Frontiers in Veterinary Science, has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed articles, several textbook chapters, and is a frequent commentator in public media.