About
Dr. Hillary Noyes is a veterinarian and a current resident with the American College of Animal Welfare. She grew up in Michigan, knowing she loved animals, wanted to work with them, and didn't always like how they were treated for human use, especially for industrial agriculture. As a teenager without many resources to learn more, she became mostly pescatarian, opting only to eat the meat obtained from animals that lived outside of confinement (hunted by her family or wild-caught seafood).
After high school, Hillary went off to Michigan State University, where she received a B.S. in Zoology, with a concentration in Animal Behavior/Neurobiology. During her undergraduate studies, she was semi-randomly assigned to a student research position in the Animal Behavior and Welfare Group, where she discovered that there was a way to apply science to improving animal welfare. While working with the ABWG and with a related group at MSU, the Human-Animal Bond Initiative, Hillary got to help design and run experiments to test whether weaning piglets too early affects their spatial and social memory, making them more difficult to handle and house as adults (it does). She also got to collect data on the benefits of therapeutic horseback riding on people with developmental disabilities and to help work on a system of teaching students how to judge complex animal welfare scenarios. This developed into the first Animal Welfare Judging Contest, in which Hillary took 2nd place. This contest has since been adopted and adapted by the American Veterinary Medical Association and is going stronger than ever. Dr. Hillary received her DVM from Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, during which she completed externships that furthered her love for animal behavior and welfare, including at the National Zoo, the Detroit Zoo, and the AMVA's Governmental Relations Division, where she got to help educate Congress on issues affecting the veterinary profession and animal welfare. After veterinary school, Dr. Hillary left the wild weather swings of Michigan to complete a small animal internship in medicine and surgery in San Diego, CA. As any rational person would, she fell in love with the beaches and palm trees and decided to stay there for a long time. Dr. Hillary practiced companion animal medicine in San Diego for several years thereafter. During this time, she was appointed to the AVMA's Committee on the Human-Animal Bond and served a three year term. Wanting to expand her ability to positively influence animal welfare through science education, she left private practice and became a consulting veterinarian and student educator for an animal nutrition company. In 2019, Dr. Hillary connected with ACAW and learned about their relatively new residency program and decided to officially put her professional passion back to work by (hopefully!) becoming board-certified in Animal Welfare. Dr. Hillary tries to be an advocate for all animals in a variety of situations, but she focuses much of her welfare science education on the welfare of the animals we eat, as they are often overlooked and much can be done to improve their lives. Dr. Hillary believes in the concepts of OneHealth and OneWelfare and that improving the health and welfare of the animals we use and interact with will only serve to improve that of humans and the overall sustainability of our planet. In her non-vetting time, Dr. Hillary loves to travel, hike and camp with her partner and dogs Lupita and Westley, read novels with her four cats (Rugen, Jabba, Bun Bun and Munchers), cook and explore the best restaurants in her current city of Kansas City, MO. |
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All writings and opinions on this site belong to Dr. Hillary Noyes and do not reflect those of any person or group reference therein, her employers, or her residency mentor.
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