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Joanna Robson, DVM
CVSMT, CMP, CVA, CSFT, CIT, eCPR, VHSC, CMT-MTI

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"I have been a seeker and I still am.

But I stopped asking the books and the stars.

I started listening to the teaching of my soul."

-Rumi

"I am passionately dedicated to providing veterinary options for my patients' health and longevity, unifying my clinical background in Western medicine and surgery with Eastern medicine practices and complementary modalities.  Client education is paramount, with time spent ensuring proper understanding of diagnostics and treatment options, and additional resources provided whenever possible to complete the wholistic approach.  My patients include four-legged family members and top-level competition partners, and they all deserve to be maximally healthy and pain-free.

I am a change-agent for wellness. Whether coaching members in the gym, or working to facilitate veterinary wellbeing and mindfulness at an individual or organizational level, I believe we rise by lifting others. I am an AFAA Certified Group-Ex Instructor, and Certified Emotional CPR Lead Trainer. I am also a member of the International Association of Veterinary Social Work, and Graduate of the UT Veterinary Human Support Certificate Program.

I am a 2002 Washington State University Honors Veterinary Medicine Graduate,

 

with dual B.S. with Honors in Animal Sciences and Veterinary Sciences from WSU. After graduating with my DVM, I completed a rotating internship in medicine and surgery at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, Canada, and then returned to private small animal practice in the San Francisco Bay Area, focusing on general medicine and orthopedics.

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My passion has always been rehabilitation and physical therapy, including holistic options. Frustrated with traditional medicine and wanting a holistic approach, I attended the Healing Oasis Wellness Center and completed my Veterinary Spinal Manipulative Therapy certification in 2005. Frustrated with putting crooked people on my straightened horses, I certified in Transformational Bodywork for people in 2006, but quickly realized the direct applications to my equine patients. I achieved my Certificate in Veterinary Acupuncture from the renowned Chi Institute of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine in Gainesvile, FL in 2006, and also completed certificate courses in Advanced Acupuncture, Applied Kinesiology, and Advanced Neurology. I have worked with Master Saddlers for over 15 years, and am a Certified Saddlefit Technician through Saddlefit4 Life, including being a major contributor to their curriculum. I am also a Certified Level 1 Infrared Thermographer through Infraspection Institute and have been the longtime Technical Director of EquineIR, an equine infrared education and interpretation service.  The industry is changing rapidly and Veterinary Wellness and Leadership are essential as colleagues and peers confront compassion fatigue, moral stress, high burnout rate, staggering student loans, and one of the highest professional suicide rates. I am a certified eCPR Trainer and Veterinary Human Support Certificate holder through the University of Tennessee Veterinary Social Work program.
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Outside of practice I love spending time with my two awesome horses and competing in Western Dressage, and I am a certified NASM/AFAA group-fitness instructor, an Advanced Les Mills Bodycombat(TM), Bodypump(TM) and Les Mills Sprint(TM) instructor.  I am also a long-time Krav Maga practitioner and certified instructor. I enjoy coaching people to challenge their limiting beliefs, to build community, and bring people together to do things they never thought possible with the support of friends and peers.


Oh - and I helped develop a street dog medicine program in Myanmar...but that's a story for a different day.

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