Guest Consultants
Meet the Guest Consultants who work with International Vet Services. At IVS we offer a large network of veterinary specialists who are always keen to deliver seminars or CE courses in order to promote their discipline and share expertise with colleagues of all different horizons and background.
Dr. Mark Dirven
DVM, Dipl ECVIM (Cardiology)
Mark graduated from Utrecht University The Netherlands in 2004. Het gained experience as a clinician in both (first-opinion) private practice and academia. In March 2017 he passed his certifying exam to become a European specialist in cardiology, after 5 years of formal training and working in private practice. His background in both private practice and academia helps him his clinical work, but also in his way of lecturing and teaching. He is valued for his hands-on approach to translating science into practice. As a result he travels Europe and China to lecture.
In January 2019 he moved from the Netherlands to Sweden where he joined the team of AniCura Albano and Bagarmossen animal hospitals where he is mainly involved in tutoring, clinical work and research. Furthermore he is involved in development of post graduate education in cardiology for the AniCura group in Sweden and residency training programmes in cardiology.
Dr. Inma Cerrada Serra
BVS, MS, MVM, Dipl ACVIM (Cardiology)
Dr. Inma graduated from Cardenal Herrera-CEU University in Valencia (Spain), then completed a rotating internship in Small Animal Medicine & Surgery at Fregis referral hospital in Paris (France), followed by a second Small Animal Rotating internship at the National Veterinary University of Nantes (France).
She then completed a Master of Science and Welfare of Laboratory Animals at the University of Barcelona (Spain) before completing a Doctorate of Philosophy in Science of Health at the University of Valencia (Spain). Her research was focused on “ Study of the effect of pro-inflammatory cytokine Interleukin-1alpha and the Hypoxia Inducible Transcription Factor- 1 Alpha on the survival and therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of myocardial infarction”.
Dr Inma then completed a Master of Veterinary Medicine, while completing her ACVIM residency in Cardiology (in 2018-2021) at the Royal Veterinary College of London (UK).
She became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Board, specialist in Cardiology in July 2022.
Dr. Merja Laitinen
PhD, DECVDI, DVM , MRCVS
Dr. Laitinen is a diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging. She earned her DVM in 2001 and her PhD in 2011 from the University of Helsinki. She conducted clinical work for her PhD at Kansas State University and the University of Illinois (2007-2009). She completed her radiology residency in Scandinavia, traveling mostly between Helsinki, Finland; Uppsala, Sweden; and Oslo, Norway.
She worked for the University of Helsinki Faculty of Veterinary Medicine for almost 11 years, first as a hospital veterinarian (2004-2005) and since 2005 as a clinician teacher in diagnostic imaging until early 2015. Before joining to VetCT she worked in teleradiology for Idexx Telemedicine consultants for almost 2 years.
Dr. Anna Tidholm
DVM, PhD, Dipl ECVIM (Cardiology), Associate Professor
Dr. Anna Tidholm is Associate Professor (docent), Diplomate ECVIM (Cardiology) and has worked as Staff Veterinarian at Anicura Albano Animal Hospital since 1986. The animal hospital now employs over 70 veterinarians, 200 nurses and receives approximately 40,000 patients per year. Anicura Albano Heart Center employs 6 veterinarians (2 Diplomates, 2 Swedish veterinary specialists in cardiology, 1 resident, 1 intern) and 2 nurses and receives approximately 1300 patients for cardiologic examination per year.
A prolific contributor to research in veterinary cardiology with approximately 60 publications in international referred scientific journals and over 200 other publications, Dr. Tidholm has been Associate Editor of the Journal of Veterinary Cardiology since 2013. Dr. Tidholm is also a supervisor for two PhD students in veterinary cardiology at the College of Veterinary studies, University of Agriculture, Uppsala, Sweden and Program director for a residency in veterinary cardiology at Anicura Albano Animal Hospital.
As Hjalmar Håkansson Foundation award recipient (1994) and the first (and hitherto only) female recipient since 1898 of the Peter Hernquist gold medal in 2010, Dr. Tidholm was recognized by the Swedish Veterinary Magazine in 2013 as Veterinarian of the Year.
IVS Instructors
Meet our trained teams of Ultrasound Consultants who work with International Vet Services. At IVS we offer a large network of veterinary specialists who are always keen to deliver seminars or CE courses in order to promote their discipline and share expertise with colleagues of all different horizons and background.
China
Dr. Maja Brloznik
Dr. Maja Brložnik graduated as a DVM in 2004 from the Veterinary Faculty in Ljubljana. In the same year she passed the State exam and enrolled in the interdisciplinary Master Programme. She graduated with her Master thesis “Review of canine diseases with signs of urinary tract disease”.
Since 2006 Dr. Maja has been working in a busy Small Animal private practice; she is also working at the Clinic for Small Animals of the Veterinary faculty of Ljubljana as an external collaborator in Diagnostic Ultrasound and Cardiology since 2014.
Dr. Maja has attended over a hundred specialised veterinary courses and has actively contributed to more than 50 conferences, congresses and journals.
In 2013, she entered into the postgraduate programme ‘’European Master of Small Animal Veterinary Medicine’’ at the University of Luxembourg, which she completed in 2018.
In 2016 she enrolled into an interdisciplinary Doctoral Programme in Biomedicine, and in a PHD thesis where she is investigating diagnostic imaging methods for perfusion of tumours after electrochemotherapy, as possible predictive factors.
Dr. Maja joined Dr Myriam as a consultant in 2016 in order to help, part time, with the ultrasound needs in China.
She is now thrilled to continue providing CE in the region with International Veterinary Services.
Dr. Rose Stone
Dr. Rose Stone’s bachelor major was in English. After graduation in 2012, she had worked in several different areas. Then in 2016 she decided to become a vet and started work in a small animal clinic.
Whilst working at the clinic as an assistant as well as manager, Dr. Rose applied for her master degree study program of veterinary medicine in Nanjing Agricultural University and was enrolled in 2018. At the same time, she has been continuously studying veterinary English. She has translated the 2016 WSAVA Vaccination Guidelines and a BSAVA manual. Dr Rose has also translated many veterinary videos, for example, the 25 episodes of canine anatomy made by Minnesota University. What’s more, as an oral translator, she has interpreted many veterinary courses, including cardiology, oncology, dermatology, surgery, internal medicine, nutrition, clinical pathology, cytology, and much more.
Dr. Rose has her own blog and is keen to share her knowledge with other vets. Since joining IVS, Dr. Rose hopes that she can help more vets via this wonderful platform.
Dr. Wanda Wong
Dr. Wanda Wong grew up in Mainland China and has been a general practitioner veterinarian in Beijing since 2015. She graduated from Northwest A&F University with a Master’s degree in Veterinary Medicine in 2013 and has developed a strong interest in Diagnostic Imaging and Cardiology since then.
Dr. Wanda Wong started to learn ultrasound with Dr. Myriam Baranger-Ete in Hong Kong in 2016 and has committed to advanced training since then in order to be now an accomplished and very dedicated Veterinary Ultrasonographer.
Dr. Wanda has been a translator and instructor in China for Dr. Myriam Baranger-Ete’s Ultrasound courses since 2017. She is now working in Shanghai Oasis Veterinary Hospital where she provides referral Diagnostic Imaging services (Ultrasound/ MRI).
Dr. Kenda Zhong
Dr. Kenda Zhong graduated from Sichuan Agriculture University in 2009. She then started her master’s degree study with South China Agriculture University in 2014. After studying abdominal ultrasound with Dr. Myriam back in 2014, she decided to place her focus on Advanced Diagnostic Imaging.
She passed the China Practicing Veterinary exams and got her license in 2009. Since then she has been working in multiple busy small animal hospitals and is now working as a Feline Medicine attending veterinarian and Abdominal and Cardiac Ultrasound referral consultation provider in the biggest referral center of South China.
Dr. Kenda has been translating for Dr Myriam’s ultrasound training courses in Mainland China since 2018. She also translated for many internal medicine courses in Mainland.
Her clinical background makes this translation work just perfect for IVS courses and Dr. Kenda is now also happily sharing her Ultrasound experience with her veterinary colleagues, having now joined the IVS team of dedicated Instructors.
Australia
Visit the Soundiagnosis Academy website to meet our team: www.soundiagnosisacademy.com/instructors