WSAVA Academy

Speaker

Biography

After graduating from Sydney University, Kersti worked in the UK and was surprised to learn that more pets died from behaviour issues than infectious, metabolic and other diseases combined. This led her back to university where she studied animal behaviour. She obtained a Bachelor in Behavioural Sciences with a major in psychology and a Master of Arts (Hons) on her way to becoming the world’s only triple boarded specialist in animal behaviour. She is a Fellow of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists in Animal Behaviour, a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behaviourists and a Diplomate of the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioural Medicine. Kersti is the principal of a Sydney specialist practice in behavioural medicine. She pioneered Puppy Preschool® and Kitten Kindy® classes to help owners and their pets understand each other better so that they can live in harmony. She teaches the distance education course in Behavioural Medicine for the Centre for Veterinary Education (University of Sydney) and is an adjunct senior lecturer at Charles Sturt University. She has presented at and been the keynote speaker at numerous conferences nationally and internationally. Kersti regularly runs animal behaviour webinars; has authored many text book chapters and a book, Training Your Cat; writes for Dog’s Life magazine; and is a consultant on VIN (Veterinary Information Network). Kersti started her media career as the regular vet on the Midday Show with Ray Martin and continued with other television shows , leading to appearances on programs such as The Project. She has featured in many videos about behaviour and has been a regular presenter on Tony Delroy’s nightlife show on ABC radio.