Sandy Willis, DVM, MVSc, DACVIM

District 11 AVMA Board of Directors representative

Biographical sketch

Before joining the AVMA Board of Directors, Dr. Sandy Willis served as chair of the AVMA House Advisory Committee, and also was a member of the Strategic Management Committee, the Budget Finance Review Committee, and the American Veterinary Medical Foundation Board of Directors. She also has served as the Washington delegate and alternate delegate to the AVMA House of Delegates.

Dr. Willis’ service to the AVMA also has included roles as a site visitor for the AVMA Council on Education, a member of the AVMA Governance Performance Review Committee, and chair of both a task force and working group on volunteer engagement. Her involvement in organized veterinary medicine began at the local level, where she chaired the Puget Sound (formerly Seattle-King County) Veterinary Medical Association (PSVMA) Public Information Committee. She served in several positions within the PSVMA: as PSVMA president for three terms and its representative to the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association (WSVMA). She later became WSVMA Annual Conference chair, served on several WSVMA committees, and was WSVMA president for two terms.

Dr. Willis received the honor of WSVMA Veterinarian of the Year in 2015.

She is board certified by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM), where she served as chair of the Communications Committee and was a member of the ACVIM Foundation Development Committee. She also has served as Business Management Session chair for the ACVIM Forum.

Dr. Willis also has been board president of the Feral Cat Spay and Neuter Project in Lynnwood, Washington.

She is a small animal internist for Phoenix Lab, a small, privately owned veterinary diagnostic laboratory located in Mukilteo, Washington. Dr. Willis also has worked for Antech Diagnostics and served as the medical director for the Humane Society for Seattle King County.

In addition, she had the opportunity to follow two years in private practice with stints as the veterinary affairs manager in the Midwest Region for Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc., and as the veterinary customer affairs manager for Hill's Canada.

Dr. Willis completed her residency in small animal internal medicine at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and her internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the University of Minnesota. She is a 1984 graduate of the UC-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.