Aviva Vincent, PhD, LMSW is a Veterinary Social Worker  and co-owner of Healing Paws LLC. She is social work faculty at Cleveland State University and Program Director at Fieldstone Farm Therapeutic Riding Center. Dr. Vincent is trained in Results Based Accountability for organizational strategic planning and evaluation. She holds facilitator training through the Harwood Institute, Sustained Dialogue, and the Institute for Social Change. As a social justice advocate, she centers DEI in her practice inclusive of Access and Belonging. She is on the board of trustees for PATH International Board of Trustees wherein she chairs the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee, and she chairs the conference committee for the International Association of Veterinary Social work. Dr. Vincent was awarded Cleveland Crain’s 40 under 40 (2023), and the Early Career Success Award by Case Western Reserve University (2022). She has twenty peer-reviewed publications and chapters in Career Paths in Human-Animal Interaction for Social and Behavioral Scientists, The Comprehensive Guide to Interdisciplinary Veterinary Social Work, The Handbook on Human Animal Interactions and Anthrozoology, and Integrating Horses Into Healing.

Vicki Deisner, Esq.is Animal Welfare Institute’s (AWI) State Government Affairs Representative and successfully passed Ohio HB 33 in the last Ohio legislative session which requires social workers, counselors and veterinarians report animal abuse, and law enforcement, animal control officers and dog wardens report child maltreatment and elder abuse.  Animal cruelty is the first escalation of violence in a dysfunctional family – and intervention at that stage can save animal and human lives.  Vicki has partnered with Phil Arkow – coordinator of the National Link Coalition, and other professionals to conduct hundreds of seminars in Ohio on the implementation of HB 33 and the importance of recognizing the link between animal and human violence in protecting families from escalating violence.  Ohio Jobs and Family Services (OHJFS) has institutionalized this training for annual requirements for both child and adult protective workers.  Vicki is currently assisting other Midwest states with legislation, grant writing and training related to the link between animal and human violence.

Vicki was formerly the Midwest Legislative Director of the ASPCA, where she was primarily responsible for legislative and advocacy initiatives in the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.  Prior to that she served as the Associate Director of the National Water Resources Campaigns for the National Wildlife Federation in Washington, DC, Executive Director of the Ohio Environmental Council and Ohio Assistant Attorney General, Environmental Enforcement Section in Columbus, Ohio.  Vicki received her J.D. from Salmon P. Chase Law School at Northern Kentucky University, her clinical degree in Respiratory Therapy from the University of Chicago, her M.S in Physiology from the University of Cincinnati, Medical College, and her B.S. in Zoology from The Ohio State University. 

Virginia Behmer Porter is a dual-degree fourth-year veterinary student at the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine and a master’s of public health student at the Ohio State University College of Public Health. Virginia’s undergraduate education is in psychology, anthropology, and biology. Her previous research involves animal cruelty regulation, increasing access to veterinary care, and human-animal interactions.