2024 HBVC Officers

Dr. David Martinez-Jimenez was born in Valencia, Spain. He often spent his summers exploring nature, gardening and farming. In 2002, Dr. Martinez completed his veterinary degree in Zaragoza, Spain. After graduation, he performed several externships in exotic pet, zoo, and wildlife medicine in Spain and the United Kingdom. In 2004, he completed a Master's degree in Wild Animal Health at the Royal Veterinary College and Institute of Zoology in London. After receiving his Master's degree, Dr. Martinez moved to the United States, where in 2005 he completed an internship in exotic, zoo, and wildlife medicine at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia. After completing his internship, he has worked in private practice and zoo medicine in the United States, mostly in the Southeast. In 2018, Dr. Martinez started his own apiary, and he now manages about 30+ hives. Dr. Martinez is member of the Georgia Beekeepers Association as well as two local beekeeper clubs. He is also a certified beekeeper by the University of Georgia and has recently obtained the Honey Bee control and Removal certification. This last certification is required by the GA Department of Agriculture in order to safely remove and relocate bees when the bees have established their hive within a house.

Dr. Joerg Mayer grew up in Germany where he received his primary education. He went to Budapest / Hungary to study veterinary medicine shortly after the “iron curtain” fell. During his studies he was fortunate to be able to work with veterinarians in South Africa and Namibia for 6 months. He always had a strong interest in exotic animal medicine. After he received his doctoral degree from the University of Budapest/Hungary, he went to the USA for an internship in ‘Zoological Medicine and Surgery’ at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, RI. At the end of the internship he was part of a research team to study wild tree kangaroos in the rainforest of Papua New Guinea for 3 months. After this exciting experience, he went to the Royal veterinary College in London / England to study for his Masters of Science degree in wild animal health. The masters project which focused on lead toxicity in the common loon, brought him to the Tufts Wildlife Clinic in the USA. There he was hired to serve as a clinical associate professor and as the head of the clinical service for exotic animals. After 10 years at Tufts University he moved to Athens, Georgia in 2010. He currently is a Full Professor in Zoological Medicine at UGA.

He lectures regularly at large national and international conferences on all aspects of exotic animal medicine including Honey Bee Medicine. Dr. Mayer qualified with the first batch of specialists in Exotic Companion Mammals as a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners, in addition he is also a Diplomate of the American and the European College of Zoological Medicine. He served as the president of the Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians from 2010-2012. Since 2012 he is also an International Fulbright Specialist in Zoological Medicine.

Dr. Mayer published many scientific articles, book chapters some of which have been translated into French, Spanish and Portuguese. His latest book the “Veterinary Clinical advisor for birds and exotic pets” was published in early 2013 and contains over 750 page. In 2013 he received the exotic speaker of the year award by the NAVC. In 2016 he received the Oxbow/AEMV Exotic Mammal Health Award, an annual award to recognize excellence and innovation in the field of exotic mammal health.

Dr. Kristen Clark holds her BS in Zoology and DVM from Iowa State University, her MPH from the University of Minnesota, and is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine. In addition to working in private practice, she previously served as an epidemiologist and the foodborne outbreak response coordinator with the Iowa Department of Public Health. She served in a number of roles as a public health veterinarian at Iowa State University, including most recently as the University’s Public Health Coordinator where she oversaw campus public health operations.

In August 2023, Dr. Clark began serving in her current role as the Director of the Minnesota One Health Antibiotic Stewardship Collaborative with the Minnesota Department of Health. Dr. Clark is also active in organized veterinary medicine at the state and national levels and currently serves as President of the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association and as the AVMA Delegate for the American Association of Food Safety and Public Health Veterinarians.

As a hobbyist beekeeper since 2015, she enjoys combining her passion for honey bees with her professional role as a veterinarian. She previously served as President and Education Committee Chair for the HBVC. She lives in Minnesota with her fibered, feathered, furry, and buzzing menagerie better known as the Happy Bottom Homestead.

Dr. Deborah Pasho is a graduate of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. in BioMechanical Engineering. After she graduated from vet school, she joined a mixed animal practice in NH, treating all creatures great and small. Dr. Pasho began beekeeping in 2017 and has had up to 5 hives of her ow n. While actively learning from and assisting with a commercial beekeeper’s queen-rearing program, she attends any veterinary bee courses possible, has been to all of the HBVC conferences, is selling her own nucs, and is working toward becoming a Certified Beekeeper with the Vermont Beekeeping Association (VBA).

Dr. Pasho opened her own veterinary beekeeping practice in the spring of 2020 and assists with local VBA club meetings. Dr. Pasho now gladly homeschools all three of her middle school-aged sons, is active in the special needs community, and maintains her veterinary license in NH and VT.

Dr. Danalyn Dess, is a USDA accredited veterinarian with licenses in PA, WV, and OH. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in 2002. She has been involved in various aspects of veterinary medicine including private practice, shelter medicine, research, and teaching. Dr. Dess was an adjunct instructor for 9 years for veterinary technician students. She is very passionate about education to improve the health of honey bees and pollinators. 

Dr. Dess has been studying honey bee medicine, pollinator health and research, and has been in involved in state and local beekeeping organizations. She wants to improve husbandry and management practices for honey bees at the local and commercial levels. Dr. Dess is also interested in working with government, state, utility companies, and large corporations for improving pollinator habitat for roadside, right-of-ways, farms, and other properties. She is studying to become a master gardener with a special interest in pollinator health and gardens, wildlife habitat management, and native plants.

Dr. Randy Lynn completed graduate training in Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology and graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine at the Ohio State University in 1983. In 1985, Dr. Lynn left full veterinary practice and moved to the corporate world. He has 33 years of experience in drug development, regulatory affairs and technical services at CIBAGEIGY, Novartis, Blue Ridge, IDEXX, Intervet Schering-Plough and now Merck Animal Health. He has worked with poultry, cattle, horses, dogs and cats.

Dr. Lynn was recently appointed as Adjunct Faculty at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics and a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology.  Dr. Lynn gained an early interest in beekeeping from his grandfather who lived near the AI Root, Co. He received formal training at The Ohio State University from Dr. Walter Rothenbuhler in 1975. He acquired his first colonies in 1990 and continues to manage his bees as a side-line business. Dr. Lynn wrote Raising Healthy Honey Bees for Christian Veterinary Missions and sometimes teaches beekeeping at The Masters Mission in Robbinsville, NC.  Outside of his corporate work, Dr. Lynn still sees veterinary patients once a month and is actively involved in veterinary missions work.

Dr. Allie Mosel grew up in northern Michigan and attended the University of Michigan where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Movement Science and minor in Biology. Veterinary school brought her to the East coast where she earned her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Tufts University, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Massachusetts. After graduation, she practiced veterinary medicine in Connecticut for 5 years before returning to her home state. Her special medical interests include surgery, behavior, and honeybee medicine. She is currently the official veterinarian for “Bees in the D”, a non-profit that educates the public on the importance of pollinators and brings bee hives to urban Detroit.

Dr. Mosel shares her home with her fiancé, their labradoodles, River and Luna, a dozen chickens, and approximately 60,000 honeybees! During her spare time, she enjoys gardening, knitting, volunteering, and spending time with family and friends.

Dr. Britteny Kyle graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in 2009 and began her career in a busy 24-hour small animal emergency clinic in Toronto, Ontario. She worked as an associate for several years before leaving practice to focus on her young family. During her time away she began to study honey bee medicine. She joined the Consortium in 2018 and has served in multiple capacities, including President. Dr. Kyle is passionate about educating veterinarians and the public alike about issues surrounding honey bees and other pollinators. In 2019 she established a pollinator garden at her local elementary school where she works to engage the children, as well as the community at large, in conservation efforts to protect pollinators.

Dr Kyle is currently working towards a PhD in Epidemiology with a Collaborative Specialization in One Health at the Ontario Veterinary College studying American foulbrood prevalence and management practices.  When she is not studying bees, Dr. Kyle is busy maintaining her small zoo of three boys, two cats, one dog, and a handful of honey bee colonies.

Dr. Jeffrey Applegate was born and raised on the coast of New Jersey where he still enjoys spending free time surrounded by salty air. He attended Virginia Tech for undergraduate studies in animal science and biology and Kansas State University for veterinary school. Following a small animal rotating internship at the Animal Medical Center in New York City, he worked as an exotic animal clinician in a busy New Jersey private practice. He served as faculty at North Carolina State University, College of Veterinary Medicine in the exotic animal medicine service for over five years where he remains involved as adjunct faculty. 

Dr. Applegate has written various honey bee veterinary medicine book chapters and has lectured on honey bee veterinary medicine both domestically and internationally. He is a diplomate in the American College of Zoological Medicine and is founding member of the Honey Bee Veterinary Consortium (HBVC), in which he served terms as secretary, conference chair, and president. Dr. Applegate has also worked as a small animal veterinary technician, and a volunteer firefighter. Most recently, Dr. Applegate transitioned away from NC State to return to his home-land, New Jersey, in order to be closer to family and start Nautilus Avian and Exotics Veterinary Specialists, a stand alone exotics-only veterinary practice with hopes to begin a honey bee-focused veterinary externship program. In his free time he enjoys the outdoors and tending his own apiary.

Dr. Dan Dombrowski is currently Head Veterinarian at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and Adjunct Faculty at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. In 2006, he earned a DVM from North Carolina State University (NCSU) with a focus in zoo medicine with advanced courses in reptile, fish, invertebrate, avian, and wildlife medicine. In 2006, Dr. Dombrowski received the Wildlife, Avian, Aquatic, and Zoological Medicine (WAAZM) Proficiency in Zoological Medicine Award. He earned an MS in Biology and BS in Biology from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond Virginia. He has been an author and coauthor of several publications in pharmacology, natural history, and two book chapters focusing on invertebrate medicine. Dr. Dombrowski is a long-time honey bee health enthusiast and new (2018) beekeeper.

Dr. Terry Ryan Kane earned a Master of Science degree in Ecology from the University of Illinois, Chicago and took beekeeping while attending veterinary school at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. She founded Michigan’s first feline-only hospital in 1981. After decades of practice she pivoted to policy having received an AVMA-AAAS Congressional Science and Technology Policy Fellowship. She served as a science advisor in a Senate office working on the Farm Bill, emerging diseases, and antibiotic resistance. The FDA ruling on antibiotic stewardship was being debated while she was in Congress. When she returned home to Michigan, she started up her bee hives again and founded A2 Bee Vet, a practice devoted to honey bee medicine. She has lectured on Honey Bee & Pollinator Biology and Ecology and taught Bee Labs locally and nationally.

In 2020, Dr. Terry Ryan Kane published her first book, Honey Bee Medicine for the Veterinary Practitioner, a comprehensive guide for veterinarians, professionals, and beekeepers interested in a comprehensive and practical guide to bee care and health.

Thomas is a veterinarian in Sydney, Australia. He grew up on a smallholding in rural NSW, and learned about bees from his father. Halfway through his veterinary education, he sought to broaden his understanding of honey bee pathology and applied his veterinary knowledge to a research project attempting to disentangle the interaction between Varroa destructor and the viruses vectored by this mite. After finishing vet school, Thomas commenced a PhD at the University of Sydney, studying honey bee reproduction and pathology, with specific interest in potential for sexually transmissible infections.

Dr. Gillard is fond of teaching, and currently teaches animal studies and advanced beekeeping courses at a vocational level, and animal behaviour at an undergraduate level. Particular areas of interest are in honey bee artificial insemination, pathology, and the clinical approach to honey bee medicine (and the role of the veterinary practitioner in promoting honey bee health and husbandry).

Dr. Amy Franklin holds a BS in Forest Resource Management (West Virginia University), MS in Wildlife Biology (Villanova University) and DVM (Colorado State University). Dr. Franklin works with Colorado beekeepers to diagnose and treat honey bee diseases, implement integrative pest management strategies, and prepare apiary biosecurity protocols. She is founder of Farms for Orphans, Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides training and resources in edible insect farming to vulnerable women and youth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where insects are part of the normal diet. And through a partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society, Farms for Orphans provides communities in eastern DRC with training in insect farming as a means to reduce reliance on the bushmeat trade.

Dr. Franklin is a member of the Colorado State Beekeepers Association, Northern Colorado Beekeepers Association (2019-2020 Secretary), North American Coalition for Insect Agriculture, Colorado Veterinary Medical Association and the American Veterinary Medical Association. She has lectured on honey bee veterinary medicine and insect agriculture both nationally and internationally. She divides her time between the DRC and Loveland, CO where she resides with her husband, three children, four donkeys, four dogs, two guinea pigs, a flock of chickens and countless honey bees. She is currently working toward her Master Beekeeper certification.

Courtney Wallner is a third-year veterinary and public health student at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in North Grafton, MA. She graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a bachelor's degree in entomology, with a specific emphasis in pollinator conservation and outreach. A bug lover since she was young, Wallner began working in native pollinator conservation as soon as she stepped foot on UNL's campus. This transitioned into a deep fascination with the role of beneficial insects in human, animal, and plant health. Wallner then began working with the UNL Bee Lab, ultimately caring for over a hundred hives across the state of Nebraska, conducting the USDA-APHIS honey bee health surveys for the state, and participating in outreach events with various groups, including local nature centers, 4H clubs, and Heroes to Hives. Upon entering veterinary school, Wallner single-handedly restarted the campus apiary and now teaches honey bee management and medicine to the Cummings School's veterinary professionals. She is currently developing a honey bee medicine curriculum specifically tailored to veterinary professionals, instating her hives as campus teaching animals, and developing a standard operating procedure for honey bee care and use on the Cummings School campus. Wallner is hopeful that she can contribute to a new generation of veterinarians that see honey bees (and many other insects) as patients instead of pests.

Dr. Kristol Stenstrom received her DVM in 1994 from Kansas State University. She spent a decade as a Research Scientist specializing in the design of phase III and IV companion animal clinical trials at Deprenyl Animal Health, Pfizer, and Intervet. She continues to operate a research consulting business in the KC Animal Health Corridor which is home to the largest concentration of animal health companies in the world.

Dr. Stenstrom currently owns a referral-only veterinary practice where she specializes in the treatment of pain in large, small, & exotic species with a secondary emphasis in palliative/hospice care for companion animals. Along with her husband, Michael (also a veterinarian), they own and operate a busy 4-doctor small animal practice in Lenexa, Kansas.

She has been a beekeeper for 8 years and is actively involved in the Northeast Kansas Beekeepers Association. Environmental management of residential hives and the accurate diagnosis of bee diseases and parasites are her areas of interest as she works toward her Master Beekeeper certification. She resides in Shawnee, KS with her husband, 3 teenagers, a cat, 2 dogs, 3 chickens, 3 geckos (leopard, crested, & gargoyle), an interesting assortment of beef cattle of the Simbrah and Scottish Belted Galloway varieties, who knows how many koi & goldfish, and of course, a small 2 colony apiary.

Dr. Mitch Stephens graduated from North Carolina State University CVM in May 2020 with an interest in aquarium medicine. He is currently doing a small animal rotating internship in Maryland. He became a beekeeper 8 years ago after taking two NCSU undergraduate courses on honey bees. As an undergraduate, he co-founded and was president for 5 years of The Beekeepers Club at NC State University, a student organization focused on teaching fellow students about honey bees and beekeeping. While in veterinary school, he taught several lectures and labs about honey bee medicine. In his free time he enjoys beekeeping, working on his aquariums, and gardening.

Dr. Tracy Farone is a Professor of Biology at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. Since late 2016, Dr. Farone has been researching beekeeping and bee medicine. She was granted a sabbatical to allow additional time to pursue apicultural studies and develop a teaching and research apiary at her college.  Dr. Farone gives bee lectures at multiple universities, veterinary associations, and various bee clubs around the country. She has published several articles on bee medicine, including a monthly “Bee Vet” series for Bee Culture, and developed an educational website,https://www.gccbeeproject.com/

She is willing to speak in the following topics:

• Varroa management
• Honey Bee biology
• Honey Bee Medicine
• Hive Beetles
• Honey Bee Vaccines
• Honey Bee Nutrition
• Honey Bee Biosecurity
• Tick Diseases and the Beekeeper
• Honey Bee Ecology

Email her for more information:  FaroneTS@gcc.edu

Dr. Garett Slater is a Postdoctoral Fellow for the USDA. He obtained his PhD from Purdue University in 2022 where his thesis work focused on applying modern genetic tools to honey bee breeding. Prior to taking on a PhD, he completed a MS on nutrition and queen quality at North Dakota State University. Applying genomic tools to beekeeping opens up many additional opportunities for beekeepers one of which is that with proper genetic selection, honey bees can develop natural defenses toward Varroa, pathogens, and other diseases which have historically proven difficult and time consuming for beekeepers. Garett has worked as a scientist and technician with the Bee Informed Partnership at the University of Minnesota for two years where he worked directly with 30 commercial beekeepers in ND. He has 12 years of beekeeping experience, including working for a large commercial beekeeper in North Dakota for 8 years.

Dr. Amber Meade completed her undergraduate degree in Florida before attending graduate school at Duke University in the Immunology department. She elected to not pursue research as a long-term career and attended the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine to obtain her DVM in 2009. She practiced small animal medicine and surgery in a variety of settings including corporate practice, private practice, and an emergency practice before opening her own private practice in Durham, NC.

Dr. Meade enjoys gardening, hiking, and soap making in her spare time. She chose to include honey bee medicine into both her career and hobbies, and has had her own beehives for the past two years. Beekeeping compliments her other hobbies, and it allows her the ability to educate neighbors and others around her about the importance of honey bees and all pollinators in our shared environments. She shares this hobby with her husband, and she also shares her home with three cats and a dog.

Dr. Meghan Milbrath began working bees over 25 years ago, and now owns and manages The Sand Hill Apiary, a small livestock and queen rearing operation in Michigan, and is an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at MSU, where she does honey bee and pollinator research and extension and is the coordinator of the Michigan Pollinator Initiative. She studied biology at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, and received degrees in public health from Tulane University and the University of Michigan, where she focused on environmental health sciences and disease transmission risk. Meghan worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Michigan State University, studying nosema disease, and at Swedish Agricultural University. Meghan is active in multiple beekeeping organizations, writes for multiple beekeeping journals, and speaks about bees all over the country. She currently runs the Northern Bee Network, a directory and resource site dedicated to supporting queen producers, and she is passionate about keeping and promoting healthy bees.