A high-level overview of the Zoetis Reference Laboratories

Content sponsored by Zoetis

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: Well, welcome back everyone. So we're gonna get a little high level overview regarding Zoetis Reference Labs. And of course my friend here, Dr. Carolyn Grimes is joining us. Let's get to know her a little bit more. So Dr. Grimes earned her BS in Biology from the University of Notre Dame in 2001. Then her DVM from Purdue University in 2006. She completed a rotating internship in small animal medicine and surgery at Angel animal Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts in 2007. Then, practiced for 2 years as a small animal emergency veterinarian at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in New Jersey. She completed a residency in Clinical Pathology at the University of Tennessee in 2012. Then, joined the faculty at the University of Montreal, where she worked in the clinical laboratory taught in the veterinary curriculum and did research that focused mainly on the metal pathology and optimization of hematology analyzers. In 2017, she left the frigid north and worked for ethos diagnostic science, as the director of the San Diego laboratory until this lab was acquired by Zoetis in 2020. Dr. Grimes served as a director of quality assurance for Zoetis Reference Laboratories from 2020 to 2021 and was promoted to medical director in January 2021. Her professional passions include quality assurance, hematology, organized veterinary medicine and education. In her free time she enjoys reading, running, CrossFit, swimming, cooking, birdwatching, spending time with her husband, 2 young boys, and cat rooting for the Red Sox. She had her family moved to New Hampshire in 2020, where she enjoys exploring the sea coast and in the winter complaining about the cold. Well, that keeps you busy, right. Mike drop. Well talk to me a little bit about Zoetis Reference Labs overview overall, because it's a relatively newer venture. And so just you know, give me a little high-level overview of what they have to offer and how that comes to fruition.

Carolyn Grimes, DVM, DACVP (Clinical Pathology): So veterinarians don't have a lot of options when it comes to choosing a reference laboratory. And Zoetis felt that the time was right for a disruptor in the market. Zoetis is the largest animal health company in the world. They've got a really deep roster of creative thinkers and innovators and people who know the industry, understand the market, and understand veterinarians. And so they felt, I think that it was time to come in and shake up that market.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: Yeah, it's really interesting. So as a general practitioner, do they offer the same services that I would expect for other reference labs like this CBC, chemistry, UA...?

Carolyn Grimes, DVM, DACVP (Clinical Pathology): Yeah, of course, we're a full-service reference laboratory. And so everything that you would expect from a reference laboratory, the majority of that we run in house.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: So are there consultations that are involved, too, should I have like a struggle with a case or bloodwork or any of those kinds?

Carolyn Grimes, DVM, DACVP (Clinical Pathology): Yeah, we've got a an awesome...and in fact, the global consulting service, that services not only our reference laboratory customers, but also our point of care customers, and so, in our virtual lab laboratory customers, so, any customer of any product in the in the Zoetis diagnostics portfolio has access to these customers, to these consultants for the consulting service. We have several internal medicine specialists, then we also have dermatologists, exotic specialists, ophthalmology, so pretty much any specialty that you would need to consult on large animal and, and again, if you have some results from your from your in house point of care analyzer, and some results from as well as reference labs, you know, that same consultant can I can help any of those.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: That's fantastic. And especially now when we want answers a lot of our pet parents want the answers kind of yesterday. And it sounds like the turnaround time is relatively quickly, which is great. So we know what we're doing. And then you also mentioned a bit about a virtual component right?

Carolyn Grimes, DVM, DACVP (Clinical Pathology): With the virtual laboratories is a separate a separate laboratory service rooms, what is reference laboratory, which is our brick and mortar laboratory service. And the virtual laboratory and ref reference laboratory can complement the complement one another. But they are there. They're 2 separate entities within Zoetis diagnostics.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: Excellent. That's fantastic. I understand that you have an incredible medical leadership team that's there as well. Right?

Carolyn Grimes, DVM, DACVP (Clinical Pathology): Yeah. I'm very, very proud of our medical leadership team. So Dr. Sam Jennings is our Director of Anatomic Pathology. Dr. Laura Brandt is Director of Clinical Pathology, Dr. Shelley Rankin, Director of of Molecular Microbiology and Molecular Diagnostics. Jenny Dawson is our Director of Quality Assurance we have Dr. Sandy Willis as an internist who, who bridges communication between the medical leadership team, our consultants, and our customer, other customer facing colleagues. And we're bringing on ahead of parasitology in the upcoming months, between the 6 or 7 of us. Between the 6 of us we have over 100 years of combined experience much of that in the academic sector. So we have a team that is not only knowledgeable and expert in their, in their specialty, but also very, very committed to, to education and helping veterinarians get the most out of their diagnostics.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: That's fantastic. Wow, quite a huge team that you have there. If you wanted to learn more about it, head on over to ZoetisRefLabs.com. Up next we're gonna be talking to our friend Dr. Laura Brennan. We're going to talk about CBC offerings that Zoetis Reference Labs has made available.