VNN names 6 new board members

DENVER — The Veterinary News Network (VNN) added six new board members. They are:

• Dr. Steve Crane, chief medical officer and director of Oquendo Center Programs at the Western Veterinary Conference (WVC) in Las Vegas

• Dr. Bernadine Cruz, Aliso Viejo, Calif., a speaker and veterinary consultant for several national television programs

• Ralph Johnson, executive director of the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association, the Denver Area Veterinary Medical Society and the Colorado Veterinary Medical Foundation

• Dr. Zach Mills, vice president of U.S. Companion Animal Enterprise for Merial in Duluth, Ga.

• Bonnie R. Rush, Dipl. ACVIM, professor and head of clinical sciences at Kansas State University

• Kelvin Rochford, news director for CBS' The Early Show, New York City

Current VNN Advisory Board members are:

• Dr. Lowell Ackerman, Westborough, Mass.

• Dr. Diane Levitan, Westbury, N.Y.

• Dr. Sandy Willis, Kent, Wash.

VNN helps veterinarians deliver pet health-care news to local media — print, television, radio and the Internet. The network includes more than 360 veterinarians and affiliate reporters who use VNN-produced resources to broadcast and publish local news stories.

"VNN was created so that television, radio and print news media would have a reliable, credible source of veterinary medical information," says Dr. Jim Humphries, VNN president and news director.

Funded by WVC and Merial, the network produced 48 news stories. In 2006 VNN-contributed stories were aired to an estimated 66 million viewers.