Dr. Vanessa Spano, DVM, DACVB, is NYC’s only board-certified veterinary behaviorist. She received her board certification in 2023 after completing her residency with the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, a college which includes less than 100 specialists in all of North America. Dr. Spano’s special interests include the implication of psychological trauma for patients part of cruelty cases, psychopharmacology, shelter medicine, and companion and farm animal welfare. She actively contributes to multiple scientific articles and received the Fear Free Grant for her research on pre-veterinary visit anxiolytics in shelter cats in 2023.

A native New Yorker, Dr. Spano attended Barnard College of Columbia University for her undergraduate degree. In 2017, she received her doctorate in veterinary medicine from the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island, Canada and subsequently completed a rotating internship in medicine and surgery at the ASPCA in NYC. While completing her residency with the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists under the mentorship of Dr. E’Lise Christensen, DVM, DACVB, she practiced as an associate behavior veterinarian in NYC and as a per diem veterinarian with the ASPCA, serving patients part of Humane Law Enforcement cases. Upon completing her residency, she was appointed Medical Director of the ASPCA’s Adoption Center, before joining the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center.

Dr. Spano is a recurrent lecturer for various veterinary schools, hospitals, and conferences and serves as a correspondent for multiple media publications. She and her family share their home with their 1 rescue puppy, Puppia, and 5 rescue cats, Little Prince, Dancer, Princess, Sunny D, and Brodie.